Researching a new pc for family member

Hello.

I am researching a new pc for a family member.

They currently have a system that is 6 or 7 years old, and should have been replaced many eons ago. It is an old Pentium 550 Mhz system with a 12GB HDD! The system was already used when they got it, it was not brand new.

They don't have a lot to spend on a PC, only as much as £500 UK Pounds approximately.

They would probably need good support as far as the hardware goes from the PC manufacturer. I am thinking 3 years (next day) on site.

I have so far looked at Dell and IBM web sites for Desktops. If you can suggest any more places to look, where they have good servicing afterwards should anything go wrong, I'd be very grateful. I will probably buy a few magazines in the next few days to see what else are currently good offers in that price range.

It's not something I have really looked into myself before as I usually construct my own PC from the components I desire, and my current system I don't intend to replace until the end of 2006, when it will be 3 years old.

The new desktop I am researching, is something that will be mainly used for Office applications, and also transferring digital photos to. They already have an Office 2000 CD package which they can continue using.

I am thinking that they would only need Home Edition of Windows XP. A processor of around +2.8Ghz. Memory of 512MB minimum. A Hard Drive of 80GB minimum. Just a basic Graphics card nothing top of the range. They don't need an advanced Sound Card either, surround sound wont be needed, just basic but good stereo speakers.

I think a decent Epson printer would be good so they can print out photos, so something like an R200. They already have a big 19" Samsung CRT monitor that was bought about 2 years ago which is quite good. I guess they would like a slim TFT monitor to save space, however that may be a little too expensive at the moment and would push the price over £500? I think perhaps they may have to skip the slim monitor for now.

Anyway, if you can suggest any other places I can look for good Desktop deals for a new PC, that have good after sale servicing and support, I'd be very grateful.

Cheers

John