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HELP! eMachines experience?

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Old Jun 16, 2009 | 05:00 AM
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From: Philly (Narberth)
Thumbs up HELP! eMachines experience?

Our old HP Pentium III is +8 years old and is on it's last legs.

I'm looking at an eMachines desktop that seems to do everything that I need for normal home office applications....email, spreadsheet, surfing the weg, photos and vids, a little bit of music. NO GAMING

This eMachines model has 3GB of memory, AMD Athlon X2 dual core processor and comes with Vista + SP1 preloaded, 320GB hard drive. 32 bit OS probable.

There is also a DELL Inspiron under consideration, which uses an Intel processor and has 4GB SDRAM and 500GB hard drive. This one has a 64 bit OS.

I'm looking for a PC that will be flexible over a number of years of use, so it should be reasonably current technology. Price is a consideration but not primary

Has anyone had any experience with the eMachines BRAND...good, bad or indifferent? Comments on DELL PC's are also appreciated....
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Old Jun 16, 2009 | 05:10 AM
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My experience with eMachines in the past, based strictly on talking to users I work with who own one...pretty good machines...pretty spotty service/support.

Dell support isn't what it used to be either, unfortunately. Although their enterprise server support has improved of late and the same might be true of their desktop support.

If Vista really concerns you, I think Microsoft might now allow downgrades to XP from a vista license (maybe someone else here can say for sure) but you would need Windows XP media. Plan B would be to wait for the release of Windows 7 aka VistaLite which is much more user friendly for those of us who are Vista challanged.
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Old Jun 16, 2009 | 05:20 AM
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From: Philly (Narberth)
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Originally Posted by tof,Jun 16 2009, 09:10 AM
.....If Vista really concerns you, I think Microsoft might now allow downgrades to XP from a vista license (maybe someone else here can say for sure) but you would need Windows XP media. Plan B would be to wait for the release of Windows 7 aka VistaLite which is much more user friendly for those of us who are Vista challanged.
thanks tof....and what about 32 bit vs 64 bit re: future software etc

unfortunately, my current HP is really borderline basket case....so i can't wait for Windows 7.0 i have XP now and might also consider getting a DELL machine...can be ordered with that OS.
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Old Jun 16, 2009 | 05:22 AM
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Jerry,

I got the dell vostro, requested XP after hearing stories of Vista. Not sorry with my choice.
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Old Jun 16, 2009 | 05:29 AM
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Try newegg.com. They can sell you an HP/Compaq business class machine with XP preinstalled still, if that is your choice.

Personally, I would (and do) stay very far away from eMachines and Gateway. The desktop boxes I build for myself are far superior in every way to either of those.

HP or Acer are my choices if I'm buying a laptop.

Dave
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Old Jun 16, 2009 | 07:05 AM
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We got the Dell Inspiron and like it. Loaded with XP, not Vista!
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Old Jun 16, 2009 | 07:11 AM
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Thanks dave, deb and lainey.....all comments appreciated.

Unfortunately, most of the pre-loaded things that I've found (BestBuys, online) are pre-loaded with Vista. Curious if someone can 'splain to me what is DIFFERENT from my current XP....
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Old Jun 16, 2009 | 07:47 AM
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Lots of things are different about Vista - and Win 7 is comin this fall - it looks like a much nicer OS...

Some like Vista, some hate it. XP is definitely faster. Personally, I like it, but I use XP at work.


Here's an example of what you can get with XP:

NewEgg HP w XP Desktop


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Old Jun 16, 2009 | 08:04 AM
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My firm just rolled out Windows 7 and so far, I'm loving some of the steps that have been cut out to make our lives easier. It was easy on my learning curve so that did it for me.

Jerry after the rental car thing, are you doing to start another poll as to what you're end up with?
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Old Jun 16, 2009 | 09:21 AM
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Emachine is made by Gateway, i have had two of em, well i got them for my wife and daughter. No problems in 2 yrs. If you can get XP do it
i hate this damn Vista.
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