Budget PC spec/price for OAP please

[dave55]

My elderly mother in law (one of the better ones!) would like a new desktop PC as the one she uses at present is very old. Im not sure on the more up to date specs and prices so if anybody is able to recommend a suitable spec for a budget priced (poss around £300?) PC and, if possible, wher they may be available from the High St or reputable online dealers it would be very much appreciated.

She mainly uses it for MS office package such as Word or Excel. She wants Win XP and wishes to use it go online for the first time (probably dial up). If it had a CD rewriter it would be a bonus but she mainly uses floppies. The monitor and keyboard do not have to be anything special - may be 17 inch monitor. She would like a scrolled mouse.
That's about it - hope it is not to basic a question for you all.

Also, which ISP's offer the best dial up rates for daytime/evening use - any suggestions please?

Cheers
Dave

 

[floppybootstomp]

Probably a Dell system would suit, not really sure as I've never bought an off the shelf system. Although for £300.00 I think you're going to be pushed to get the whole works.

For Dial up I'd actually recommend AOL, first month or two is usually free and from then on I think it's £16.00 a month. Easy for noobs to get to grips with as well.

And your mother-in-law is one of your better ones? How many mother-in-laws you got? lol

 

[muckshifter]

Dell again from me ... but don't expect too much for £300.

Me & Flopps agree to disagree ... I cannot recomend AOHell ( ) but if you do not have NTL in your part of the country then use the one that has an 0845 number for tech support ...

 

[Me__2001]

if you want a cheap system check out pcworld, i know you should avoid if possible but they are doing some really cheap Pc's starting at around £200

cheap dial up mon-fri 8Am - 6Pm free £4.99 a month outside hours 1p a min, Tiscali i used them for dialup and now broadband and haven't had any problems

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/daytime.html?code=ZZ-NL-11FG

 

[Ian]

Dell again from me too

Although they are very generic, they work, they are supported, and more importantly - cheap!

There is a PC which meets the requirement (even the scrolling mouse!) and has a 15" TFT monitor here for about £300. There are lots of offers on this website which link to the cheapest dells at the moment.

You have to knock the "support" down to 1 Year collect and Return to get the cheap prices, it saves about £80!

 

[ChristopherP]

For £16 a month you can get low speed broadband...

Dell all the way for dirt cheap computers

 

[dave55]

Many thanks to you all for such prompt and helpful replies. I'll do some more digging.
Dave