Author Topic: Tell me about eMachines (Read 10765 times)

Gibdo Master · « **on:** October 18, 2003, 09:05:02 PM »

I'm shopping around for a new PC and was just wondering what everyone thought of eMachines. I've heard some vague complaints about them at other forums but then I've heard complaints about just about every brand.

While you're here what do you think about this PC and its price tag. I really don't do any PC gaming so I don't need anything with a lot of power. In fact my current PC is a little over 2 years old and the main reason why I want to upgrade is so I can have XP (have ME right now) and so I can give my current computer to my parents. I wouldn't mind getting some more speed too but like I said the main reason is because of the operating system.

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #1 on:** October 18, 2003, 09:09:22 PM »

I HIGHLY suggest staying as far away from emachines as possible. I know that I hate damn near everything, but I'm really right this time (I think). Even a Dell is better in my books. Emachines are cheap, but they come at a terrible cost to performance. They aren't fit to power a blender.

I would really suggest coughing up an extra $100 or so for something a little better, or maybe just a better brand. I normally suggest no-name brands, as they generally don't contain a lot of proprietary rubbish.

Gibdo Master · « **Reply #2 on:** October 18, 2003, 09:13:38 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Grey Ninja
I would really suggest coughing up an extra $100 or so for something a little better, or maybe just a better brand. I normally suggest no-name brands, as they generally don't contain a lot of proprietary rubbish.

Such as?

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #3 on:** October 18, 2003, 09:28:47 PM »

I really don't know actually. I have never had a store-bought computer. My experience with eMachines comes from my brother in law's computer.

My general rule for buying store bought computers though is to find something with good specs, a low pricepoint, and is NOT a name brand.

For you, this would be:

2GHz processor (minimum)
512MB RAM
A decent video card.
Enough hard drive space to please you.

Even if you don't play games, a good video card is essential. It makes things look nicer in general, and will greatly increase the speed at which new windows load. It doesn't have to be top of the line, but there's no excuse for not having a Radeon 7500/GeForce2, or something.

Gibdo Master · « **Reply #4 on:** October 18, 2003, 09:33:10 PM »

Thanks

Jdub03 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 24, 2003, 07:00:40 AM »

Yes I have an emachine and it sucks. It has no agp slot. I got it just to play games. I also wasted 60 bucks on an nvidia geforce 3(this is an agp).

mouse_clicker · « **Reply #6 on:** October 24, 2003, 11:25:16 AM »

eMachines are quite simply the worst pieces of electronics ever concieved of by man, of they can even be considered electronics. My family has owned two such computers, both of which had me pulling my hair out immediatley- if I had had an axe with me, we would have had 4 eMachines.

Our second eMachines is the whole reason I pieced together the computer I'm typing this message on now- great piece of equipment, although it doesn't seem to be able to play any game requiring DirectX or OpenGL. I think it's a problem with my motherboard or memory- either way I'll find out soon enough.

S-U-P-E-R · « **Reply #7 on:** October 24, 2003, 11:39:50 AM »

eFriends use eMachines to eChat with their eBuddies on the eMail eInternet eOnline

Gibdo Master · « **Reply #8 on:** October 24, 2003, 12:46:25 PM »

Well, I already got a new computer now. It's a Compaq. I know Grey Ninja said not to go name brand but I currently have a Compaq and have never had a problem with it other than ME which of course isn't Compaq's fault.

Uglydot · « **Reply #9 on:** October 25, 2003, 12:41:07 PM »

If you can afford better than emachine, get it. If now, you MIGHT be better off taking a dump on your desk and pluging cables into it.;-)

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #10 on:** October 25, 2003, 04:41:57 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: mouse_clicker
although it doesn't seem to be able to play any game requiring DirectX or OpenGL. I think it's a problem with my motherboard or memory- either way I'll find out soon enough.

That doesn't sound like a motherboard or memory problem to me. Bad memory is usually seen through numerous unexplained BSODs, and frequent crashing. A bad motherboard will usually show itself in a similar way, although most often your computer simply will not boot if the motherboard is fried.

Nay, that sounds like a problem with your video to me. The most obvious thing I would suggest is making sure that your video drivers are up to date. If you are using the default Windows XP drivers, I would say that's the problem right there.

But I would really like to know more information. Specifically: Operating System, Video Hardware, and Driver Version.

mouse_clicker · « **Reply #11 on:** October 25, 2003, 04:57:38 PM »

It's not my graphics card, Ninja- I thought so at first, too, but I replaced my Powercolor Radeon 9600 Pro with an old GeForce 2 I had in another computer- the exact same problem occurred with all my games (failing to open and giving me an error message). For my Radeon I have used the driver that came with the card, the most up to date Radeon driver ATI has to offer, an older Radeon driver from earlier this year, and am currently running the latest Omega Radeon driver (6.0.1.2). For my GeForce I was running nVidia's latest GeForce driver. I'm using Windows XP Professional right now. But the weirdest thing is that I can uninstall and reinstall a game and have it work perfectly, but only for a little while until it starts refusing to open again. Of course, one shouldn't have to do that to just play a game. What's really annoying about the whole ordeal is having this great gaming quality machine sitting right in front of me, and not being to play games on it- it's like having a Gamecube with a permanent disc read error.

manunited4eva22 · « **Reply #12 on:** October 25, 2003, 05:07:15 PM »

As for eMachines, the reason they blow so much is they are made of second hand/refurbished parts. Dell has done the same lately, and honestly it is a horribly solution.

mouse_clicker · « **Reply #13 on:** October 25, 2003, 05:11:05 PM »

They also use integrated components, forcing you to buy a whole new computer when yours is out of date (which is what's nice about having a custom built computer- when the time comes for me to upgrade a part, I just replace it).

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #14 on:** October 25, 2003, 05:27:42 PM »

Mouse, that's just really freaking weird... I really don't know what to tell you. I suppose it could be your motherboard, however strange that might be... Have you tried a fresh install of Windows yet? It could also be a software error somewhere...

mouse_clicker · « **Reply #15 on:** October 25, 2003, 05:30:28 PM »

I've whiped my hard drive 3 times since the problem first occurred, so yes, I've done a fresh install of Windows. It's really starting to eat at me, too. Everyone I've asked is perplexed as to what's causing the problem, including the Rage3D forums. I've asked for help from ATI's technical support, but I don't know how much they can do since it's not a problem with my graphics card.

Although, someone on Rage3D did say he had a very similar problem being caused by some bad nforce drivers for his motherboard, which has an nforce 2 chipset, as does mine. He suggested I uninstall my current nforce driver and install a newer one. The problem was once I'd uninstall the old driver it would ask me to restart my computer, which I'd do. But when Windows would try to load, it couldn't because it was missing a driver file, forcing me to whipe my hardrive... twice. I gave up on uninstalling the old nforce driver and just installed the new one over it, but it didn't help at all.

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #16 on:** October 25, 2003, 05:43:09 PM »

Well, judging from that last post... I would have to agree with the guy on the Rage3D forums that it's most likely your nForce chipset, be it a hardware defect or a driver issue. If you are having that much problem installing chipset drivers, I would suggest contacting nVidia or your motherboard manufacturer about that. It just shouldn't be happening.

mouse_clicker · « **Reply #17 on:** October 25, 2003, 05:44:38 PM »

True- I'll probably give nvidia an email soon. If all else fails, I've still got a while to return my motherboard for a replacement if need be.

Sirmorphix · « **Reply #18 on:** October 26, 2003, 02:53:07 PM »

Emachines, not good. Just like you'd probably not want to ride in car built by the lowest bidder, you'd probably not want a computer built by the lowest one either. I humbly and highly echo earlier comments in other threads of avoiding any sort of dell/compaq sort of machine. Expensive upgrades and issues generally tend to follow. And if you shop around, you should be able to get a good price on a PC with good components and assemble it yourself (or have a store assemble it for you).

However if you're not doing much with your PC, other than just surfing email etc then I'm not sure you really even need as much power as a 2.4GHZ machine.

Still if you were thinking of getting something powerful, you can still get one at a reasonable price. I was able to get a 3 Ghz P4, an ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro, 1 Gig of Ram and 120 Gig HD plus tower and other crap for $1800 Canadian. Only took me about 2 hours of sort of watching TV and playing games to finish assembling it.

ThePerm · « **Reply #19 on:** October 26, 2003, 03:47:33 PM »

E stands for electric...i use a chakra based computer

enigma487 · « **Reply #20 on:** October 27, 2003, 04:06:28 AM »

yes, this may seem a little biased coming from a Best Buy Technican, but here goes: E-machines are really no worse than any other brand of computer. and to be honest, if i was going to buy a name-brand, it may very well be an E-machine. 9 months ago, i probably wouldn't have said that for the very reasons that people have pointed out. no AGP slot, second-hand parts, stuff like that. but the newer models are actually very nice machines when comparing prices to other name-brands. just the other day, a customer bought a compaq and a such top-of-the-line video card that we didn't even have them in the store (it was a special order from the warehouse). go to install it, and the stupid salesman hadn't even checked if the compaq had an AGP slot, which it didn't. but the newer E-machine models have all had them that i've seen. (by newer, i've seen a couple models with dark black cases, not the greyish ones). and from the technician side of things, i really don't see any more E-machines coming in for service than i do Hewlett Packards or Compaqs. if anything, i would recommend straying away form HP laptops, and Compaq desktop computers. they seem to be in about the most often. just passing on what i've seen in our store.

Uglydot · « **Reply #21 on:** October 27, 2003, 11:22:25 AM »

My friend has an emachine with the black case, no agp. I really don't like anything pre-build, but yes, for the price, then aren't bad.

Edit:I suck

kennyb27 · « **Reply #22 on:** October 27, 2003, 03:37:03 PM »

Has Compaq finally strayed from that small case syndrome that used to plague their older computers? I used to have one of those and it was a terror to take apart and install some more RAM or fix my floppy drive (which had a strange problem of falling out of its slot for no apparent reason).

Gibdo Master · « **Reply #23 on:** October 27, 2003, 06:23:25 PM »

I actually feel the case is a little over sized on the one I just bought. I opened the thing up and there's quite a bit of empty space. Anyway my last computer was a Compaq and I never had any problems with it. My brother got the same model that I did and he too never had any problems. Like 6 months ago he bought a new Compaq and hasn't had any problems with it either. I really don't understand where the "don't buy Compaq" warnings are coming from. Is this because of experience you guys have had with them years ago or something?

By the way you can check out the PC I got by clicking here. I feel it's pretty good but the memory is on the sh!tty side. I will be upgrading that to 512MB though. Also for some reason on that page it says the hard drive is 80GB but it's only 40GB. I got it from Best Buy as part of a package deal where you get a monitor and printer with it. It cost me $802.47 after tax but there are $250 worth of rebates on it. By the time you count in the rebates and the memory upgrade for $85.99 (that's before taxes and the S&H is free) from Crucial it will only have cost me $638.46. Not to bad considering I paid a little over a thousand for my old computer and that was after rebates.

Now I just have to hope and pray no one comes in here and tells me I got a crappy computer and paid way to much for it. If I did though I would like to know since it's not to late to send it back.

EDIT: Oh and this is the monitor and the printer I got with the package deal.

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #24 on:** October 27, 2003, 06:38:59 PM »

Quote
I opened the thing up and there's quite a bit of empty space.

You act like that's a bad thing lol...

Just took a bunch of sleeping pills, so I am about ready to collapse, and I didn't read your full post, but I just noticed that. That statement is like saying that you bought a flute, but it seems sort of shoddy because it has lots of holes in it.

I will tell you whether it was a good or bad deal tomorrow.

News:

Author Topic: Tell me about eMachines (Read 10765 times)