Thoughts about eMachine PCs?

[tinkerrn]

I am thinking of getting an eMachine desktop. I have just had so many problem with laptops. We use the computer in the same room anyway, so its not that big of a deal. Any thoughts? I am just going to use it for surfing, pictures, etc.. Nothing big, like gaming. I use appx. 30 hours per week.

 

[disneynutt1225]

We have an eMachine desktop. Overall, I like it. Simple to use, and we use it for internet, a little gaming, word processing and photos. Honestly though, I can't wait for it to die so I can replace it with an Apple. I've had a lot of virus problems with it -- not an eMachine issue as much as it's a PC issue.

 

[Lisa_M]

I bought an emachines in 2002. I don't use it anymore, but it's still working. My sister uses it for college and last I saw she had like 3500 songs on it, a million programs and she doesn't complain about it to me. It was a very good buy for me and much better than my luck with laptops. I am on my 3rd this year between home and work.

DH and I use an insignia desktop pc that we bought from best buy in 2004. This has been really great. Absolutely no problems at all. DH added extra ram now we have 1gb of Ram on Windows XP and it's pretty fast. I would also recommend looking into this brand.

It's kind of funny how I would recommend "no-name" companies like e-machines and insignia over compaq, hp, gateway and toshiba, all of which I have had bad experiences with.

 

[Anewman]

I consider eMachine to be like Hyundai.

They used to be real cheap when it came to price and quality.

Today the quality is improved, but they are not really that much cheaper than the competition anymore. Right now Dell offers so many configurations and coupons that I dont think eMachines can beat their prices.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/hot_offers_dt?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&ACD=qIZmRgbTzySYAkm8tWHH&AID=0038386869

 

[KristaTX]

We bought one in 2003. It had several problems from the beginning and died a very premature death due to it being a crappy computer from the get-go. We won't ever buy one again.

 

[RadioNate]

We are on the 2nd one. The 1st one lasted about 18months, we had 1 hard-drive failure and the power supply crashed. We bought a second one that we've had for about a year. It was VERY slow until I dropped some extra RAM that I had laying around into it.

Each was under $300.

I wouldn't buy one for myself but for my soon-to-be six year old they are fine. He uses the internet (webkinz, disney.com) and plays kids learning games. We tried the Cars racing game and the video card can't handle it.

The times I have had to use it for work, I wasn't impressed.

 

[KariC]

We had an eMachine (notice the past tense). It seemed to work fine when we first got it, but got slower and slower. About a year later, it died. Apparently, and I am not a computer tech type person, the hard drive had sectors that were going bad. My husband (who owns his own software sales and consulting company) wasted countless hours trying to recover pictures, documents, etc....and never could. We had Geek Squad come out (pointless), we took it to two other places that couldn't help us. We ended up needing to take it to a service two hours away that recovered our data, but it cost more than the tower originally did! Thankfully, they didn't have to send it to their clean lab...that would have been a couple thousand!

We're still using the actual tower (the shell), but with an external hard drive installed. We're hoping we can use it for the twins to have kiddie games on...it's no good for anything else.

My advice, for what it is worth , skip the eMachine!

 

[djm99]

If you don't like Emachines, I guess you don't like Gateway. They are one company. Have been a while.

Computer manufacturer Gateway has received a takeover offer from the founder of eMachines, a company Gateway bought in 2004.

Lap Shun Hui made an unsolicited offer of $450 million US on Monday to acquire Gateway's retail operations.

Hui sold eMachines, a manufacturer of low-cost computers, to Gateway in January 2004 for $290 million in cash and stock. The deal made him Gateway's second-largest shareholder, behind its founder, Ted Waitt.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/08/23/gateway-bid.html

http://www.gateway.com/about/news_info/emachines_integration.php

 

[grinningghost]

We had one for almost 8 years that worked great up until the very end.

 

[Saffron]

I loved my emachine! I had it for at least 5 years until somebody, not me!, messed with the settings and controls and everything else and that was the end of that. The only problem I had with it before the human error was the power supply went out one night. But ... emachines shipped me a new one ($40), overnight, and I was up and running again the next day! Granted I only use my computer for simple processes like surfing the net, keeping records, pictures etc, so I don't know if one would be good enough for bigger jobs, but for me it was great!

 

[wdw4us2]

I'm on my second one - bought the first in 2000 and it was great until DD let in one virus too many and messed it up.

I bought my current one in 2003 and run the Firefox browser. Haven't had one problem with it (now that DD has her own computer). I watch videos, download music, upload photos for ebay, and it's been fine all along.

 

[L107ANGEL]

Had mine since 2002 and recently crashed, had the recovery disks, and its running great now.

 

[PixieDustTink]

I bought one a while back when my laptop died and funds were low because I got a 200 gig machine for 300.00 dollars!! It is still going just fine with no problems. I have had it about one year. It had all the bells and whistles the same as the Sony I was looking at and was far, far cheaper. I was thinking that IF it did die an early death I would not mind so much since I didn t really spend too much on it. I still want a new laptop but, I am waiting til I can get the one I really, really want!!

 

[tinkerrn]

Humm... I am using our old desktop, a Compaq. It's ok, but has lots of problems with the internet. I have the recovery disc, just don't know how to use it. I am able to surf some pages, but then the curser blinks really fast and the page will not load. I then have to exit out and get back on the internet. Any suggestions?

 

[L107ANGEL]

I had that going on for over a month and it was SLOOOOOOWWWWWWW. Finally did the recovery disks but it wiped out everything, pics and all, but was so worth it!

 

[PixieDustTink]

Humm... I am using our old desktop, a Compaq. It's ok, but has lots of problems with the internet. I have the recovery disc, just don't know how to use it. I am able to surf some pages, but then the curser blinks really fast and the page will not load. I then have to exit out and get back on the internet. Any suggestions?

Clear all cookies, the cache, temp files and history! This should make the computer run faster. Do this at LEAST once a week. Also, update your anti virus software and RUN it each day! This cursor blinking thing sounds like it could be a virus and viruses will often make your computer sluggish, it's one of the first signs you have one.

If all of the above aren't doable, get someone to come and do a clean install of your recovery disks!! That will WIPE all files and let you start fresh. Once that's done DO get a firewall and anti virus software immediately on the machine. I had a friend who booted her new computer and had a virus on it within five minutes of surfing the net because she hadn't put her anti virus on yet. OH! And get some good anti spyware programs, more than ONE Is needed because what one catches the other one won't....my computer is locked up like fort knox these days!! LOL!

I only learned this stuff after my laptop crashed and from being admin online at this site where I work!

Good luck with your computer and keep those viruses and hackers out of there!