Perfect for a low budget customer
Written: Apr 19 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Quality of Tech Support: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Low price, easy to set up, runs well off factory installed parts
Cons: Crappy speakers, needs to have a RAM update almost imediatly
The Bottom Line: Good all around computer. If you are looking to save money and need to have a computer. This is the computer to buy. Just not for games!
|
|
|
| emedendorp's Full Review: eMachines etower 667ir PC Desktop |
I no longer have this machine, but I did have it for over a year. This machine has many advantages, which over take the disadvantages so overall, I would say it is a computer worth looking into.
I was looking for a new computer, but didn't really want to spend a lot of money. I don't have a lot to spend because I have a family to raise and taking my hard earned money and spending it on a expensive computer just wasn't a choice at that point in time. I now have a new Gateway system that my company helped purchase (My system wasn't available to write a review). Anyway, this computer was perfect for the price that I was looking to spend. I currently had a system that did run great, but just was starting to get outdated and I was looking for something a little more. I was shopping at Sam's Club and saw this system for $500 including the monitor. I thought that was steal, and I was kinda cautious at first because that didn't seem right. However, I figured at that price it isn't like I can't get scammed to bad so I figured I would give it a try.
When you open the box, the first thing you notice is a poster telling you step by step how to hook up this system. Shows how the colors match and everything. I can't give eMachines all the credit on that because my Gateway that I have now, came with the same thing. I didn't need it as I am really experienced with computers, but for someone who doesn't have a lot of experience this would come in very handy.
After I got everything set up and turned the computer on, the first thing I noticed was how quite and smooth everything ran. I hardly heard the hard drive reading the info, you could hear the fans pretty good, but what do you expect, that is just something that you can't do anything about. The initial setup is very easy, there is a little guy in the corner that walks you through everything and helps tell you what information to put where. It was kind of annoying, but it was pretty easy. Only thing I wondered was when were the questions going to stop.
After getting all the information entered, I was at the beginning of Windows. The screen was finally up and I was ready to do what I wanted. I noticed the computer ran pretty good, but it was kinda sluggish. So what did I do? I took out a 128MB RAM module out of my other computer and opened up the eMachine and placed it in there. I think I voided the Warranty with this because I had to peel off a sticker that left the words void all over where it was. That was okay though, because I never really rely on support as I can take care of most stuff myself. Even then if I can't, I have many family members that work in the computer business (just like me). This helped very much, the computer started responding very fast and did what I needed it to do.
There was a lot of software that eMachines installed on the computer that I knew I was never going to use. It was kinda hard to delete all the stuff that they put on there too. I looked almost as if they just placed an image on the hard drive when the placed it in there and that is how the installed everything. When I tried to remove anything I kept getting error that the computer couldn't find an install record so it couldn't be removed. Most of the stuff I knew I could just delete so I did, and it didn't cause any problems. There were a few things however that just had to remain and take up hard drive space. I really don't like things on my hard drive that I'm not going to use, but there was nothing that I could do about those programs.
Finally I got the computer where I liked it. The speakers that were included with the system, sucked. I just didn't like anything about them. They didn't give very clear sound and they were very hard to hear even if turned up full blast. This didn't surprise me all that much, I mean what can you expect when you pay this price for a computer. You sure can't expect the best. That was an easy remedy though. All I had to do was make a trip to the local computer store and purchase some better speakers. This made the sound much better, and actually gave me some faith in the computer!
The keyboard came with all these pre programmed buttons that would take you to various places on the internet. Most of which I never used, and I didn't really like the look of the keyboard, but it wasn't such a big deal. I figured it was better then having to go out and purchase another one so I delt with it.
I tried out the modem a few times, and I never really had any problems with it. Everything connected fine, but I just never had the need for it because I have always had this cable modem. It did at one point get hit by lightning in a storm and I had to replace it because it wouldn't hang up, but that was the only problem that I ever had with that computer and it was used a lot.
Everything on the computer worked great after the upgrades. I never really had any problems with the computer. A few programs here and there that didn't install or wouldn't install correctly, but that was a software conflict. You can't go blaming the computer manufacturer for stuff like that. I used the computer all the time, it hardly ever got a rest. Even when I didn't use it, I just left it on so that it would be ready when I needed it next.
After XP came out (to the day) I upgraded to that. XP really seemed to bring the light out for this machine. I thought it ran pretty good under ME, but when XP got installed, it started running much better. Most of the software conflicts that I had, were gone. I have heard a lot of negative things said about ME anyway so I wasn't surprised that XP took care of those.
This computer doesn't have the largest hard drive and the bells and whistles that the top-of-the-line computers do. However, for a normal home user who doesn't plan on running tons of games, this computer will be a great buy. You probably can't find them in stores anymore or anything, but if you do happen to run across the chance to buy it from someone....Take them up on it.
There were a few things I didn't like about this computer though. One of which is the built in video. This video was built in AGP with like 4MB. That doesn't really do a whole lot for todays games, and there were many games that I wanted to run (Including Plus! for XP) that I couldn't because the video card just didn't do what it needed. There was also only three PCI slots. You really don't need many more because everything else was integrated on the motherboard, but still, I want to be able to upgrade as much as possible. If you wanted a different graphics card, you would have had to install PCI instead of AGP because there was no AGP slot. It was used up by the built in video. By the time I had my modem and network card (for the cable modem) I only had one slot left. This really doesn't do much for upgradeability, but I really didn't expect much more then that because of the price.
As I stated earlier, you probably won't be able to get these in stores anymore, but if you get the chance to pick one up from someone, I would highly recommend it. Especially if you don't have a lot of money and would just like to use the computer for basic stuff. However, if you are going to want to play a lot of games, I wouldn't suggest it because the graphics aren't the best, and the Celeron processor isn't the strongest. eMachines still makes good computers, if you run across any while looking for a computer. Do pick it up! You won't regret it one bit!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 500
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Celeron
Processor speed: 601-700
RAM: 64
Internal Storage: CD-RW
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
emedendorp
|
|
Location: Holland, MI
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Truck driver w/ passion for electronics and computers
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.