Is this likely to be a good enough system for what I need?

It looks like a good system for what you need, and it would be a good system to hand on to the kids in a year or so. I dont believe you would need any upgrades. I'm still a little cautious about vista, but only because I dont really have much to go one and dont know anyone who has it.Just like all of microsoft's new systems, it will probably have bugs. As long as microsoft installs patches you should be ok. Good Luck