What's up with e-machines?

[shocksyde]

Are these total **** or are they worth the 300-400 dollars? I'm going to get one for business and online usage, not gaming.

What's your opinion on 'em?

shock

[grunt]

Some people say they are total junk. I've only worked on a few of them so I can't say for sure. The few that I've seen did use cheap components though (PCTel modems.)

You would probably fare better to spend $500 - $600 and build it yourself. You'd still have to use some cheap components but at least you'd have a choice.

[waferdog]

Actually, I don't think they are that bad of a machine for what you want it for. The power supplies are incredibly puny, but if you don't add on to it, you should be fine. I bought one of these for my girlfriend's family, and it seems to operate well, once you uninstall all of the emachines software. The other nice thing we did is get the three year warranty from Best Buy. If it sucks, it get's replaced. So if it breaks three years from now, you would get a brand new updated machine. You also could apply the warranty unethically, but I don't endorse that.

[daveleau]

The only problems I have seen with them is that the PS's die fairly easily. They are very small (in size but not nec. in power) PS's and from what I see, you must go to E-Machine to get the replacement as they are so small.

I bought one for my mother and it has worked great.

Dave

[Szech]

I think that on the whole, they're -okay-, but my roommate's e-machine has been nothing but trouble from day one. Broken this and incompatible that. But it's a computer, and it's cheap. Just remember that you probably don't want to chain yourself to MSN for three years, and that a monitor is gonna cost more.

[bomac58]

My parents who are in their 60's bought one and have had it a year with no problems. Basically they surf the web everyday with it. I use it when I am there it seems ok but it has a hd rattler everytime the hd is running to read and it is annnoying. Other than that I havn't been inside it.

[thekingofpain]

I helped a neighbor pick one out about 8 months ago, it was a Celeron 500 w/4.3 hdd, 64megs mem, blah blah blah, bought him a 17" Pixie with it for a total cost of about 550$, put a free Internet service on it and a few months later we added a cheap Epson printer, id say he got his moneys worth out of it the first month, he is like 56 year old kid in an endless candystore... http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[ck42866]

Although I don't care for these machines, they did impress me with thier venture into the gaming PC. I saw a PIII 550 with all the trimmings a few months ago and almost, almost I said, considered it.

[hoods2]

Got one for my Daughter $360 for 400 celeron.
$100 refurb monitor.
Can't go wrong for $460. It will get her though high school and maybe collage.
I'm happy.

[Richard_Cranium72]

My thought is if ya get one with the 366 Celeron and the thing don't run right, get a decent mobo and it outta fly. You can get one regularly at buy.com for less than three c notes. Intel® Celeron 366MHz (w/128KB Cache) PPGA CPU
32MB SyncDRAM (up to 256 MB)
ATI Rage Pro Turbo 2X AGP with 4MB SGRAM
Crystal CS4280 3D PCI audio
40x Max. CD-ROM drive
4.3GB HDD (Ultra DMA EIDE)
3.5" 1.44MB FDD
56K ITU V.90 PCI fax/modem
PS/2 keyboard/mouse
Stereo speakers
2 USB ports (1 is on Front)
1 Serial / 1 parallel / 3 expansion slot
Audio in & out / game port on front
Internet ready
Microsoft® Windows® '98
Microsoft® Works
Warranty - 90 days
Condition - refurbished

http://www.us.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=70000934&loc=671

[voogru]

There Great!


THIS IS ONLY A JOKE IM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY OF YOUR ACTIONS

Take out the cpu and any good quailty stuff (rare) and smash it too pieces then send it back to to e-machines telling them you recieved it like that and ask for a replacement.(you should still have the other cpu and good stuff out of the other one that you smashed to pieces)
when they send it too you take out the cpu and good stuff and smash it too pieces send it back, get a replacement,Take out the goods, smash it again, send it back, get a replacement, Take out the goods, smash it again,Send it back, Get a Replacement, take out the goods, smash it again.send it back, get a replacement,Take out the goods, smash it again, send it back, get a replacement, Take out the goods, smash it again,Send it back, Get a Replacement, take out the goods, smash it again.send it back, get a replacement,Take out the goods, smash it again, send it back, get a replacement, Take out the goods, smash it again,Send it back, Get a Replacement, take out the goods, smash it again. And on and on and.............

Now sell all those cpus and you should have plenty of cash for a real computer!!

now dont forget the FBI may be on your Back!

[thekingofpain]

And in the 15 times you paid UPS 30$ you would be way ahead now wouldnt you???

[Richard_Cranium72]

er, voogru
I think Outpatient may have a referal to a competant Pscologist and there are several medications that may help in your particular case. If you find that 10,000 mg of Valium per hour and perhaps a couple hundred Prozac. If these don't help, perhaps a frontal lobodomy may be your answer, above all, SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP.. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif DrVette

[shocksyde]

haha, are they really that much of a push-over when it comes to the warranty???

shock

[Win_98]

you want the technical detail to it wight?!! well it seem like emachine are bundled with cheap component. onboard sound called sound crystal 16 crappy sound compared to soundblaster16 but ugh you get what ya paid for. ATI RAGE 4meg AGP2x decent and pretty fast. Wisecom 56K modem software driven so so but still better then onboard modem uses 66mhz off ya processor when in use. 4.3gig WD I think, rattle alot thought. wut else right? well alot of bundled **** that you dont need called advertisement junk stuff. cant complain right? it pretty decent for folk who dont want to get their feet wet. cheapest brandname you can find

[thekingofpain]

If ya dont like the name or packageing eMachine brings you, HP has low-end machines in a similar pricerange...

[thekingofpain]

Whoa, my finger isnt awake yet... http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by thekingofpain (edited 08-14-2000).]

[jjsole]

They are good for simple users that just plan to use MsWord and go online, but don't really plan to upgrade or maximize their comp. This is such a trap for many though because even if it is your first computer, many people will then start to learn about computers and realize they have a very limited piece of junk.

Besides, your warranty will probably last longer than the company itself.

[spark25]

No up grade,if you tamper with the tape at the case/frame junction warrenty is void.
If you think you might be intereted in computers,don't buy one. Jjsole I think is spot on. Might be ok for word & mail & aol(woops!)
I got one cheap as a 2nd computer,got rid of it after 4 mo. Not worth the headache.

[This message has been edited by spark25 (edited 08-14-2000).]

[Richard_Cranium72]

My pal at the local Office Depot tells me that they get LOTS of E-Machines back not working in the first day or two.
Mostly it's the modem, cd-rom, sometimes the powersupply or could be mobo.. Dead pewter.

Maybe that's why we see so many "re-mans" at places like go.com..

[thekingofpain]

Like everything, its hit and miss, E offers a 2 week free tech support after the first "incident" which sucks. As an entry level machine...(believe me my neighbor wont have a hardware upgrade need for months, if only, to keep up with the Internet) some of the resellers offer a separate warranty, that sucks too as far as cost goes, for a first purchaser it would be great to have someone assisting them as I did with my neighbor, make sure all works well, help them in their challenges, inform them when they think all is lost (you know the feeling as a newbie) etc, we did have one prob, the CPU fan vibrated after 2 months, the warranty covered it and they told us how NOT to void the warranty by breaking the seal on the case, rather then use their procedure for replacement, we bought a 3$ fan locally and attached it, which E had no probs with...I still say he got his moneys worth the first month and I think he would agree wholeheartedly, opened his world up alright...(he is a disabled friend of mine, this actually has changed his life, money well spent)... http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[Win_98]

hmm i thought they do a better job then us. oh well everybody make mistake theseday even prebuilt computer that was thought to be perfect isn't so. it take years of experience to be perfect at assembling pc they must have some rookie who is doing it. cheap labor and inexperience technician are the culprit of bad modem, bad cdrom, bad harddrive etc.

[neo_otyugh]

about half the machines in the ISP call center i work in are emachines. they are all 400 celerons, and have 4.3 to 6.4 gig hard drives (seagate, western digital and quantum drives), 64 megs of ram, and dvd drives. overall they are great machines...for basic use. we use em for web browsing and basic office apps and a running a prism client. i think we have had around 2-4 hard drive failures (out of over 40 machines) and one machine was raped by a tech who took the cpu and ram, but left the hard drive. for a basic user they are fine...all you need to do is put a real modem in...

[Richard_Cranium72]

Neo, I think any item out there goes through phases of Quality or No-Quality. Glad to hear of the good luck, I kinda felt the 400 units w/Celery would be more dependable.

Win98 made a good point
" it take years of experience to be perfect at assembling pc they must have some rookie who is doing it. cheap labor and inexperience technician are the culprit of bad modem, bad cdrom, bad harddrive etc."

You got that right, you only missed one point, a malicious worker. Some wad-dip who screws them up intentionally, I'd like to break a few bones on people who go through life that way, evil http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/frown.gif.
i.e. The Firestone Tire fiasco has a rumor attached that "replacement" workers are the ones who mfg'd the faulty tires.

Just like the Packard Bell, Proteva, CompaquLock, and some others, you get good and bad in all computer equiptment, assembled or not. fyi, my g/f's Proteva, after a short initial problem, has run 14 months without down time.

Folks, the cheapest way as I see it to get into the computer business, is to ask for all used computer hardware that you can get for free.
Today I was given a working pewter with a , get this 486/100 , huh, is this right? Putting W95 on now.
See the guy at the dump, the local pewter stores{especially), beauty salon, repair shops, mom and pops type places.
Folks like to give them to people who they think can bring them back to life.
The pros can't spend a lot of time getting a P75 running, even if it takes no hardware.

Free and working is hard to beat for a slo poke surfer or business machine.

DrVette