Helping a friend buy a prebuilt computer

[amdskip]

That emachine specs you posted is a killer little system. They have greatly improved over the last few years but the cheap machines they used to build left a tarnished opinion for their computers.

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: amdskip
That emachine specs you posted is a killer little system. They have greatly improved over the last few years but the cheap machines they used to build left a tarnished opinion for their computers.

I AGREE COMPLETELY

 

[preslove]

They got a whole lot better in the years leading up to their sale to Gateway. Emachines' CEO and management replaced the gateway founder at the top (he became chairman). So now if you're buying a gateway you're basically buying an Emachine, not the other way around. Just tell your friend that the second guy helping her has outdated information on their old reputation and that this deal is better than anything she can get.

 

[BurnItDwn]

about the "shared" and "integrated" video .....

ALL "shared memmory" video cards are integrated.
Not all Integrated video cards rely on shared memmory (most do).

"Shared Memmory" just means that the onboard video does not have it's own memmory banks. Instead, it takes some of the conventional system memmory, and claims it as it's own.

If you buy a box with 512mb of ram, the video card will "steal" a certain amount of it and prevent other programs from accessing it.


It is a complete joke for gaming, but anything not video bandwidth intensive will work fine.


EDIT: ok ... not "all" shared memmory cards are integrated. I am ignorant when it comes to current gen low end stuff.

 

[Shadowknight]

What happened with e-machines was this; the guy who founded it decided to get out and sold the company. The buyers proceeded to SEVERLY cut quality, leading e-machines quality and rep to go into the toilet. He then bought the company back, and turned it back into a decent company again, selling high-end systems and laptops for cheap to get their rep back. I have a laptop, the e-machine m6805, that's been working great for the last 2 years. FYI, it is the SAME laptop sold by Alienware and Voodoo at the time, made by Arima. The individual companies just put in a screen of their choosing, ra hard drive, a processor, and a video card. The ATI 9600 was the highest end video card at the time. E-machines put in a 64mb version, Alienware and Voodoo put in the 128mb version. The E-machines charged $1,000 less than those other 2 companies.

Oh, and e-machines has the best customer service reps I've used from any company.

The CEO did such a good job turning the company around, Gateway wanted to buy the company with one condition, the CEO of Gateway had to become the new CEO of Gateway. The Gateway portion of the company makes the desktops, the e-machine part of the company makes the laptops. I'd consider giving e-machines/Gateway a shot now.

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: NutBucket
NO!!

Sheesh eMachines are fine for $300 but for 1k you can get a fairly loaded Dell. You'd be an idiot to recommend an eMachine that expensive.

:thumbsup:

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
about the "shared" and "integrated" video .....

ALL "shared memmory" video cards are integrated.
Not all Integrated video cards rely on shared memmory (most do).

x300se hypermemory and 6200TCs share memory. and they're not integrated.

 

[dug777]

get a dell.

 

[CKent]

Lol, what's wrong with her 6 y/o PC? She probably just needs to check gossip.com and AIM her friends, and you're making her spend $1-2k?

 

[preslove]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
What happened with e-machines was this; the guy who founded it decided to get out and sold the company. The buyers proceeded to SEVERLY cut quality, leading e-machines quality and rep to go into the toilet. He then bought the company back, and turned it back into a decent company again, selling high-end systems and laptops for cheap to get their rep back. I have a laptop, the e-machine m6805, that's been working great for the last 2 years. FYI, it is the SAME laptop sold by Alienware and Voodoo at the time, made by Arima. The individual companies just put in a screen of their choosing, ra hard drive, a processor, and a video card. The ATI 9600 was the highest end video card at the time. E-machines put in a 64mb version, Alienware and Voodoo put in the 128mb version. The E-machines charged $1,000 less than those other 2 companies.

Oh, and e-machines has the best customer service reps I've used from any company.

The CEO did such a good job turning the company around, Gateway wanted to buy the company with one condition, the CEO of emachines had to become the new CEO of Gateway. The Gateway portion of the company makes the desktops, the e-machine part of the company makes the laptops. I'd consider giving e-machines/Gateway a shot now.

Fixed. There it is. Ignore the rest of these jokers. That system is a steal at $550. If she is scared off by the other dude, go to ibuypower.com and look at the athlon64 machines there. They have pretty good budget prices.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: RBachman
Lol, what's wrong with her 6 y/o PC? She probably just needs to check gossip.com and AIM her friends, and you're making her spend $1-2k?

You fail at reading comprehension.

Thanks (alomst) everyone else for your posts though, some good insights here. Certainly welcome to more.

 

[dquan97]

you should check ebay for a dell dual core xps 400 system that was on sale a few weeks ago. Looks like they're selling between $500-700. 3.2Ghz dual core, 1GB RAM, and plenty of HD space.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: amdskip
That emachine specs you posted is a killer little system. They have greatly improved over the last few years but the cheap machines they used to build left a tarnished opinion for their computers.

I AGREE COMPLETELY

Sorta like Hyundais. Hyundai and eMachine need to change their name.

 

[destrekor]

i agree with the emachines. dell's support is a joke. a prebuilt system is a prebuilt system. as long as the support is good, why does it matter where you get it from? eMachines and Gateway are all American/Canadian support techs. We had a gateway back in 1997 and it was a superb system. Any trouble, and it was fixed. A guy came to our house once to replace the memory that went bad. i upgraded it and kind of made the system a custom built, but the fact remains that it was still a great system from Gateway, which yes any eMachines systems are pretty much gateway now.

 

[Trikat]

Dell computers are not the King of pre-built. If you actually kept up with the news on Dell you will see their quality sucks now and they have bad publicity for there defective computers. I have to say their desktops are built way better than their laptops, but Dell computers are for newbies/companies/schools. Get it for the decent warranty and probably better value that almost anywhere. If you don't want to buy Dell I would say get a ibuypower or cyberpowerpc.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: sm8000

Originally posted by: RBachman
Lol, what's wrong with her 6 y/o PC? She probably just needs to check gossip.com and AIM her friends, and you're making her spend $1-2k?

You fail at reading comprehension.

Thanks (alomst) everyone else for your posts though, some good insights here. Certainly welcome to more.

She wants to do some photo editing and you're recommending an LCD and a 3d card, sorry if I was laughing a bit too hard to read the fine print :laugh: As an aside, it's no wonder computer-illiterates shy away from PCs and buy consoles instead, when they think it costs a few thou to check their email and even more to game...

 

[Steve]

She budgeted $2000 of her own accord, and she wanted the 2405. Her decisions entirely. She also insisted on video that doesn't share system RAM.

Work on your reading skills.

 

[Steve]

My thanks to the staff for the email letting me know this was moved. Still open to input.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: sm8000
She budgeted $2000 of her own accord, and she wanted the 2405. Her decisions entirely. She also insisted on video that doesn't share system RAM.

Work on your reading skills.

Twice from someone who can't tell the difference between "General Hardware" and "Off Topic", oh the irony...

 

[MadOni0n]

A $1000 eMachine? what are you thinking? sure if some old guy needs a budget solution for $200-300 max. For that amount, you can build a sweet gaming computer. I'd just get a dell or something, they have pretty good systems (with good warranty) around the 500 600 mark.

 

[rasczak]

rather than buy an emachine, go with a Dell if she prefers pre built and the warranty taht comes along with it. if she wants to save a couple hundred bucks, build one. taht same Dell for $928.00 you can build for a third less.

Emachines have a bad reputation for a reason, regardless of whethere or not gateway owns them. Stay away from them unless you are only going to spen $300 or less. Even then you can go to some little mom and pop pc shop and probably get a pretty good deal on one of thier own prebuilt pc's and still have a pretty good warranty.

 

[Aoleleb]

The Emachine is a good buy, someone from work bought that same model, the 6524, and it was not loaded w/ to much crap like the dells are. Only thing is that they don't include repair disks. Go for the emachine!

 

[unclebud]

walmart.com has some computers on clearance. they probably come with repair disks
as long as she doesn't game, emachines is probably the cheapest out the door without a brick-and-mortar clearance
she will need to replace the power supply if a relative/friend/nephew is going to game on it
hth

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: MadOni0n
A $1000 eMachine? what are you thinking? sure if some old guy needs a budget solution for $200-300 max. For that amount, you can build a sweet gaming computer. I'd just get a dell or something, they have pretty good systems (with good warranty) around the 500 600 mark.

That eMachine is $599. $649 before the rebate.

RBachman, sorry but you're a pretty lame duck. I posted in OT for a reason - look how long this thread is

 

[imported_OrSin]

Nothing wrong with e-machine really. The problems is some fo thier parts are some time crap. Most notable bad motherboards choices. Now they are ok. at least the with the ATI chipset.

Now I say just skip e-machines and go with HP. The HP with AMD chips are great. Good motherbaord, good prices, good looking case (women love the shiny stuff) and she will be much happier with the name. If she does like HP get he compaq of the same design.
HP AMD sysdtems beats emachice in pricing and features. Almost got one for myself.