The eMachine is a bargain basement computer aimed at the first time buyer who usually doe not have a clue what they want or need in a home computer. These are pretty basic machines that are not designed for heavy duty users such as gamers. While providing slightly lower performance measures in almost all areas than other budget machines, an eMachine’s performance is acceptable for this class of low priced computers.

All of the systems come with the features you would expect in a bargain computer. They have Intel Celeron or Athlon processors, up to 2 GB DDR memory, an integrated video card, front and rear USB ports, modem, an Ethernet connection, front audio and  microphone jacks, a DVD or CD-RW drive, 160 to 400 GB hard drive, and come with either the Windows XP  Home or Vista home operating system installed.

Some of the features missing are FireWire ports and there is no option to customize your system to include one. However, you can add a PCI FireWire card. Most models of the eMachine have their front USB, microphone and headphone jacks located behind a sliding door. Most machines also have a sticker on the front of the machine that tells you the system model and serial number along with eMachines tech-support contact information. I’m not sure if this is a thoughtful addition or a warning that you will probably need this information.

The lower priced eMachines usually only offer two PCI expansion slots. The more expensive eMachines also offer an AGP slot to upgrade the video card. The included software is rather skimpy compared to most desktops. The most glaring omission is that CD or DVD burning software is not normally included even when there is a CD or DVD burner installed in the machine which forces the user to either buy burning software or use windows media player to burn CDs or DVDs.

Problems

One of the biggest problems is the lack of customizability. eMachines are built with non-standard components. Presumably, the idea was that these machines are starter machines that were deliberately designed not to allow users to add new features.

Many eMachines are reported to have problems with the installed power supply. Normally this would not be that big a deal, if you could get warranty repair service locally. Shipping the machine for repairs to an authorized center can take an indeterminate amount of time (weeks or even months) unless you pay a premium price for overnight or 2^nd day shipping. Even then, there is no guarantee you won’t have to wait several days for the repair shop to fix the machine. This is not a viable option  for most users.

Because eMachine tend to use non standard parts, even if you know how to fix machines yourself, you may not be able to find compatible parts and will still have to wait for the manufacturer to ship you a replacement part.

Service and Support

Unfortunately, eMachines earned a reputation for providing exceptionally poor service, both for technical support and warranty work.  eMachines has worked very hard to upgrade it’s service to consumers and has dramatically improved their offerings. You can call from 6 am to 10 pm Pacific time to talk to a real person and chat online with technical support people from 8 am to 5 pm PT. They have also added a Frequently Asked Questions page and driver downloads to their website.

However, eMachines doesn’t offer onsite service to a business either. To improve their reputation, the company now offers repairs with free shipping and you can take the machine to an authorized service centers. They also have the eMachines’ End-User Replaceable Parts program where they will ship you the parts and instructions to fix the machine yourself.  In addition, they do provide BigFix software that keeps the machine updated with relevant patches.

If you do ship your machine back for repair or take it into the shop, you need to back up all of your data from the hard drive because eMachines tends to replace the machine rather than repair it so there is no guarantee that you will get the same hard drive back that you gave them.

Conclusion

Even though the eMachine has slightly lower performance rating than other bargain desktops, it still provides a lot of performance for the price. Since the company has improved its service and technical support, the eMachine is a viable choice if you are looking for a budget priced PC.

However, because of its non-standard components and limited upgrade capabilities, I don’t recommend purchasing an eMachine if you depend on your computer for anything important and only have one machine. It would make a good choice if you use a laptop most of time and just use your desktop as a backup or something for the children to use.