I suspect what I'm looking for is rather at the low end of what Scan sells, but I thought I'd clarify just when custom build kicks in.

There's the fixed spec 'Smart Edition' systems at the lower end of the scale which is almost, but not quite, what my mum might want. She does lots of (semi pro) photography so really what's wanted is a quiet machine with the ability to expand in the future.

Suggestion : a lightly expandable productivity machine

Motherboard : G45 or Q45. Both include X4500HD graphics. Useless for modern games, fine for apps, handles hi def video with no worries. Both also support 16GB RAM - G31 tops out at 4GB which potentially might be an issue in coming years. Q45 also provides VT-d if you're a bleeding edge virtualisation nut.

CPU : no, or very mild overclock to extend lifetime and reduce noise.

OS : Defaults to Vista x64/Windows 7 voucher.

RAM : 4GB by default.

No discrete graphics - can be added later if needed.

I've suggested the low end OC system anyway, will see what she says.

PK