Casual build; Multi-tasking/high-res build

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A friend of mine is having me build him a pc. He doesn't game, edit, or anything intensive, but he does do some major (casual) multi-tasking. Browsers and multiple programs/files/documents open at once. This told me that he needs a decent amount of ram and an ssd, so we have that settles. He likes to use either multiple monitors or one high res monitor. We haven't decided on what would fit better (depends on what we find at a price he likes, etc), either one high res or multiple smaller ones. With that in mind, he wants a mini-itx build. I have everything worked out for the most part, however..... I am a little unsure on the cpu choice. Because he was talking about higher pixel counts, nothing cpu intensive, and multi tasking, I figured that an apu would be the best route. It has strong integrated graphics and is a true quad core (as far as I know, as opposed to the "modules" with two "cores" each which are common in the fx line). My gut instinct is that something like a locked i5 would be the best choice, but I am not too keen on Intel overall right now. From the tests that I have seen, something like an a8-7600 SHOULD be plenty for what he does, and should have enough graphics horsepower to do just about anything that he might want to do in the future with regards to multi monitors and maybe some light gaming, etc. IT should make for a good all-around system. I am just weary about going this route as he is a friend of mine, and I feel a bit like I am using him as a guinea pig seeing as how I have never messed with the apus before and don't have any real world experience (and it is hard to gauge their performance fore his needs as benchmarks on "general multi tasking" isn't something that is too common on review sites and would differ person to person anyway).

tl;dr Would an a8-7600 build be a solid build for a few years for general purpose use?

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Steamroller cores are still modular, but each core does have its own decoder, so they are more like "proper" cores.

Anyway, for everyday use, even with having a ton of browser tabs open, the A8-7600 should be fine. Especially if he has a sufficient amount of RAM and an SSD. 1440p, or multi-monitor set-ups shouldn't be an issue.

My alternative rig sported an A10-5800K, fueled by 8gb of G.skill 1600 and a standard HD. It was more than enough for the usual desktop fiddlings.

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I agree, an APU would be the best route, and an A8 should be plenty. Honestly, AMD systems are better suited for every day computing as opposed to a similar Intel. AMD CPUs get a lot of flake from gamers because game engines are still optimized for few cores, and deligate tasks poorly so the stronger per-core performance of Intel gives it a leg up. However, with a proper, modern OS, such as Linux (Win 8 works too), will have no problems with AMD's "modules" and will in fact us it to it's advantage.

I've built a few rigs for a non-profit, all of them utilizing APUs (Llano, Trinity, and Kabini) with SSDs, and they are all plenty fast for web-browsing and word processing.

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I'd go for a APU as well. If he wants multiple screens, I think you'd have to have a dedicated GPU if you go the intell route, as I don't think their iGPU supports multiple monitors at all. I have a A5700 myself, no complaints when doing casual stuff, and that's a low end APU.