Dont Buy Emachines!

Emachines makes there computers from the cheapest materials. Thats why if you go to lets say bestbuy they will show you an emachine and they will say this system has the best for its price. The screen just goes blank and you better have a warranty. That is one of the biggest problems with emachine. Then the screen goes blank and you have to get a new screen. Trust me dont get a emachine.

 

i thought that eMachines laptops were now owned by Gateway...??

 

They are...and they're not making new notebooks anymore.

 

ahh...i see

 

Wow, ALL of my computers do that. And only one of them is an eMachines! But I found an easy fix for it, just wiggle the mouse a little and the screen comes right back! I hate to think how much money I would have wasted if I hadn't discovered that little trick!

 

LOL! What's your screensaver?

 

Screensaver? I don't need no stinkin' screensaver!

 

No, eMachines is a horrible brand. The monitor going blank takes wiggling the monitor due to an issue with the wires, not waking the system from sleep. I would also recommend that you learn to interrogate further into an issue before you think everyone is below you.

 

Mine has no issues at all, although I have heard people say to never buy HP/Compaq/Dell/Toshiba machines for pretty much the same reasons. Others swear by those brands as well.

Don't get me wrong, I wish I'd bought a Voodoo. I just didn't have that much money. But for the money I'm more than satisfied with my eMachines. Even if everyone asks "eMachines, is that an HP or a Dell?"

 

I think my M6809 is the best PC I've ever owned. I have nothing but good things to say about eMachines. They've been very responsive. I think poorly worded "don't buy" post like the one that started this thread are pretty irresponsible/ignorant.

My first question for notebook issues: How has it been treated?

Even though most notebooks are made fairly well, they're not nearly as robust as many would like/require. I use my notebook in a business setting, not gaming, and I think that makes a difference. It never leaves my desk unless it's traveling in a padded notebook backpack. It's not thrown around or ill-treated.

I'm not saying this is the case above, but my son's 19 and a sophomore in college, and I KNOW how he treats his stuff, and I don't think he's unusual for his age.

Tony

 

I'd never own a eMachines notebook. But I'd consider buying an eMachines desktop if I just need one to access the net, read email, etc. They are very inexpensive, fairly easy to work on (though the cases are rather cramped) and the components are standard value brand stuff. They have decent warranties and get pretty decent Service & Support ratings from owners.

 

i give hell to my 68xx. its always running. games. dvd. 3dmax. lol days rendering max stuff. and havent died in more that a year and a half since i got it. cracked hinges yes. but reliable. and powerfull for my needs.

 

I have so far a very good experience with my m6811. I travel a lot for my job and always take my laptop with me. It is always in a padded case and I am not extremely carefull with it(I just use it like it is mine)

After a year of hard use( a lot of gaming too) it is still running like a champ.

I would by another one if they still made them!

Learux

 

The only thing I don't like about my M6811 is the heat it generates even when not using wireless, but other than that, I think it's great. Oh, and I see the cracked (which they currently are) hinges as a possible godsend since I bought it from Best Buy. I figure i can get the hinges to crack 3 more times afterwards because it wasn't too hard for it to happen in the first place, and then get $1700 toward a new laptop using their service plan.

 

My Gateway 7422GX (Gateway version of the eMachines 6811) is a real workhorse, and it's been under constant use for about 10.5 months now (including about 5 months with the video card heavily overclocked), and it hasn't given me any trouble yet...other than a now rather monstrous crack along the hinge's plastic external casing.

So basically, I think the stories of eMachines/Gateway 7000-series notebooks being prone to early and constant failure are greviously exaggerated.

 

I totally disagree with "nickspohn". I have an eMachines M6809 and I've only had 1 problem with it. It did develop hairline cracks on the hinge covers (not really the hinge) below the screen on the back side. It seems that this is a well known issue with the M68XX series. Anyway, I called eMachines (now Gateway) and they Fedex'd a box to me the very next day. I packed it up on the sameday (Thursday) and they had it back to me on Monday morning with no questions asked... Now that's service! I was impressed. It's been a great notebook that I use daily for work as well as a few games BF2, Doom3, Battlefield 1942.

I've owned my M6809 for over a year now ( I bought it refurbished from Tigerdirect.com ). I paid $1099 and got a $100 rebate at the time. I noticed that they still have it on their website for $889 now. One of the best things about it is it comes with a CDRW/DVDRW burner not a CDRW/DVD combo drive (DVD reader only) like the other M68XX series notebooks come with.

I do a lot of video and photo editing with Adobe Premier Pro 1.5, Adobe Encore DVD, and Photoshop CS2 with absolutely no problems at all on this laptop. It's the best laptop I've ever owned of any Dell, HP, or IBM that I've had in the past and continues to be fast and reliable.

 

Never trust when people start bashing on things just because rumors say its bad. Chances are, they probably haven't even tried an m6xxx series laptop. I've had my m6809 for almost a year, and there have been no problems at all. I've done everything with it - dvd's, games (HL2,NFSU2,Doom3), overclocking, benching, and more, and it's never failed me (not even crack hinges). Try something and judge it yourself, don't let some idiot who knows nothing give you bad impressions about a great product.

 

I totally disagree with your statement. I bought a M6809 about 2 years ago and it has been terrific and reliable as heck. They one and only issue I have had with it was the hairline platic hinge cracks which is a common issue with these and has no affect on function whatsoever. This machine by the way is made by Arima and rebadged by alot of OEM companies and not just emachines. You would be surprised to know how much other companies are charging for this same model. Overall it is a great machine although a bit heavy in weight.

 

wow....why would someone diss emachines...
i have the m5105 - the celeron overheating one - for over 2 year...
it has lived up to what i want and has gone though highschool
it took me a over a year to do my first upgrade to it which was ram
i mean high school has really been bad and i was not so smart with it
battery is only 45 min now..and a key is broken but other then that...it is a good laptop
it has keep up with most new laptops but it is know time to be replaced...need something smaller...and lightweight which are my only reasons for a new one

 

My old tower was an Emachines. A workhorse with solid design and workmanshi. But they scammed me on the rebate and customer service was the worst. Only problem after 5 years of really heavy usage was a DVD drive failure and the keyboard tile letters wore off. I would not want to deal with them on warranties and the like.

 

i dont think that you know what you are talking about if you say "the screen just goes blank" that is very unspecific... is it the monitor? the video card? the motherboard? what??? PC World recently rated them since they were bought by Gateway and their reliability was very high. They have name brand hdds, etc. Motherboards too. I know for a fact, they are very well put-together machines. You dont know what you are talking about.

 

Would it be too much to ask that we keep this civilized and appropriate?

No personal comments of any kind will be tolerated - period.

 

Hi, I have a M6805
I just want to add my 2 bits, 2 years ago I needed a laptop to take to a forward area in Afghanistan. I bought a 6805. I brought it home from the store, foound it had a problem with the power connector due to a bad part on the MOBO. RMA'd it with no problems at all. Got it back in time to take downrange for 6 months.
I had a great time playing Ut2K4 and Ghost Recon. (I am a comm guy so we had lots of down time). that laptop withstood the heat and the dust. It's a good machine. a friend of mine had the lid hinge problem out there, but he dropped his off a CONEX (10-12 feet). He had no problems RMA'ing when he got back
I have 1 hairline crack - still after 2+ years of no problems I am happy I bought it.

Now I am looking to upgrade the RAM to give it some new life. I hope to try Orion's tricks for tweaking and upgrading.

I was worried when I bought eMachines, but now I see I was wrong, I wish they still made laptops.

 

They just started making them again! Check out the W4620 emachines on www.walmart.com not widescreen but quick!

Ryan

 

I don't know how good their are now but first when they came out with desktops, I bought one for home use since they were cheap in cost. Hardly used and it's DVDRom just died sitting there, noticed that one day after starting computer in months that I can't play DVDs anymore! and It got slow, it takes long to start, hardly shuts off, useally have to unplug it to shut it down. Slow slow for everything. Tried reinstalling, formating but it's just cheap hardware. Generally like most of people I look for low cost machine but this time it wasn't worth it.

 

Is the laser dirty? Have you tried other DVDs?
Yes, they are cheap machines, but IMO, that is how they sell as well as they do.

 

yup, laser is clean, CDs does work *sometimes only. It's 633ID minitower, samsung dvdrom - don't even release anymore drivers for it and did lot of search on this and many other had same issue without solution so I take it that it's gone. Checked prices on ebay for this computer, now it's less than $25.00! I had installed sony CD RW that time in 2001 which alone itself cost $200.00!

 

My 6807 has served me well. Gaymachine? just repaired it for me after I did in my video chip with massive over clocking. People forget that eMachines did not build it, ARIMA built it.

At the time I bought it, the 6805-07's were some of the fastest laptops around for the bucks. A 64 meg 9600 with a fast Athlon 64 for $1400? What was faster and cheaper at the time?

 

I can't say anthing about eMachines notebooks, as I've never owned one. I have never owned an eMachines for that matter. But my sister an eMachines desktop a few years back, and I can tell you that it was not good. From the time she got it, it was loud, slow, and it has had a lot of problems over the years. While things may have changed over the years (and I'm not denying that they haven't), there is a reason they're pretty much the cheapest computer you can buy.

I also think it's funny how you guys talk about your two year old eMachines still being in great condition. My old Dell here is pushing four years old. The only things wrong with it are that a hinge is broke from about a year of carrying it around in my backpack rather than the padded case, and the CD-ROM is a little hit or miss sometimes. Other than that, it's in fine working condition. I've got a Dell Precision M90 on the way, and I still plan on keeping this C640 around for at least another year. It may not be the fastest thing out there, but I've never upgraded anything and it still runs SolidEdge and AutoCAD faster than the computers in one of the labs on campus. Therefore, I stick with Dell.

Not saying that eMachines are bad, but neither are Dells, so everyone has their opinions and let's just let it stay that way.

 

They all have significant problems (All brands). Few are made by the selling brand. It becomes more of a brand battle, which is why we get more for our money at emachines. On my third, (second laptop) and very happy.

Owned:

emachines
hp
custom Desktops (2)
compaq
ibm

All the same...

 

eMachines is very bad .. as said before dont buy one !!

 

And you base this on pretty much nothing...

eMachines isn't horrible. Now the American Packard Bell -- Now that was horrible. I'll admit that the eMachines circa 1999-2002 were rubbish. But they have improved over time.