Help with non-gaming desktop

[Vicwic]

I'm putting together a desktop for my Mother but finding it difficult since as a gamer I tend to know more about gaming specs. I posted before but made a mistake with the title and put laptop.

She doesn't game at all and has no interest. She has no desire to upgrade. She uses the internet for research into family history and some gentle web browsing and word processing. She does look at videos on youtube or BBC iplayer. She has e-mail of course.

So far I've come up with this. I've chosen what seems to be a good monitor because her eyesight is a little dodgy (she is 70 years old) plus she likes things to look nice on screen. She'll need help setting it up and transferring files from her old computer so I've selected Assisted Installation. Will it do what she wants or is it overspec'd and be built for less?

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core G2120 (3.10GHz, 3MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H61-MX USB3/SI: uATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (1 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 610 - DVI, HDMI, VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 16MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Floppy Disk Drive
EXTERNAL 1.44MB USB FLOPPY DISK DRIVE (£12)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 Standard Edition 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 60 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 2010 Professional Edition
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor
IIYAMA E2273HS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£119)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Home Installation
Technician Assisted Installation & Set-Up (£79)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £589.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[ilike2burnthing]

Floppy disk drive? Couldn't you just put everything she has on to a flash drive? And Windows 8? It was confusing enough for me, but ok

Looks like a cheap and inexpensive build. The only thing I would really up would be the case to the CoolerMaster 311. In terms of going down, would your mother need a GT 610 over just the integrated graphics?

If you're looking to go even cheaper, have you looked at the Mini PCs? If you were to go for an Atom processor you can actually get it to around £300 (£400 with the screen).

A step up from that would give you this:
Case
Thermaltake Element Q Mini-ITX Case + 200W PSU
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Celeron® Dual-Core G550 (2.60GHz, 2MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H61-I R2.0: Mini-ITX, LG1155, USB 3.0, SATA 3GBs
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (1 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD + Clear Video HD Technology
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 16MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA E2273HS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£119)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Home Installation
Technician Assisted Installation & Set-Up (£79)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £562.00 including VAT and delivery. [£586 with the GT 610]

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-top-spec-mini-pc/Xq4r04FYcQ/

 

[Frank100]

In terms of the monitor I think you've chosen well. It's a good monitor and when you're doing family history work you might need to have multiple windows open at the same time for comparing information. I don't have any other comments to make about your build. I think the above says it all in terms of options. When providing the setup and training for your mum be sure to include the magic alt+tab for switching between windows.

 

[Vicwic]

Floppy disk drive? Couldn't you just put everything she has on to a flash drive? And Windows 8? It was confusing enough for me, but ok

We talked about Windows 8 and she said she wanted nothing to do with it. She has Windows 7 on her laptop and doesn't want to be bothered with having to learn something new.

re. the floppy disk drive....I think she may have some ancient family history programs on floppies. She wasn't sure if she had or not... I probably should have shown her some pictures........Anyhow the computer they have at the moment has a floppy disk drive...not having one might worry her. £12 for peace of mind.

Thanks for the help anyway

 

[Vicwic]

Many apologies ilike2burnthing, I didn't notice I'd put Windows 8 instead of Windows 7, I'm just going over the build again; it's taken us a while to get round to looking at it. You're absolutely right about questioning it.

 

[dogbot]

Your mother is right about Windows 8 - I think it would tax her ingenuity beyond human endurance. As for the over 70's eyesight thing, tell me about it.

It might be better to set the computer up as you mean to continue. By that I mean reconsider the inclusion of the bloatware such as Bullguard and the Microsoft Office trial. Set up the computer with the programs she is used to from the start.