[Iris7]

I believe any box running XP or W2k will have adequate support for multmedia, except if custom made, or intended as servers. Tell the salespeople they have to run realplayer and a cd, fire 'em up with some some cds. download Realplayer from the website and do the website's function test. This will show you what you need to know. Some sort of multimedia support is pretty standard at $600 or so.

Dells are nice because they give fine handholding, return priviledges (no shipping to pay), and will steer you to a good box. Athlons are OK, more bang for the buck.

In your shoes I would go with a fairly "slow" processer and a hard drive more like 40 gig. Also I would see my favorite used computer shop. I could go out right this second and buy a Pentium III with multimedia, CD, and 20-40 gig drive for under $200 (with likely more than 5 years of life left), or a good 17" Sony tube monitor for $80. Personally I'd load them with W2K.

Apples are very expensive for the performance provided. If you want a totally secure OS Linux or even OpenBSD.

[Ches]

"Also I would see my favorite used computer shop. I could go out right this second and buy a Pentium III with multimedia, CD, and 20-40 gig drive for under $200 (with likely more than 5 years of life left)"

We bought a good used, refurbished computer for our daughter from a local computer repair shop three years ago. It was a great deal and we've been very happy with it.

[bona]

Why is OpenBSD any more secure than a Mac? Mac OS X is based on BSD.

[xrp]

Apples are very expensive for the performance provided. If you want a totally secure OS Linux or even OpenBSD.

She wants her kids to use them, not be frustrated by them. Best bet is a Windows OS. Yes...Windows can be properly secured as well, but this is for kids.

[mlmr]

Does W2K mean windows 2000? Do I have to buy a copy for each machine?