I agree with the recommendation to get a tower just for the ease of upgrades and repairs Plus you can customize components more readily. While a 1TB solid state drive is pretty costly right now, the trend is for prices to decrease, so you can upgrade later. Or if your tower will accommodate two drives, get a smaller SSD for the operating system and primary programs, and a standard drive for the data.

The OP provided no information that would lead anyone to conclude that anything other than a basic system is needed. An I7 would certainly not be called for based on what was posted.

Thank you all for responses. I do need the Microsoft Office Suite. I am still researching but all posts were informative.

Desktop definitely.

You don't need expensive Office when free Libre Office will do the same job. In 15 years of tech support, I've only found 2 complicated spreadsheets that Open Office / Libre Office had issues with.

call MMD computer on 441 south of 466 excellent service and advice. Will build you just what you need

I would rather spend $600 on a used Mac than the same on a new PC. I run Excel and Word on mine. I upgraded to SSd drive and made everything so much faster. I recommend a SSD drive. (stores data on chips vs. platters). But for PCs, ceck these out:
The 8 Best Budget Desktop PCs to Buy in 2017 for Under $500