VintageVibe1976

click on one of our sponsors! OR REMOVE ADS

My friend is thinking about buying a eMachines computer and I want to know if they are good computers and if they are upgradeable outside of eMachines?

wolf68k

depends on what the specs are and what use it's going to get.
They are cheap, and you usually get what you pay for with them.
Great cheap machine for a parent to get to a child in school so they can do homework, or for someone that just need to surf the net a bit and do their checking and stuff like that.
But I wouldn't get them for gaming, video editing or hardcore image work.

As for upgrades, again it go back to depends on the specs but more to the point the specs of the motherboard (mobo). If it has on-board video and no AGP slot, you're not going to upgrading the video card...sure you can get a PCI video card but that's hardly an upgrade.
Upgrading RAM is usually ok but limited. Same with the CPU but even more limited.
Harddrive (HDD, hard disk drive) and CD/DVD drive shouldn't be a problem. However adding an extra HDD or a second CD/DVD drive (if there is only one to start with) might be a problem. While the mobo will support 2 IDE devices per IDE cable, the problem is if the case will have the suppport to add one or not. Figuring out some home-made rigging to add on the second HDD is possible, but if the front of the case doesn't have a face plate that can be removed to add a second CD/DVD drive, then it's a no go, and I have seen some in the past that didn't. Then after all of that you also have to worry if the power supply unit (PSU) will have the extra plug for the extra drive(s) you want to add, but there are usually was around that, then you just have to hope the PSU has enough power for the extra load.

If you on a tight budget and you're not someone that has to upgrade all the time, and not a gamer or any the others along that line, and you need a compete system then go for it.
If you still on a tight budget and can salvage items from your current system (like the HDD, CD/DVD drive, monitor and a few others), let me know what you can salvage, if anything, and the budget and I can help you find the parts to build a nice system.
I can easily show you how you can spend $500US get a nice low to mid range gaming machine, but this is minus a monitor. And in both cases you have to build it yourself or get a friend/family to do it for you.


sorry for being long winded, but it's better for me to assume a few things instead of asking a bunch of questions and you answer back and bounce back around for a long time.

Patito

I would never buy one, and they used to not be good computers at all. They were bargain price because, well... they really sucked. Apparently they revamped a lot of things now, and their customer service is great and a lot of their newer computers are actually decent, but you still get what you pay for. Don't expect one of their $400 computers to be that good.

zzyzzgy

i have an eMachine that is about 2 years old now. never had a problem with it.
i do minor photo editing with it. my newest PC game is about a year old now, so i have no idea if the newer games will run on it or not. i did have to upgrade the video card when i bought it because the one that came with it was very outdated.
works fine for web browsing and online games.
came with a large HDD (100 gb)
only has a DVD player. i cant remember if it is replaceable or not as i havent opened the case since it was new. i think there is one or two expansion slots left.

jobo

Thanx for that info I neded it also.

VintageVibe1976

Thanks, I'll have to talk my friend out of making a mistake since he wants to use it for gaming. Wolf, you seem to know alot about computers. What is the cheapest or which graphics card would you recommend me to buy. I'm building a computer and don't know which video card to get, I'm going to have an AMD 64 3000+ or 3200+ CPU and I want to be able to run Half Life 2 smoothly.

wolf68k

What make of cards do you like? ATI or nVidia? Because which ever you like best, then that's the best. I know that's not much of an answer, but it's a honest andswer instead of horsesh*t about which is best.
Which card is best in each maker's line, is an easy one to figure out. But if you're on a budget for the card, then I would need to know what the budget is and if you're limited to in-store shopping or you can also buy online....USA or not would also help.

Ryan

sounds like eMachines has been dubbed 'bad' by this crowd. I agree.

When I used to work at Best Buy, we'd get those returned all of the time. They were just really crappily made, and things would constantly break. We did the math, and found out that the power supply they put it was BARELY enough to give power to all of the devices inside. If you added another cdrom drive or a second hard drive, the power supply would fuck up, or it would dip power to the other devices and cause all sorts of problems. In short, eMachines suck ass.

Furthermore, don't build a computer yourself. Go to pricewatch.com and price out all the parts for a computer. Then, go to techbargains.com and find a deal for a premanufactured hp, compaq, or dell. You'll find that you won't save a whole hell of a lot of money by building it yourself. Last time I checked, I was going to save $40 by building it myself, but I would end up paying that in shipping anyways. Plus home-brew computers don't have warranties, and if shit breaks, you have to find out what part broke, and then pray that that specific part you bought had a warranty.

The ONLY way I'd build my own computer again is if I was building another shuttle xpc (www.shuttle.com). Those are the shit. Now I think they sell them already built, though... I had to build mine last year.

___________________________________________
Oh my god, I have a blog

VintageVibe1976

Thanks that is what I wanted to know and I'm not building a computer. I'm having a computer built with my own configurations by ibuypower.com. If you have heard anything bad about them I would like to know.

Iiani

Posts: n/a/0

Threads:

If your Gaming ... get it built. If you are doing homework surfing and doing non graphics intensive stuff.. go for it. I have an emachines as the family PC and it is 2 years old.. gonna buy another one for the family use.

Of course GOD HELP ANYONE WHO TOUCHES MY MACHINE!!!

I will tell you though that the first machine we got from them 3 years ago did have the power supply go bad. We called and got a control number and shipped it to them. Got a call from them 5 days after shipment and they asked if it would be ok to upgrade it and send out a different computer after they transferred the info to the new harddrive for us... Blew me away. Course then I really got a shock when he told me the new PC was almost twice as fast and twice the RAM. Their customer service is there, and the PC's are really for family computing.

Long story short..
Emachines = good for family stuff and email
Emachines = BAD for gamers and high quality video

amsterdam

Man if you a new user to a pc,,,, then yes a emachine will work just fine!!!

Nazarah

Steer clear of Emachines!

I do tech support for a living and do hardware work for people in the metro area after work as a side job. I see more of those things that are just SAD than anything else.

However, once I do have someone bring me one, it's almost a guarantee I can sell them one I already have built!

mattjh

I worked for Staples in college as a tech. I saw a lot of problems with these PCs. They seemed to be hit or miss. Since they've been acquired by Gateway, I would expect things to change. I haven't really dealt with any of the newer models though. I can't say for sure.

What's up

Nothin wrong with emachines, they used to be shit but they have rebuilt them and there more reliable and have many more features than they used to. As long as you get decent specs, at least... 512 ram, 80 gig drive, amd 3000+, dvd burner......you'll find that these pc's arn't all that bad, just make sure you dont pay too much, 600 or less