I'm very familiar with what's hot and what's not. I can point you to the cream of the crop, and help you avoid the dregs. Unfortunately, they are so huge that it's difficult to find the really interesting and useful parts. Poking around by yourself takes a lot of time-and costs a lot of money. Sure, your kids may play a few games.
Most people start out with great expectations when they buy a computer.
They're going to keep track of their personal finances, get all kinds of educational tools for their kids, explore on-line services, and print neat color flyers and Christmas cards. Then, reality sets in. They take a look at the manuals that came with the thing, and discover that they're useless. They play around endlessly, hoping to figure the things out. Eventually, they finally figure out how to do about a tenth of what they originally intended, and they remain contented at that level.