Emachines

[thunderfvck]

I've been reading a lot of mixed opinions about emachines. Some say that they are stable and work fine while others bash them, claiming that they fall apart and are not reliable. So, how do you feel about this? I'd also like it to be clear that only FACTS should be presented, that is to say, you must have had experience with the computer itself to be able to judge how well it performed. I don't want to hear any "well, my ex-girlfriend's husband's mailman had one once who said that one night, when he was making love to himself, it exploded and a piece got lodged in his penis, and now he is unable to have orgasms."

I couldn't find a topic specifically devoted to this subject with my searchings, so here it is. I need a computer, and I am poor. Poorness and computer deficienties do not mix well together, so perhaps a cheap emachine can rekindle the erection of my youth.

 

[thunderfvck]

Well, it seems that the general consensus is that they are horrible...

I wasn't so sure, but after reading all the horrible reviews on emachines (http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1195.html), I think I'll stay away from them.

Underneath all that seemingly powerful equipment and the nice price, lies a dirty, dirty slut of a whore.

 

[mawtangent]

I had an Emachine from the summer of 1999 until the end of 2003. I bought it new for around $550 (after the rebate). It was 333 mhz with 32 megs of Ram, running windows 98. The negitives: after having it about 6 months it developed a noticably louder fan noise. I ignored this for several years and it never caused a problem (at least no more than minor irritation .When I got ready to sell it I replaced the most noisy fan for $25, discovering there was another fan that was also making a little too much noise). I tried putting Norton (anti-virus/maintanince) software on it twice and each time the computer locked up and I had to have the harddrive erased and the operating software (Windows 98) and application software reinstalled. For the most part is was quite unstable and had to be restarted a lot because of it locking up. Having said all of the above most of my problems could be attributed to having weak specs (low mHz and low ram) and ignorance on my part as to how to optimize the computer. The fan-noise was not that big of a deal, but I still can't understand why putting software (Norton) on it, that was supposed to help it run more smoothly, made it completely lock-up. I never tried to do anything elaborate with it for recording (although I did transfer some songs from cassette to the harddrive successfully). It had a cheap soundcard that sounded like a toy when it played midi files). Overall it funtioned okay for occationally surfing the Internet and using email. I'm sure any computer made in the last couple of years would run circles around my old computer and be more stable. I would guess Emachines of today are much better than their ancestors. If someone is going to do average activities on their computer (email, Internet surfing, occational CD burning) and they can save $200 by getting an Emachine I would say go for it, but I wouldn't recommend it to one who is getting serious about audio and video. If you keep researching on this board I'm sure you will find some affordable alternatives to the Emachine (manning1 is one member that has discussed putting together an affordable computer for recording).