Computer purchase question

[MoseyWalker]

A friend has a daughter who doesn't have a lot of money to spend, and is seriously thinking of getting an emachine t3504 from Best Buy tomorrow.


Is this a good deal for someone who wants to use it for home and family use? It is reliable?

Thanks for responding if anybody knows!

[johnnie]

1. I've never had one, but I have worked on them

The E-machine isn't bad for family use. I couldn't get to your link, but I have a pretty good idea about what it showed. How much is it? She will have to watch for the sales-people at Best Buy not to sell her a bunch of extra crap with it.

The last few years I have built my own, but I decided to buy a manufactured one for the studio not long ago. I know people whine about them, but I got a Dell. So far it has been working great. They don't stuff a lot of crap in it (software) and i tore it apart and fixed it up the way i wanted it. She might look into that.

[MoseyWalker]

3. here's info from the site

sorry about the link:

Product Details





Warranty Terms - Parts 1 year




Warranty Terms - Labor 1 year




Product Height 14.25"




Product Width 7.25"




Product Weight 22.5 lbs.




Product Depth 16"




Processor Brand Intel® Celeron® D




Processor Speed 3.2GHz




System Bus 533MHz




Cache Memory 512KB in die Level 2




System Memory (RAM) 256MB




System Memory (RAM) Expandable To 2GB




Type of Memory (RAM) PC3200 DDR




Hard Drive Size 100GB




Graphics ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 chipset with integrated ATI RADEON X300-based graphics




Video Memory Up to 32MB (shared)




Personal Video Recorder (PVR) No




TV Tuner No




MPEG Yes




Audio 5.1-channel support (6-speaker sound)




Speakers External stereo




Modem 56 Kbps* ITU V.92 *Capable of receiving 56 Kbps downloads. However, current regulations limit download speed to 53 Kbps.




Network Card Built-in 10/100 Mbps Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)




Wireless Networking None




DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo Drive Yes




DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo Drive Speeds 16x DVD-ROM; 48x32x48 CD-RW




LightScribe Compatibility No




Digital Media Reader or Slots No




Total Expansion Bays 4 (3.5"), 2 (5.25")




Available Expansion Bays 3 (3.5"), 1 (5.25")




Total Expansion Slots 2 PCI, 1 PCI-E, 1 PCI-E x16




Available Expansion Slots 1 PCI, 1 PCI-E, 1 PCI-E x16




USB 2.0 Ports 6 (2 front, 4 rear)




IEEE 1394 Ports None




S-Video Outputs None




Additional Audio/Video Connectors 5 audio (2 front, 3 back)




Serial Ports 1




Parallel Ports 1




Game Ports None




Keyboard Description Standard multifunction




Other Control Devices (mouse, etc.) 2-button wheel mouse




Operating System Windows XP Home




Software Included Microsoft Works 8.5, Money 2006, Windows Media Player 10, Digital Image Starter Edition 2006; Adobe Acrobat Reader 7; CyberLink DVD Solution Suite; RealNetworks RealPlayer; QuickTime and more

[johnnie]

8. It doesn't come with a monitor I see

For less than $100 bucks more I got a monitor, a printer and 4X the amount of ram with the Dell. E-machines aren't bad, but she will end up buying a monitor and a printer if she wants one. I'm not saying she shouldn't get one, but in my opinion, she should look around.

[FormerDittoHead]

2. I bought one YEARS ago for $150 and it's still cranking away!

It's not my primary computer, but the damn thing won't die!

Powerful, NO, but it's never failed on me...

[MoseyWalker]

4. Thanks for the review!

Thanks a lot.

:hi:

[silverlib]

5. I bought one for my daughter (sixteen)

a couple of years ago. It was fine as long as we didn't put too many programs on it. It handled the Word/Excel/Powerpoint package (student package without Access). Later, I tried to add more software so I could use it as a backup computer for my work, and it wouldn't handle it.

Emachines are good machines, especially for the price, and for someone who needs a computer for school, this machine is the best of the money around.

Good luck!

(By the way, I had to cut and past the link and then search for the t3504, so here is hopefully a better link:)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=t3504&sc=computerSP&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=Computers

[MoseyWalker]

6. Thank you!

I had never even heard of emachines before.

:hi:

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Here's the correct link, and some thoughts:

http://tinyurl.com/jpo7g

I think that's a hell of a good deal - it might be nice to upgrade to an LCD monitor, and it's worth asking the Best Buy Fucking Moron Fuckwit Shitbrain she'll be dealing with what the extra cost would be. Best Buy people are notoriously the most ignorant fuckwads ever to work electronic retail next to Radio Shack fuckwads, but they should be able to actually give an accurate and non-fucking-the-customer-over answer to that question.

That's definitely enough computer and power for a standard college use - it's powerful enough to surf the net and do some word processing and maybe even some photo editing and CD ripping and making some CDs for her friends. More than enough power for all that. It might not work well with the latest video-centric video games or some of the more powerful software needs, but chances are she'll never even hear of the programs and things I'm thinking about.

The only true drawback to it I would say is the memory - it's only 256MB - she really needs at least 512, preferably a full gig.

I have an old eMachine, 4 years old, at 1.7 Ghz or so with 512MB, and it's still more than enough for me. But if I only had 256MB of memory, I would have killed myself in 2003.

Tell her to get the machine, but to upgrade the memory - and, again, even though the salesperson she will be dealing with will be a dumber piece of shit than her seventh grade shop teacher, it should be able to manage a memory upgrade, with the proper kind of memory, and to do so without fucking her over on price. But they MIGHT want to charge her to put the memory in - tell her to stand her ground on no charge.

HOWEVER - since she's thinking of getting it at Best Buy, she WILL BE pressured to buy a whole goddamn lot of useless "insurance" and "warranty" and other asshole upgrades. Tell her to stand her ground and not say "yes" to anything. it's all bullshit, expensive, and useless.

Give her this script: "Look - all I want is for you to put in 1 GB of memory. I don't want any warranty, any insurance, or any of your 'upgrades'. I can pull and install a hard drive better and faster than any one here and I replace power supplies in my sleep. Just do the upgrade and sell me just the unit as advertised, or I'll complain to management or let someone else have the commission."

[johnnie]

9. Oh, I was looking at the wrong one.

I was looking at this
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7869096&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat60700050016&id=1149040473547



It seems to be the same computer, just not the whole package.

[MoseyWalker]

10. Sounds like great advice

I really appreciate it!

:hi: :thumbsup:

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. And of course, if she has a monitor and printer already,

there's no need for the extra expense for those.

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. Actually, scratch that - the package deal is $5 cheaper than the tower.

Odd, but true.

[MoseyWalker]

13. Comes with a 17 inch flat screen monitor

and photo printer!

[Rabrrrrrr]

14. Yes, obviously - if it didn't, I wouldn't have said what I said.

:shrug:

[MoseyWalker]

15. Sorry!

I was being a little distracted and my brain went into hibernation mode at 5:01 (quittin' time!)

Thanks again for your thoughts.

:toast: