types of wheel

im in the process of practically rebuilding my truck no real prior experience either....

im going to throw a dana 60 front on my truck changing lug pattern from 5 to 8 therefore needing new wheels.  ive seen all sorts of wheels and all sorts of prices.  im sort of on a tight budget but if its sweet and performs ill get it.  there seems to me 2 types of wheels expensive and cheap.  cheap being steel wheels and expensive im guess are aluminum.  whats the difference between the 2 performance wise?  any suggestions on what wheel size i should be looking at?

i was looking at getting a wheel possibly 16.5"x 12.5" .  seems that interco's TSL's perform and look great.  i want to put on 38's. they seem to be rather cost efficient but how long will they last?  any help would be great.