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Call Me Chintzy or Cheap, I like it.Mar 15 '00 (Updated Nov 10 '00) Write an essay on this topic.I'm almost embarrassed to write this, partly because there has been so much negative press out there (and here at epinions) about the eMachines, and partly because I built my last computer system and who in their right mind who knew enough about computers to build one would get the el cheapo eMachine? But I am writing this. And I do like my eMachine. It happens to be of the "etower 333cs" version, which means it has a 333mhz Cyrix MII processor. That's one reason I like it - it happens to be TONS faster than my three year old AMD 233 based system. Even with the meager 32MB of Ram, it zips past the 64MB resources of my old computer, which I have decided to pass on to my Missionary brother in Mexico. Unfortunately for my brother, I am keeping my old 6.4GB hard drive and giving him the tiny 2.1GB drive that came on this machine. It was a fairly simple swap, especially with the extremely easy "Restore CD" that comes with the eMachines. In case you don't know what a Restore CD is, it is basically a Windows 98 CD which is designed specifically for this computer. It carries only the needed drivers for this machine, and copies all the files directly to the hard drive without all the messy setup hastles of reinstalling Windows 98 from scratch - no picking out modem drivers, video drivers, etc. etc. It's quicker to reinstall too. Acer, Gateway, and many other sellers of PC's do the same thing these days. Aside from the small hard drive and barely enough memory, I like the other features I got. Namely, one front accessible and one back accessible USB port, and a front game port. These are extremely hand for me, because I like to remove the joystick when not in use so that my 2 year old doesn't end up crashing it through my monitor when I'm not using it, or jerking the computer off it's feet as he runs out of the room with the joystick in his hand. This being my first experience with USB, I sure like the plug and play features, and with my new digital camera and joystick I got for virtually free (after rebate) from CyberRebate, I have never had such an easy time installing peripherals. It also comes with a 3D Video Card which runs some of the games I could never run on my old system, and 3D sound (who could really tell the difference, though). It's certainly not to be confused with a heavy duty gaming machine, but it's a great leap forward in computing power for me. Many have lambasted eMachines because of poor quality and bad technical support. I notice that few of the epinioners of eMachines have NOT had to tangle with tech. support at all. Fortunately, my run-in with the techies was simple and painless. The modem failed to function (just as was predicted in the professional CNET review of the eMachine 300 series) when I first turned on the computer. A quick (with long distance charges) phone call to tech. support turned up that the modem was indeed bad, and they would send me a new (and better) Lucent modem to replace the junk one at no charge (except return shipping of the old one). Fortunately, I had another modem to stick in there while I waited for the new one, or I wouldn't be writing this. (NOTE 3/30/00: After 5 weeks I still haven't received a replacement modem. I emailed tech. support to track it down yesterday, I'll see how long it takes for them to respond. [two days for tech. support response via email, which said to call the tech. phone number to track the RMA] NOTE 4/1/00: Received a new Lucent modem. Installed and working fine.) eMachine's warranty is admittedly very poor. After 15 days of purchase, you must pay $20 per incident for tech. support, (only if the problem is NON warranty) and you get to pay the long distance charges as well. There is web support, which includes email, for technical questions. A question I had about upgrading the memory took 2 days to return, but I got a good thorough answer explaining that eMachines slower than 500mhz ought to use the slower 66mhz memory modules instead of the new PC-100's. As a computer upgrader, this eMachine gives me some options. With one memory slot already filled, I can add another SDRAM chip easily (its a 5 minute job, most of which is getting the cover on and off the computer). One PCI slot is filled with a modem, the other one is shared with one of the two older styled ISA slots. Since the ATI 3D RAGE IIC (4MB) AGP video is built into the mother board, there is no AGP slot with which to upgrade the video. This is unfortunate, but I can live with it. I'm not a serious gamer. (You could add a PCI video card, but you might be going backward.) There is one open 5-1/4" drive bay, which would accommodate a Zip Drive, DVD, another Hard Drive, or whatever. Most other additions I may want to add can be done externally through the USB ports, Parallel Port, Serial Port, or game Port. The keyboard and mouse are both PS/2 versions. The keyboard feels fine, and the mouse is cheap. I immediately installed my favorite Scroll mouse in the serial port. One day I may splurge and get an ergonomic USB keyboard and one of those cordless mice. I should write one of those "What I want for Christmas" epinions next year. Back to the fact that I'm embarrassed to have purchased an eMachine. I'm ready to admit now that I bought this computer at an online auction on a whim. It was an incredible deal and I couldn't pass it up. I knew it was a gamble, and so far it seems I'm doing OK. It was factory refurbished with a 30 day warranty. I've had so few Win98 errors that I'm beginning to wonder if Bill Gates actually did something right and everyone's been wrong about him all this time (as it concerns Windows glitches and errors, that is). Win98 errors were almost a daily occurrence on my old machine. Because of my integrity, I'm going to "not recommend" that anyone else get an eMachine. Being somewhat of a self-taught techy, I figured if something went wrong I could fix it myself, or sell the parts and still not lose any money. But I would hate for someone to read this and go buy an eMachine, and then find they made a huge mistake. It sounds like a 50/50 gamble, really. So I'm going to rate this 4 stars, and say to you, "don't buy this computer based solely on my review." Even though I really like it. NOTE: After having my EMachine for a few months, I decided to transfer it to my UN-computerese Parents. I have been very comfortable with it's performance and reliability. So far they have had abosolutely no trouble with it. Troy Troy  |
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