Best PC on the market??

I have an eMachines, and I've had good luck with it.
However, I don't like the bugs, bloat, limitations, virus vulnerability, and the ridiculous draconian licensing of Windows XP. I've had zero problems with the hardware, but a number of problems with preferred configurations being maintainted, errant apps freezing the system, and system crashes with the silly message to send a bug report to MS (where they gather information about your PC usage and internet usage secrectly stored on your PC), etc. I'm thinking of partitioning the drive and loading Linux on the second partition and doing a dual boot.

You might want to try the same. Linux distributions like Mandrake, SuSE, and Libranet allow you to repartition the hard drive and easily set up a dual boot. They also have very good hardware recognition, including support for the Conexant WinModem installed in an eMachines. According to some of the Linux user sites, the hardware in eMachines PCs is typically recognized and properly configured correctly right out of the box.

If you want to get a whole new PC, I suggest going for a PC with Linux preloaded (where hardware is all compatibile and preconfigured), which can be ordered from Walmart.com or Amazon.com. You can get one for as little as $200.

If you want to play it safe and stick with the familiar Windows and a name brand, go with Dell.
They consistently rate very highly in product quality and customer support. They are now offering low cost PCs for as low as $499.

 

Why not just build your own PC? If you know where to get parts at good prices you can build yourself a top o da line PC for half of what retailers sell them. The only downside is you need to know your sh!t, no cutomer support, and no bundled software.

 

Building your own PC is no longer a cheaper option, since you can buy a new one online for $200 to $500 (about half that in British pounds, I reckon). If you buy all of the parts seperately now, they will typically add up to more money than just buying a new (low cost) PC. Plus, you need to have the know-how, time and patience to put it together.

Another very cheap option is to order a Knoppix CD, and use it on your existing eMachines. Knoppix is a Linux Distribution that boots and runs entirely from CD. Just pop it into your CD ROM drive, then reboot, and you have a fully functional Linux system that will automatically detect and configure all of the hardware on your system.

You can also use Knoppix as system recovery tool on your Windows PC. With Knoppix running, it can see all of the Windows files. It is also completely safe, because it does not install anything on the hard drive.

Knoppix is a completely free download, but since your PC is not currently running properly, that's probably not an option. However, you can order a Knoppix CD for about $3 to $5 from CD distributors like TuxCDs.com or CheapBytes.com.

Anyway, it's worth a look, and it's cheap and easy.

 

with windows XP you can do insert the windows XP cd and try and "fix" the system. you go through the process of reformatting the drive and there is an option to attempt to "repair" the drive...i did this once and it worked great.

 

It's the second repair option. It will offer to repair it once and you say install and then it says that it finds windows already instaled and then you repair.

But fid is right. It's quite handy.

 

Those computers are crap and 2 year old technology thats why they are cheap. I just made a computer the other day for my dad and we bought all top of the line stuff including 512MB RAM, 3G P4, and monitor. And it ran us about $1200. Now you may think thats alot of money and it is, but when you copmpare the components we put in there to what a $1200 Brand X computer has, there is no competition. We basically made something Dell would sell for over $2500.

Id rather put the extra $500-$1000 to some computer education or just some basic computer books. Your investment will be priceless as you would rarely need to call customer support for anything and youd be able to buy and install your own components as you see fit.

Also I am not talking about going down to COMP USA or CIRCUIT CITY to buy your parts. You have to know where to go.

 

doesn't dell always have good pcs? if i'm to buy a pc from retail, i would like to buy something that looks nice rather than the overall system performance. i like building my own system anyway. i don't know if it's cheaper but i like to make my own by myself. it's fun for me. for my latest system i spent...

motherboard 333mhz fsb with audio & ieee 1394 support $104
two 512 mb pc 3200 dimms $63*2 = $126
case with 300w psu $23
athlon xp 2500+ (operating at 1833 mhz) $91
v.92 modem $6
keyboard $4
mouse $2
floppy drive $5
cd-rw 52x-24x-52x $20
160gb harddisk $79
5.1 speaker $80
geforce fx5600 8x agp 256mb ddr $175
mitsubishi 18.1" lcd $491 (bought at best buy)

so the total was $1206 and the system alone cost $630. i already had win 2000 so didn't add the cost of os.

i wonder how much the equivalent system would cost on retail..... i may have spent a lot of time & money but at least it helped me to pass a+

 

This is a fairly high-powered system, and probably way more than 90% of users need.

My eMachines, which cost $500, gives me a 1.4 GHz Athon, 256mb of RAM, 40 gig hd, a CDRW drive, decent sound and video cards, speakers, and WinXP with a decent software bundle. It's plenty fast and has plenty of disc space. It's probably not the best system for 3D action gaming (particularily of the "first person shooter" variety), but it runs most games great. My wife runs Zoo Tycoon, the Sims, and Ceasar, and they all run great. I run MS Visual Studio, JBuilder 5 (which runs with the extra overhead producing Java Virtual Machine) and Knoppix (a live Linux distribution that runs from CD), and it all runs great.

My wife's little brother got a similar eMachines PC, and he runs a lot of graphically instensive 3D action first person shooter games. Apparently, it wasn't performing to his wishes. So he did his homework on how to maximize it, and came up with simply upgrading the video card to the top of the line. He did so, and now his games scream.

So, even though eMachines are not top of the line and obviously sinner_ronald_monk has had trouble with his, it meets the needs of most people, easily. And, with paying $1200 buying all these components seperately, you paid way too much.

That being said, you did grant yourself the fun of assembling your dad's PC. Plus, you were able to learn more the ins and outs of PC hardware. That is a good thing, and maybe worth paying extra (but not $600 extra).

 

I've got the eMachines T1600. So far, I have not had to replace anything. I've had the PC a little over a year now. I've had good luck with it, other than some of the annoying things about WinXP, that I've already mentioned.