Black Fri. e machine Computer ? at Best Buy

[Bella the Ball 360]

I was looking at the Best Buy ad on bf04.com and they had an "e machine" for 199.99. I know it is the bottom of the line but I was just wondering if anyone has this one or knows anything about it? It has the celeron processor and it has like 80MB and 250 MgH(or something like that) The screen is not lcd but crt. I was just wondering if it wasworht it for my 16 year old son who constantly uses the computer for IM'ing his friends and writing a few papers for school.

OR does anyone know a site where I can find info and comparisions?

 

[Lexxiefern]

I have an E Machine W2040. I bought it at Walmart about a year and a half ago. Within 3 months the keyboard would not work anymore. Then 3 months after that the monitor died. Thankfully my tower is still working (I save everything on CD).

But with my experience, I would not recommend anyone to buy an E Machine.

 

[janette]

I bought one for my 10yo DD about 3 years ago. It's been fine.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Sounds like it is a 50/50 chance but knowing my luck I will get the lemon. I know when I checked some sites on line that the good reviews were good and the bad were terrible just like the ones on here. I guess I will just hold off and continue to let my son use mine. It is not like in the past we can get a decent computer for about 500 from Dell so I will just save and get a new one and give him the old one. thanks for the info

 

[swilshire]

I stood in line at Best Buy last Black Friday to buy a similar machine for my daughter to take to college. No complaints at all. I usually buy the extended warranties with four destructive kids, but I haven't had any service calls on this one. I may go buy another one this year. This really is a good deal on a decent machine.

Sheila

 

[janette]

At the $200 price you can buy that with the extended warrenty for less than most machines. Would probably be worth the extra for the warrenty.

 

[rapriebe]

I would highly recommend eMachines. I have 2 of them and they are working great. The first one I purchased in May 99 is still working and has had no problems. Although it is a little slow by today's standards (366MHz), it's still great for on-line surfing. My second machine was purchased in 2001 and it's still working great also. This machine runs 15 hours a day, 7 days a week and I can't complain. Both machines were purchased from Best Buy - you just can't beat the price.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I bought an EMachine about 5 years ago, I guess? And my mom has it now and it works great for her.

Not the best line of machines, but for $199 I think you'll get your moneys worth. I'd buy it if I needed a machine.

 

[gapere]

Our first machine was an eMachine similar in set up to the one that will be offered this weekend at Bestbuy. It worked great what the DW and I used it for, which was primarily surfing.

However, we quickly outgrew it when we got a digital camcorder and found that it was inadequate in that role. There really isn't much room for upgrading so you may find yourself having to upgrade to a new machine sooner than you wanted.

If your son will only use it for surfing and writing papers, you should be ok. If, however, he gets into multimedia, gaming, etc., you may find that the machine will come up short.

 

[NeverBeentoDisney]

I went to BF at Best Buy a couple of years ago and my DH went 2 years ago and the lines are so outrageous. You have to plan on being one of the first ten people in line or else you are not going to get anything. The year I went we were going for a computer and we were about the 100th person in line and they had originally only had 2-3 machines at that store and of course no rain checks. We found one on a cart at the rear of the store without anyone around it so we decided to take it and head to the checkouts. We stood in line for over 2 hours. It was one of the worse experiences of my life. This store is absolutely crazy on BF. I have heard that the two worse stores to go to on BF are Wal Mart and Best Buy. Of course I live in a metorpolitian area so that might make it worse not sure though.

I think the computer is a good price but you have to ask yourself are you willing to go through that hassle to save the money.

 

[swilshire]

I discovered last year that Best Buy had made many improvements to their system for Black Friday. For all the major items, they came around and wrote them up for you while you stood in line. It was a real good opportunity to ask the salesperson questions without a lot of time pressure.

They seemed to have a pretty good supply of the items such as computers. I didn't try for any of the smaller items that you had to actually go into the store for. They just don't have room in their stores for the crowds.

We left my daughter to collect the computer we had selected while in line and went off to another store. When we tried to come back and help her about an hour later, the store had been closed because of capacity limits and we couldn't get in. She really got through the lines to pick it up relatively quickly, though, once the store opened.

I found Walmart pretty easy. We went to a Super Walmart. They had pallets of the sale items and there was a bit of pushing as the biggest bargains were handed out, but we grabbed what we wanted and got through the lines in minutes.

Staples is usually one of the worst stores here for lines and being out of everything. You are lucky to get one or two of the items you want before everything is gone.

Circuit City did a Wednesday night sale last year (and again this year) that also had terrible lines. I saw just an item or two on the ad, so I'm trying to decide if I want to brave it tonight.

It's always an adventure!

Sheila

 

[bettyann29]

I bought an emachine about 5 or 6 years and it still works! No problems with it or any part of it to this date.. I ended up getting it for around $200.. I got it at Best Buy and it was on sale for about $700.. with the instant rebates and mail in rebates I ended up getting it right under $200.. Best money spent in my opinion.. I think it is just hit and miss..

 

[Lizzydoll73]

I used to be a customer service manager at a CompUSA and I do not recommend Emachines. They were either returned or in for repairs often. If you do decide to get it make sure you get the service plan. Normally I would pass on a service plan but I would get it on an Emachine or spend the extra money on something better.

 

[gallaj0]

emachines used to be a very good brand, very upgrade-able, useable machines. They were bought out (by Gateway, I think) and since then have become very unreliable, shoddy machines.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Thanks for all your replies. I am not going to take the chance. I went to Best Buy today and asked one of the sales people. It just sohappened that he builds computers as a hobby! He told me that the e machine even at 199 was not worth the money. Don't even bother. I know lots of you have had good luck but I do not want to take a chance.

 

[Franne]

Hi, I got one last year at BF and it's working great. It's the second computer so it doesn't get used as much, but it still has it's share.
Hubby went to BB and waited in line and they came out about 1/2 hour before the store opened and gave everyone papers for what they were waiting for.
I on the other hand was a Circuit City and there was a nice orderly line.....BUT as soon as those doors opened, the line turned into a mob scene! I didn't get anything since everyone else must have scoped out the store on Wednesday and ran right to the free items! I left very discouraged. This year I am still going out, but I will try to get some of the stuff online if I can without the craziness!
Franne

 

[swilshire]

We went to the CompUSA Wednesday sale tonight. I was disappointed because I did not get the item I most wanted (Reader Rabbit software).

It turned out they only started with six of them and they had them on the opposite side of the store from the software (where we looked first). It was supposed to be limit one, but I saw one fellow with two. I watched to see if he would put one back, but they let him ring it and a couple of other limited items on a separate order. That made me even more disappointed.

Then we got in the absolute SLOWEST line in the place. I even complained to a manager it was so slow. Obviously the cashier was new and not well trained. We did get a few free after rebate items, so I guess it was worth the two hours and gas involved.

Sheila

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Shelia,

6 is not an acceptable limited quantity for any sale. It is almost like a bait and switch. If you were there when the sale started and they did not have enough to sustain even 5 minutes of sales then you need to either call the manager OR contact the main office. I am sick and tired of these places who say limited quantity, try to bring in thousands of customers and then make only a limited amount of them happy! I was upset with Wal Mart a couple of years ago and I went all the way to the district manager....they got me a substitute item worth more for the same price. It is necessary to send a message to retailers, if they want to run a big sale, and even if they do want to have "come on" adds, then they should at least have 50-100 loss leaders in the store. When someone tells me there is only 6 it tells me that the retailer is no better than a con man.
Call and or write and tell of your situation also tell them that you saw that the clerk let two go when the limit was one! You have your sales slips from the other items you got to verify the time.
I am will to bet you WILL get the item!

 

[Lizzydoll73]

I thought that only happened in the CompUSA I work for. Six is not an appropriate amount to start with. I agree with the previous post, call to speak to the STORE manager. If they are no help ask them for the corporate phone number and watch them squirm. They hate it when people call corporate on them.

Here is a site that has free software, you just pay shipping. I ordered 4 games for my kids with express shipping and it was $13. The games don't come in boxes but in a cardboard sleeve. I am mentioning this because you were looking for Reader Rabbit and that is what I bought my DD.
http://www.smart-estore.com/default.asp?StoreId=555325&SID=&i=0&c=WMD3111&a=