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Emachines

S

Shadygoat

n00b
Joined
Feb 28, 2010
Messages
8
Are emachines really as bad as everyone says? I have a friend who had one and it never gave him any trouble so I considered buying one but everyone told me not to.
 
What model are you looking at?
What's your budget for a computer?
 
Your friend is lucky so for.Do your self a favor and pass.Low quality craftmanship(cough).
 
Older eMachines sucked, but now it's basically the same computer as Acer/Gateway since they are all the same company.
 
kirbyrj said:
Older eMachines sucked, but now it's basically the same computer as Acer/Gateway since they are all the same company.
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Oh Acer is behind emachines? I've heard all good things about Acers for the past few years.
 
If you have ~400 to spend, I'd get a Dell Vostro personally.
 
My first computer I bought was an eMachine, Its still kicking today. Never had any problems with it. All I did was threw some more RAM, a bigger HDD, and a decent video card and you have a cheap gaming PC.
 
bigchieftaco said:
My first computer I bought was an eMachine, Its still kicking today. Never had any problems with it. All I did was threw some more RAM, a bigger HDD, and a decent video card and you have a cheap gaming PC.
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Of course, you can say that about most any OEM computer ;).
 
Using one atm with an upgraded case and etc. The $600 junker has outlived and outdone my avadirect $2000 lemon. A few part swaps and they will do but you won't get extreme performance out of them.
 
I will never recommend Dell because I have known Dell (and other top-tier manufacturers) to use proprietary parts in their products. This is so they can bust it off in your ass should you ever need to replace one of these parts.

For example, the MB went out on a friend's Dell PC. This PC had a proprietary power button connector on the MB (of all things)!:rolleyes: The MB couldn't be replaced with a standard ATX MB for $50 but had to be replaced with a $300 "Dell" MB.

I've seen similar "special" or proprietrary parts in other major PC makers, including eMachines.
 
Any retail computer is a hit or miss. they either last a long time or die real quick. I had a emachine that was bought in 2002. sold it to a friend of mine a few years ago. Still kicking after 8 years. Gave my mom a gateway that was manufactured in 2002. Hard drive just went out in it yesterday.
 
Dez Perado said:
I will never recommend Dell because I have known Dell (and other top-tier manufacturers) to use proprietary parts in their products. This is so they can bust it off in your ass should you ever need to replace one of these parts.

For example, the MB went out on a friend's Dell PC. This PC had a proprietary power button connector on the MB (of all things)!:rolleyes: The MB couldn't be replaced with a standard ATX MB for $50 but had to be replaced with a $300 "Dell" MB.

I've seen similar "special" or proprietrary parts in other major PC makers, including eMachines.
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That may have been true for certain older systems, but most OEM systems as of the past few years have used standard parts.
 
MY first computer that I bought that wasnt a shared family computer was an emachines. it was like $399 1.7ghz celeron, 256mb of ram 40?gb hd.

computer ran quite well for quite awhile.

keep in mind that was 8 or 9 years ago though.
 
One thing to consider about E-Machines. Their chassis is open architecture meaning you can buy off the shelf parts to upgrade/fix. If you have to buy pre made they're not a half bad choice.
 
450 said:
That may have been true for certain older systems, but most OEM systems as of the past few years have used standard parts.
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Absolutely incorrect.

All top-tier manufactures use non-standard parts. Do some research before making statements like this.
 
Dez Perado said:
Absolutely incorrect.

All top-tier manufactures use non-standard parts. Do some research before making statements like this.
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Actually, for Emachines, 450 is correct. They have been using standard parts for some years now. My daughter's E used very standard parts all the way down to the power switch connectors on the motherboard. Their power supply though god awful Bestecs in the past (the main reason so many Es blew up in the past), they were standard ATX size so easily swappable. Their newer system use better Lite On power supplies. Their optic drives were often Lite On drives. Their motherboard though often no name companies are standard mATX. If you were lucky you got an E with an Intel, ASUS, MSI or ECS motherboard. Hard drives were often Western Digital. True their RAM was often no name but for a short period of time they actually used DDR 400 sticks with Samsung UCCC chips. Their case was able to attach a 92mm fan in the back though none in the front.

This made upgrading Es relatively easy. I have been on the Unofficial Emachines forum for a few years and I have been surprised just how easy it was to see people upgrade an E.

I would never go back to buying a pre built but if you are a budget buyer, an E is actually not too bad. Their components are nothing to brag about but they use standard stuff. If you want a cheap PC, just get an E (which you can sometimes find on sale for as low as $200 new), switch out the PSU to something decent. Add a few fans, replace the OS with a OEM one (the OS swap is optional), add a semi decent small vid card like the 5750 and you are pretty much set with a stable setup. I think they started using non-proprietary parts far earlier than the other mainstream brands.

Edit: To see what mobo an E has you can look at the link below.

http://dexplor.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=7748225&sid=5ee5105908fc031d05921a5ed2525c12
 
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Hate em. Everyone used to want them when I worked at Best Buy. Not sure why. Cheap I guess
 
kimahri626 said:
Hate em. Everyone used to want them when I worked at Best Buy. Not sure why. Cheap I guess
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You'd be surprised at how often people will buy cheap stuff that works half as well as a more expensive one simply because it's cheaper.
 
No I wouldn't. Also, really small company I used to work for lost two emachines inside a year and that wasn't even four years back. A bit before that a friend had an emachine go on his family also aged about 2.5 years. I've an ex who told me of an emachine she bought that blew out in a year. I don't know if they're better now, but I personally would have trashed the name.
 
In general, EMachines used some of the worst power supplies even in the pre-built mainstream brand PCs. That is what caused them to blow out so often. The old 250W Bestec PSUs were awful. This especially was the case if you tried to upgrade even a small amount since the additional load caused them to go out and take the motherboard with it. I don't know how many times I read a post in the unofficial Emachines forum that went "My E stopped working...I heard its the PSU...I bought another PSU and the green light comes on the mobo but nothing happens...I guess I need a new mobo as well." If you replaced the PSU with even something like a cheap Sparkle PSU, you upped the probability of its lifetime a lot.

Every once in awhile, one of their motherboards was also not that great. There was one particular MSI K8M motherboard which notoriously had inadequate cooling on its southbridge. This plus most E owners never took care of their systems (ie no dust cleaning) often lead to overheating of that particular mobo. A quick install of a 40mm fan on the heat sink solved that problem.

Finally, the E only came with a 80mm rear fan though it could take a 92mm one. So a quick upgrade to a 92mm fan helped as well.

If one did these three things in a E (about $50 worth of upgrades if one gets a cheap Sparkle PSU or luck out on a good deal for a Corsair 400W), then the E actually ran pretty well. As with everything else, you get what you pay for. Unfortunately for many higher priced brand named PCs, their PSUs were not much better than the dreaded Bestec.
 
I miss my E-machines M6805 laptop, best laptop evar!
 
emachines your first computer... man I'm getting old. My first pc was a Packard Bell... What a gigantic piece of crap.
 
emachines are no worse then any other mass oem maker. The originals in the late 90s sucked but no longer.
 
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