HOT or NOT? emachine p4,1.6GH,17"mon,printer,$679 after MIR at BB..memory upgradable to 3gig!

[Kilroy00]

This deal is running this week at Bestbuy. I think this computer is upgradable to 1G or more memory, unlike low end Dell deals which only upgrade to 512K. And this deal also includes a decent 17" monitor and a free Lexmark Z23 printer. Does anybody have this machine? How does it rate? What is the maximum memory upgrade? Couldn't find it on the emachine site.

Specs on Computer:
CPU Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 1.60 GHz (w/256KB)
Chipset Intel 845 Chipset
Memory 256 MB SDRAM (PC133)
Hard Drive 40 GB HDD
Optical Drives Built-in 16x Max. CD-RW Drive; 3.5" 1.44MB FDD
Video nVidia TNT2 M64 AGP with 32MB
Sound AC '97 Audio
Modem 56K* ITU v.92 ready Fax/Modem
Network 10/100Mbps built-in Ethernet
Ports/Other 4 USB ports (2 on front), 1 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 PS/2, Audio In & Out, Midi/Game port, Mic-In & Head Phone jack on front
Peripherals Keyboard, Wheel Mouse, Premium Speakers

 

[GiGoLo]

This deal sounds ok for an extra computer or for one of the kids, but not as a gaming machine. I'd reccommend staying away from a P4/sdram combination as its much much slower then either DDR or RDram (which is cheaper than ddr now by the way ) And this video card is the 64-bit tnt2 vanta.

With all that aside though, this is a good price since it also comes with a monitor and printer.

 

[Bork]

I've helped friends buy 4 eMachines. A 433, 466, and two 633mhz boxes. They are decent boxes for the money. The power supplies are low-wattage - about 145watt and the 433 is now making fan noise. But they're all still running & the owners are happy. They are weak in 3D with the on-board video. However this new 1.6 box appears to have an AGP slot. That TNT2 M64 is old and lame, but you could easily upgrade it for 3D gaming. The model with the FREE BIBLE attached is definitely a hot deal!

 

[allisolm]

Other emachine deals are available at Circuit City and Office Depot this week for about the same price. I don't know if one is better than the other. All require rebates. The Best Buy one is $1104.97 less $200 Best Buy MIR, $75 emachines MIR, less $100 emachines bundle MIR, less $30 printer MIR, less $20 printer bundle MIR for a total of $679.97.

Circuit City deal
T1400/EVIEW17C/LEXZ23

AMD Athlon XP Processor 1600
256mb SyncDRAM
40GB hard drive
CD-RW drive
Modem
17" monitor
Z23 printer
no NIC

$669.99 after $175emachines MIR, $50 Lexmark MIR, $100 CC MIR


OD deal

T1120 239-294/Model VS-77 368-991/Z23 923-021
Intel Celeron 1.2GHz
256MB SDRAM
16x cd-rw
17" KDS monitor
Lexmark printer

$804.97 less $75 emachines MIR less $50 printer bundle MIR less $30 monitor MIR less $20 monitr coupon savings for $629.97

 

[tweekerz]

NOT

 

[AnyMal]

Word of advice if you're considering buying one: either have a spare Micro ATX power supply handy, or better yet buy a different case/ps combo (Compgeeks sells one for about $20.00) and relocate all the guts. I had to repair four of those units and they all had problems related po power supply failure.

 

[unclebud]

that's the thing. dell has these proprietary ps and it's driving me nuts! my father bought a dell 166 for $250 from a computer show a year agoP) and i'm trying to decide if it's worth chancing getting a refurb ps from dell or if it's the mobo, just cannibalizing. it's got this weird at/atx hybrid plug going on also--first time seeing one of these...

 

[Kilroy00]

The Tech support guy said that this machine is upgradable to 3 GIG of sdram memory. Not too bad. The monitor is flat screen with .25 dp which is better than the previous monitor bundles at BB.

Is this a good starter system for video streaming? burning SVCD's and so forth?

 

[ashneel]

my friends emachine died.

power supply he has tried a couple of power supplys.

didnt work.

fry's says takes 6 days he doesnt want to wait that long.

 

[Kilroy00]

I have a Celeron 633 MHz for over a year and had no probs. CSR guys said the power supply problem were rectified since the Windows ME machines were out which started with 600 MHz and up series. Some kind of power management problems with the Win98 and the older BIOS on previous motherboards.