EMachines

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by MajellaPete, Jul 1, 2004.

  1. MajellaPete

    MajellaPete Private E-2

    Greetings All!!!!

    My poor old pc is finally on it's last leg and this fall I must purchase something new. I have heard that E machines might be what I should purchase instead of a desktop pc......but sadly I have no knowledge of how good Emachines are.......I did hear a couple of years back that they were awful! Their motherboards and such burned out easily and you couldn't be on the internet for long periods of time as that "wore" them out. But pricewise an Emachine is more what I can afford. Here's what it is used for: I live in a small religious community and we use it for research on the net, lots and lots of writing, downloading music and making cd's (various church music only), e-mail, a small amount of pics, and some office use. We do not use it for any games or such......mostly our needs are for office type work. So I am a bit confused as to whether we need a desktop pc or will a E machine meet our needs. Any guidance from ya'll would be most appreciated! Oh yeah...we do have 500 dollars saved towards whatever our purchase will be!
    Thank you all inadvance for your help!!!!!
    Br. Peter, OSB
     
  2. TheDoug

    TheDoug MajorGeek

    I swore the last eMachine that died at my work would be the last ever. It wasn't so much the electronic components as the proprietary, too small power supplies that wore out after all-too-short a period of time. And expensive to replace-- if you could find replacements. I found it cheaper to transplant them to new cases to wring out the last bit of useability.

    If I were to recommend a good place to spend your money, I would have to point you to Dell's Outlet division. Refurbished units that are indistinguishable from-- and warranted as-- new. They often have additional discounts at month's end, and, if you wait for free shipping to enter the mix, you can get quite a bargain on a much higher quality machine. $500 might well get you an entry level Dell and a monitor, too.
     
  3. ASUS

    ASUS MajorGeek

    My wife has Emachine I purchased aprox 2yrs ago, cost was about $350 (factory referbished came with 90 day warrenty) model A26EV17F /XP HOME/CPU XP 2000/60GB HDD/256mb DDR/CDRW/DVD/Onboard 5.1 sound/Onboard video/8X AGP/10-100 eithernet/56k modem/6 USB ports/speakers/keyboard/mouse.

    This PC has been Rock Solid (Zero Problems) still running on original windows install.
    In the last year PC World Magazine had Emachine rated second, Dell was one, for quality, service, etc.
    I would avoid any with Celeron CPU.
    Look around on line always some good deals out there!
     
  4. madscott

    madscott Private E-2

    I have owned an emachines 1105 for 2 1/2 years and have had zero problems. for the last year it has been a backup/kids surf machine but it is networked and and works without a problem. would recommend for a starter/kids non gaming PC
     
  5. Major Attitude

    Major Attitude Co-Owner MajorGeeks.Com Staff Member

    Lot of answers from people who have not tried an Emachine in years. Recently got a refurb with an Nforce board, 2800+ chip, 512 megs, GeForce 4, 160 meg hd, DVD +\- writer, memory slots, etc. Not many here will knock the Nforce board and thats the main components of the machine. I paid 550 for it minus monitor. Its a great machine. Emachines are real cheap, but their quality has completely changed. A lot of that has to do with quality all in one boards that many geeks used to frown upon, but have become better quality and more common, like Nforce. Just make sure theres nothing shorted in the deal, like low ram I spotted in a FEW machines and you should be fine. You will beat the Dells price easily and should be pretty happy.
     
  6. Major Attitude

    Major Attitude Co-Owner MajorGeeks.Com Staff Member

  7. TheDoug

    TheDoug MajorGeek

    You may be right there, but it's one of those "fool me once..." kind of issues for those of us who-- just wanting a basic workstation machine-- got burned back in the circa-333mHz days.
     
  8. Major Attitude

    Major Attitude Co-Owner MajorGeeks.Com Staff Member

    Im not. Computers are a topsy turvy world. I remember products I was never stupid enough to try like the Cyrix chipset, but also remember how 3dfx was the greatest video card ever and what happened to them and so on and so forth :)

     
  9. yturieow

    yturieow Private E-2

    Although, I've heard bad things about Emachines in the past, I've read recent (~ 2months ago) test results that indicate that they are now in the same class as Dell. At least as far as reliability goes. Can't speak for their customer service (which Dell is famous for). That being said, I've owned a Dell for about 8 months, and I'm very happy with it. I only paid $350 (after rebates) for it, but that was without a monitor. You have to watch their site for a while sometimes, to get a price like that. It also came with only 128mb of ram. I knew the system would run slow with that little ram, but it was cheaper to buy it like that, and then buy another 256mb stick at CompUSA, than to have the additional ram factory installed. Since you won't be gaming, an entry level Dell, or Emachine would probably be all you need.
     
  10. Major Attitude

    Major Attitude Co-Owner MajorGeeks.Com Staff Member

    ... and there ya go, people buying them past year or two love em. Enough said.
     
  11. Major Attitude

    Major Attitude Co-Owner MajorGeeks.Com Staff Member

    Maybe it needs to break first? ;)
     
  12. suesman

    suesman First Sergeant

    I had an E-Machines PIII550 laptop a while back & had nothing but problems with it. I will say their support was outstanding though. They replaced it once & I had the same problem so they just gave me my money back.

    I think Gateway has gone downhill fast over the past couple years. I have an old Essential 450 that is still working just fine today & I've not had any real problems with it.
     
  13. Novice

    Novice MajorGeek

    Just a note from a satisified EMachine user. I've owned four of them and still have two. My first, a 400 mhg. Celeron is still running well, I gave it to a friend. A 500 mhg. unit that I'm typing on now, with Windows 2000, and a W2785 with a gig. of memory setting beside it. A laptop, an EMachines ESlate 400, was my only disappointment, as the screen would go from dim to bright. It is still working, and I gave it to my daughter-in-law.
     
  14. Major Attitude

    Major Attitude Co-Owner MajorGeeks.Com Staff Member

    I did re-check with someone by phone and MasterTech is correct, the power supplies are still underpowered, explaining a good possibility of a short lifespan. Whether they are still proprietary or not, I am not sure. Powere supplies nowadays might be easier, but as Mastertech said, its something to consider.
     

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