I am looking to buy a turntable for my sister, probably for fairly light
use and will be connected to a fairly cheap Sony mini-system. I'm looking
to spend about £100 max. I've been browsing Ebay, and hit upon a few
questions - I know this is a very low budget so I just want to make sure
I don't end up with something hopeless.

1. Obviously the mini-system doesn't have a phono preamp. Am I better off
getting a deck with one built in (eg Bush MTT1), or would there be any
benefit in buying a seperate deck and preamp?

2. I notice seperate phono preamps can be bought for as little as £15,
but are these likely to be complete rubbish? (Or at least how would they
compare in rubbishness to the preamp built into an MTT1 or similar?)

3. Is it the norm for decks to have an earth/ground wire coming out the
back, as well as the line outs? Is this a problem for connecting to a
mini system, as it will not have a terminal to connect it to?

4. What is the norm with creature comforts like 33/45rpm selection
buttons, automatic start and finish mechanisms etc? My sister is a bit
accident prone so I feel having to fiddle around with the belt to change
speeds is asking for it to get broken.

I have a Bush MTT1 myself, and know it would fulfil all of my
requirements for well within my budget (built in preamp, no ground wire,
semi-automatic and 33/45 select button), but I also know it's build
quality is poor and wondered if I could do better for the money.

Thanks in advance for any input.