Time has come to buy a new computer. I want a decent reasonably priced desktop PC.
required:
CD R/W
DVD R/W
NIC
USB

other than that, I'm not particular about which chip set, or motherboard, or video card, etc. I get.
It will be used for web surfing, accessing and burning CDs and DVD, and light duty games, etc.
TigerDirect has a decent looking eMachine (refurb) for $499 less $100 rebate.
IBuyPower has sveral offerings in the $600-700 range (plus monitor).

Any + or - experiences on the eMachine.

I do NOT want anything (ex. HP) that requires an OEM replacement part. I want something "generic". If I need a new NIC or a new power supply, I don't want to have to special order some OEM proprietary part.

I'm all ears now.
Thanks!

 

checkout the compaq/hp presario s6000cl
i got mine for 500.00 came with flat screen (not flat pannel) good speakers, adn all oteh above

 

Stay far, far away from emachines. They use inferior parts for their systems that are prone to failing.

 

ya my friend had one and it SUCKED but for just a bout the same price you could get a dell or a compaq etc

 

I recently bought a Dell 3000 for my wife to use, for college.

This machine is fantastic EXCEPT for one item that I don't personally like. The video is integrated.
There is not even an AGP slot, IF I wanted to add a video card.
I would have to install a PCI card.

Otherwise, here are the specs. (Boiled down)

P-IV 3.0 gig processor
Win XP (Professional)
80 gig hdd
1 gig of DDR Ram (upgraded form 512 MB)
CD-R/W (free)
DVD Rom
NIC
A BUNCH of USB slots (two additional on the monitor)
It came with a 15" LCD monitor, but, I upgraded to a 19" LCD. Nice monitor!!

Free printer (Dell ink jet.) ??? the number.

$100 rebate
Free shipping after $99 additional rebate.

Even with the 19" monitor, the entire set-up was less than $800.00

Just my 2¢.

EDIT: Right now, this same machine is less than $600.00!!!

 

Years ago they had a bad reputation. They were bought out by someone,( forgot who), but they improved after that. I bought one for my daughter almost 3 years ago because it was about as cheap as building one from parts. It has been good. My wife bought one of the high-end ones about a year ago and it has been good. YMMV but we have had good luck with them.

I would avoid ANYONES refurbs though.

 

ive had some good experiences with e machines, only bad one was a failing powersupply, and that was because i was really pushin the watts out

 

Emachines are crappy! I had a bad one... it worked for about a year. It still works, if you want to call it that... but it does what it wants when it wants and doesn't want input from a user. I have Dell laptop now, you can get them with educational discounts for pretty cheap. Don't buy refurbs, not a good idea. Especially laptops. There's a new apple desktop that is tiny and can be had for $400 or so. Don't let them fool you... they're actually great computers and can be made compatible with just about anything.

 

I'm currently using an emachines computer (about 2 years old). It's functional. CD-RW that came with the machine died in ~2 months. They were good about replacing the CDRW under warranty, but then the CDRW died again ~1 year later (after warranty was up). While I wouldn't call it a crappy computer, I will agree with those who say they may not use all of the highest quality parts.

 

Thanks all for the input.
I'll pass on the eMachine and will keep shopping.
Looks like Dell has some decent pricing on a system that should suit me fine.

 

All of the major brands use proprietary parts to cut costs. Check with your local PC repair store and have them build one with generic parts. The major brands also have proprietary drivers so you have to bring your machine back to them for many upgrades. Stick with the generic parts for the software also. Retail box parts are better than "white box" OEM parts for software upgrades also.

 

I have heard very good things about eMachines from a friend of the family who worked for IBM for over thirty years. He has been very happy with the eMachines computer he bought about two years ago. As Torque1st stated, most computers are built from similar parts. Be sure to check out the reviews on Cnet, they were very helpful for my last computer purchase.

The Wal-Mart I work at has some great deals on eMachines. The lower end ones are constantly clearance priced, however the higher end computers are usually regular price and go very fast.

 

I really like my Dell that I got 1 1/2 years ago. The only proprietary part that I have found so far is memory but I purchased it with 512 mb and upgraded to 1 gig with not much extra expense. there may be other proprietary hardware but I have not had any problems yet. No problems with drivers either.

BTW, I have found that Dells Customer service is excellent also. I have emailed them twice and had a response within 24 hours both times.

I know of 3 people who have gotten a Tiger Direct PC and they have not been happy. Of course a lot of how good a PC is depends on what you do to keep adware, spyware, hijackers, and viruses off of it. Probably 80% of the problems I have seen with computers is related to one of those.

That'll be $0.02 please!!!

 

i have three emachines bought 4 years ago and still running strong
only things i have replaced is memory and cpu. upgrade. i think they are great computers. also depends on what you use your computer for. and if you clean it and keep it well maintained just like anything else for example ford trucks.

 

at work we've gone through 4 warrenty replacement E-machines in 1 year. don't waste your money.

buy ANYTHING but an E-machine