let me ask you this though, lilwing: if a friend asked you "Hey, you know about computers! I want to get one for the family. never used a computer before. just you know, surfing, email, photos, music.." what would you recommend them? Personally, because I know the kids would download viruses and be downloading music, if it was a PC it'd be full of viruses and spywear within minutes and they wouldn't know how to deal with it, I'd recommend them one of the cheaper macs. ie, macmini with third party monitor, or the 17" imac, or a second hand G4 imac if price is an issue.