eMachines any good?

[robzx11]

I was thinking of getting the T6000 ($1299)...

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ chip
512MB of 400MHz RAM (DDR SDRAM)
160GB Hard Drive
ATI Radeon 9600 w/ 128MB
CD Burner
DVD-ROM
seven USB
8 in 1 memory card reader
2 IEEE 1394 or FireWire ports

Does this sound like a good machine compared to HP, Sony, Compaq? Price seems right, but what about quality, stability?

Computer to be used mostly for AutoCAD and some games.

If I was to upgrade to XP Pro (already have upgrade CD - bought when XP first came out), would there be any problems w/ drivers, etc. Warranty be void?

Thanks
Robert

[uffbros]

They use junk components...However I read that they have vastly improved in the past 5 years. I wouldn't spend that one one.

[Calpitor]

For $1299 you can build a better computer as you're intending to use AutoCAD I would recommend maxing the RAM as far as the system board will allow. I realize that building your own system is not for every one but it is surprisingly simple and their are plenty of self-help websites and books to help you get your own kicka$$ system up and running. O.K. diatribe over.

In my book e-machine is only slightly better than Gateway. Most OEM systems come with a warranty that states in words of effect that technical support is only available on the original software and hardware that came from the manufacturer. While upgrading to XP Pro won't void the warranty you may find that you would have to revert to the original operating system to obtain technical support. On a side note take a long hard look at the software warranty HP, Compaq, I.B.M., and Dell limit the warranty for software support for a period of time not longer than anywhere from 30 - 90 days. In which case upgrading to XP Pro may mean having to restoring the system to its original configuration and then having to pay for technical support. As far as driver issues as long as you're upgrading Home to Pro then you shouldn't have any driver issues.

[J A L]

I hope for that price you get a 20 inch monitor and key board and mouse. E machines use pretty weak components. Frightening in fact. The typically find out who is the cheapest and sign huge contracts with the lowest bidder. Don't expect stability and longevity.


In a few words.... Build your own!! You should be able to do it way cheaper and with quality components.

The two things to consider for your machine is ram and video card. If your going to do graphics these are the most important. If cash is tight sacrifice a slightly slower processor to get a better video card.

Here are a couple of cards to consider.. Ati Workstation cards and Nvidia workstaion cards . These cards are designed for cad cam specialty purposes!

[DrMDJ]

For the price you listed, like others I think you can do a lot better. Personally, I'd say the opposite of Calpitor and go with a Gateway over an e-machine. However, of late some customer satisfaction surveys, such as this one, have shown that e-machines has cleaned up its act considerably. But I would take a serious look at Dell's offerrings. They put out some very decent systems and have had their prices slashed significantly for some time now. The site here is a good source to see some of the deals Dell has to offer.

PS. Building your own can be fun, educational, a way to get exacty the things you want, etc. But it isn't always necessarily cheaper than buying pre-built. It use to be much more cost effective if one could build their own, but the gap has narrowed and has in some/many cases dissappeared. Sure, its certainly still possible to save money building, but not always.. Besides, building is not for everyone. Some people aren't up to it, some don't want to be up to it. Some people don't want to take on the "self support" burdens which go with buidling their own. No question about it, lots of people here (and elsewhere) have successfully built systems. But it doesn't always work out that way. One doesn't have to look very far on this board alone to find a multitude of issues and problems people have run in to building their own. I'm not trying to say absolutely don't do it, just pointing out there are pros and cons.

[jmwills]

As one poster mentioned, this months edition of PC World actually gives them high marks on their new machines.

[robzx11]

Thanks everyone.

I think I'll have someone build one for me. I just got frustrated w/ my computer (built by MicroPro) again since it looks like the hard drive (Western Digital) went out again. They replaced the hard drive in May. Monday it got stuck in an endless loop at the screen to choose safe mode, last known config, etc... No matter what I picked, it would go back to this screen. I did disabled the cache settings in BIOS and got to the Windows Logo screen. Then the BSOD showed up. I don't have exaxt info w/ me now, but it said something about NTFS.SYS (?) file. Computer would work fine all day (8-10hrs), then I would play a game and it crash at least 90% of the time. It could be 5 mins or 30 mins. I had latest video drivers installed. A different computer store looked at it and said they are getting the BSOD when they plug the hard drive in another computer.

Robert

[jstanek7]

My daughter and her friends used to go to Micropro but they closed down. I like to go to Microcenter out in Mayfield they have good prices and a great return policy. I bought 6 different powerspecs from them and they work very well 4 of them were picked up as open box items for practically nothing. Check out their web page.

[jstanek7]

I just reread the specs on the Emachine and realized that it was an AMD 64 . that isn’t a bad price for that machine. the cpu alone is over $400.

[DrMDJ]

WOW! Like jstanek7, I too missed that it was an Athlon 64 the first time around. Hmmm. That changes things. Suddenly that ain't a bad price at all. But the question would be do you really need that kind of system, power? Probably not (few would). So even though it may a good deal, it may not be a cost effective purchase. But only you can say.

[Train]

Half the price of that machine is the motherboard and CPU. Not a bad price, but what would I do with a screamer like that.

[fubar]

According to an article I read at CNET a while back there won't be any applications available to take advantage of the AMD 64 chip until at least the end of next year.

I can't locate that article but I did find this article that touches on that very subject.

The chip is backwards compatable with 32 bit apps, but why pay extra for something that you can't use? I would wait till next year before I considered one of those...just my two cents

Fubar

[DrMDJ]

Fubar is correct. You'dbe hard pressed to reap the benefits of the 64 in the short term. But if ya want to be out in front of the pack and wait... The striking thing here is the overall price.

[robzx11]

My computer is still at shop. Said hard drive was bad. When he connected it to his computer (as slave) he couldn't read it. Said it froze or crashed (?) his computer. Put a new Hard Drive in mine and said it crashed after almost 4hrs into loading XP? Trying to reload today. Computer is only year old...

Intel P4 533FSB, 2.4GHz, 512K
ASUS P4T533C-L, 533FSB, S/L, ATX
2 - 256MB Kingston RDRAM PC1066
PNY GeForce4 Ti4600, 128MB
WD800JB, 80GB, 8MB cache
XP Pro
DVD Player
CD Writer

Can't take anymore chances w/ this computer. Something must be defective/corrupt??

Thought T6000 wouldn't be bad since I use the newest computer and could pass the T6000 down after a couple of years. 64-bit OS should be out and computer could be upgraded to it.

[Train]

Yes, that would be a fair deal. I would check things a tad closer.
As for your present computer, might want to evaluate the power supply. And the brand of the hdd. Might want to have that changed if both were the same brand.