Pvt_Jimmah December 6, 2002 Share Pvt_Jimmah Member December 6, 2002 About 6 months ago I was looking for a computer at a reasonable price when I walked into my local Best Buy. I found the "perfect" computer, an Emachines T4170 for only $699, for me this was a powerhouse 1.6 Ghz, 60 Gig hard drive, 17 inch flat screen moniter, and a CD burner to boot. I bought the thing in a heartbeat, thinking I had found something too good to be true... indeed it was. I have owned this computer for only 6 months and it did what I needed for awhile, I could download Mp3's and most importantly play CounterStrike/Hallf-Life plus other assorted games (GTA3, Return to Wolfenstein, all the essentials). Last night as I was typing my English report, the screen went blue and the computer wouldnt shutdown or anything, so I unplugged it and now it won't reboot, it won't even turn on the monitor. Turns out that 75% of emachine shipments come with a faulty power supply for which no company makes replacement parts... So I went to look for troubleshooting tips on the net and found www.emachinessuck.com. I wish I had seen this site earlier for I now know I have made the biggest $900 mistake in my life... Moral to the Story: If you see an Emachines RUN AWAY, and if it is too good to be true, it probably is. Anyway, no Counterstrike for me for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Hurricane December 6, 2002 Share Guest The Hurricane Guests December 6, 2002 I used an emachine for 3 years. After two years the power supply on it went out on me. To replace it I just bought a new case with a power supply in it which cost about 100 dollars. Overall it was a very good computer to me. But In no way is an E-Machine the perfect computer. If you're looking for a gaming PC do NOT buy an e-machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ak2786 December 6, 2002 Share Ak2786 Member December 6, 2002 Uh I think almost about everyone already knows that emachines are pure crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendryx December 6, 2002 Share Hendryx Member December 6, 2002 Come on people! Custom built is the way to go. Forget that name brand crap with all of the onboard 'goodies' you'll never use or can never remove. Buy your own parts! You'll know exactly what you're getting then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gOOters December 6, 2002 Share gOOters Member December 6, 2002 btw, HP, Compaq, Sony, Gateway, and even Dell (to a much lesser extent) all suck donkey compared to building your own like hendy said. Its even cheaper to build than to buy, I will NEVER buy a name brand PC (again). Good topic though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playaa December 6, 2002 Share Playaa Member December 6, 2002 w00t for never buying brand name Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer December 7, 2002 Share Killer Member December 7, 2002 I bought a HP, really its not even a HP anymore except the monitor, I ripped all the guts out, and i basically have rebuilt the whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pvt_Jimmah December 7, 2002 Author Share Pvt_Jimmah Member December 7, 2002 Well unfortunately, I am not the sharpest tool in the shed. I let a too good to be true offer from a crappy company eat the guts out of my bank account, and now I regret it! P.S. By the way, my power supply didnt just fail, it surged and fried the components of my computer. I would have to buy the whole computer over again to fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gOOters December 7, 2002 Share gOOters Member December 7, 2002 dont get down on yourself, i let my gf buy an HP for the same reason a year or 2 ago. it has been a total p.o.s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gond December 7, 2002 Share Gond Member December 7, 2002 Yes, build your own PC...you will probably spend the same but get better components. Example. Priced out a Dell with the same specs for a pc I built. About the same price but instead of PC800 RAM and a 40 gig hd I got an 80gig with 1066 ram. So, no money savings but much better system. The place you make out in the pre-built is software. Building your own you can't touch the price breaks they get. Some local shops now sell OS' cheap when you buy parts. When I built mine I got XP Home for $99 and Office XP for $199. Not terrible but it was cheaper at Dell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrX December 7, 2002 Share mrX GC Alumni December 7, 2002 building your own is a great way.....did it with my last computer. But as Gond points out, software can be key, esp when you need something like Office. Got lazy and bought a Dell a week ago tho About the 5th or 6th I've gotten from them with much success (for an office environment). btw, I used www.pricewatch.com to find pretty much everything I needed. I had a good experience with each vendor I used from there. Anyone got any secret vendors for parts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gOOters December 7, 2002 Share gOOters Member December 7, 2002 hmmm if you spend the same and get 2x the comp. couldnt you spend much less and get the same specs as storebaught? answer: yes. also, I get microsoft software through my college campus for $5 per cd, regardless of the program Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.St3d4nk0 December 7, 2002 Share Sgt.St3d4nk0 Member December 7, 2002 Personally i hate any prefabed computer such as packardbell,HP,Compaq.My custon built machines such as my 5oclock computer,custom built.And my AlienWare computer i play on,custom built,are so much better than my HP and PB i have had in the past. Buy Custom Built !!! or build it yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartless December 7, 2002 Share Heartless Member December 7, 2002 i had an EZ machine (not to be confused with e-machine) a couple years ago, POS!!! they went out of business it was so bad.. now i have an HP (i donno what my rents are thinking..) and i hate the damn thing. We are getting a new puter soon.. they wanna get a dell.. someone just kill me already I tried to get my brother to wanna build one for me (he built his own) but he convinced my rents it was too expensive and that they should buy a dell (my brother knows puters.. he knows dell sucks.. he's just trying to get back at me for pickin on him ).. anyway thats my story about puters.. HPs suck esp with windows ME.. grrr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Hurricane December 7, 2002 Share Guest The Hurricane Guests December 7, 2002 dell's aren't half bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmmm Sanders December 7, 2002 Share Mmmm Sanders Member December 7, 2002 best bang for your buck is custom built.....you cant go wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatGuyInALittleCoat December 7, 2002 Share FatGuyInALittleCoat Member December 7, 2002 dell's aren't half bad Dell uses proprietary power supplies too. They also cheese out in other ways. If all you do is surf the web, email, and IM; name brand computers are for you. If you do anything that requires performance or you want to be able to customize/upgrade you need to build you own box. Its actually very easy and cheap these days. You really don’t have to worry about having to set dip-switches, IRQ’s, and configure hardware manually anymore. The best thing to do if you don’t know what hardware to buy is to read reviews at a place like Tom's Hardware. There's plenty of info on the web on building systems. Click here for info on an emachines replacement power supply. Cane is right on the $ with his first post. You should be able to get a case and power supply for around $50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC_Ranger December 7, 2002 Share MC_Ranger Member December 7, 2002 I'll jump in here: Dell's don't suck. ?? You get a lot of machine for the money. But, discounting all that, you get an incredible warranty. I've been building my own machines for about 8 years and will continue to do so for the predictable future - but if you're not comfortable with building your own machine - Dell can offer some nice systems at competitive prices. The real advantage is the software licensing (you know...if you want to be "legal" and all that) and the warranty. If you get a DOA from most online places, you are at least responsible for the shipping costs (there and back). That's money. Plus you are often dealing with OEM parts with limited warranty or distributors that may refer you to the manufacturer. That's a pain in the donkey. With Dell (or most other large, reputable PC makers), if it breaks - they fix it. Period. No cost to you. Get a PC from Dell and it doesn't work? Call them and they help. Order pieces from the Internet and it doesn't work? Sucks to be you. My point being, ordering from a place like Dell has its advantages. It may cost a couple hundred dollars more but, for some people, there's a lot of value in that couple hundred dollars. Don't assume there is one solution that magically fits for everyone. Building has its advantages and pre-built has its advantages. And Gond is right on target on how places like Dell can stay in the same ballpark on price. On licensing and things like Intel processors, their multi-million dollar orders are going to drive the cost per unit down much cheaper than you can get from Internet retailers or Bob's Corner Computer Shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Deputy Dawg December 7, 2002 Share Guest Deputy Dawg Guests December 7, 2002 About 5 years ago I purchased a computer from my local computer store (small one room type company). I have had my ups and downs with that computer. Mainly software related. Through these past 5 years I have completly upgraded my computer so none of the original parts remain. I knew exactly what I wanted to upgrade and when. I would reccommend finding a local company were you can get service easily to get a starter computer with the ease of upgrading it as necessary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrX December 7, 2002 Share mrX GC Alumni December 7, 2002 Let me re-phrase - building your own is perfect, so long as you are not on a budget and know what you are doing. For the avg. pute user, this won't apply (or those with wives that just won't let them toy around ). The avg user is gonna be using something that's on par with most store/internet bought machines. Whether they build or buy. Of course the twinkers could build an uber machine. But who has that money or the time? I'm sure some do, but most don't. But a twinker could build a better machine for the money than buying one. So you live with what you can get. I myself think Dell has a very structurally sound architecture. They use solid, quality materials in building their systems. Maybe not the best; but far from the worst. And there is a lot to be said for the support side of it. Most people could not build a system that is stable for less than what they could buy it from Dell or a competitor. A lot of factors go into building your own. Takes some skill to custom build. That's always a factor. Dunno, for those of you that read this and fear self-builds, you can't go wrong with a Dell. It'll take some software adjustments once you get it, but the hardware is sound and reliable. As for HP, Sony, Gateway, Compaq, and a slew of others, good luck. I've had pretty extensive experience with the four above and would recommend none of them. Wow, i sound like a commercial Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[Mmmm]SparkyTech December 7, 2002 Share [Mmmm]SparkyTech Member December 7, 2002 I concurr with Dell... Good machines. I bought mine 4 years ago and it was great... I have since rebuilt it with a new motherboard/chip combo and hardrive/case... but I work with Dells at work everyday. Good machines and support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adambomb December 7, 2002 Share adambomb Member December 7, 2002 The place you make out in the pre-built is software. Building your own you can't touch the price breaks they get. Some local shops now sell OS' cheap when you buy parts. When I built mine I got XP Home for $99 and Office XP for $199. Not terrible but it was cheaper at Dell. Unless you feel like me and believe that Red Hat is the way to go!! :-D ..... Well at least on my next computer it will be..... Or who knows, maybe I'll get Solaris, still much cheaper than M$ Window$. Plus more stable. Just a bit of a learning with Unix/Linux . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendryx December 7, 2002 Share Hendryx Member December 7, 2002 amen, adam. But if you are stuck with crapdows, p2p is your friend! Even if you 'fear' building your own machine, you should definitely learn how. The experience is priceless (being able to use your own parts doesn't leave any company 'secrets' (like a crappy power supply or some degraded version of the graphics card)) Plus, you can always charge your friends unbelievable amounts of cash to build machines for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Premier December 8, 2002 Share DJ Premier Member December 8, 2002 There is no way you can custom build a p4 machine for $699 with a flat panel monitor with a license for XP backed by a 1 year trouble-free warranty and customer service. 15" Flat Panel Monitor Intel P4 1.8Ghz 256MB DDR-RAM 48x CDROM 40x/10x/40x CD Rewriteable 10/100 Network Interface Card 56k Modem 40GB Hard Disk Tell me the source if you do. Remember, a decent computer case that is screwless will run about $75. That gives you $624 to work with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatGuyInALittleCoat December 9, 2002 Share FatGuyInALittleCoat Member December 9, 2002 I don’t build machines for the low price. I could never expect to compete with the quantity deals big resellers get. I get a better, faster machine because I can handpick each part. Plus it’s easy to upgrade. If something breaks, I replace it. Every new part I’ve ever bought came with at least a year warranty (AMD processors come with a 3 year warranty). I’ve had many more problems with Dell’s than the machines I build (including some really dumb quality control issues). Dell’s service is great if you can’t troubleshoot your own machine. But I’ve wasted many frustrating hours on the phone with Dell techs as they page through their troubleshooting binders while I try to tell them what the problem is. Raise your hand if the first thing you do when you get a new computer is format C: Red Hat, the "Windows " of Linux Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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