Are Emachines getting better? The Emachines T2042
Written: Mar 16 '03 (Updated Jan 06 '04)
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Pros: Rock-bottom price - good performance - attractive case - small footprint
Cons: Anemic 128 MB of RAM - No AGP slot
The Bottom Line: A good, basic system for both the newbie and the experienced user on a budget.
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| Ahab1973's Full Review: eMachines T2042 PC Desktop |
UPDATE - January 6 2004
In the time that I've owned this PC (Since I wrote the original review), I've been very pleased with it's performance and reliability. Yes, I have indeed noticed some of it's limitations, related mostly to the Celeron processor. However, most of my computer activities are limited to surfing the web and applications for digital photography. I've left this system continuously powered up for days (literally) with absolutely no crashes or instability at all. I've also had no hardware failures, other than the mouse that came with the system. That's pretty impressive for a system that was one of the cheapest systems on the market when I bought it.
Unfortunately, this system is not well suited to serious game play, even with a PCI graphics card upgrade and more memory. Fortunately, I don't really care much for playing games on a computer anyway so it's not a serious drawback for me.
I did add a 256 MB DDR Ram module and an additional 40 gig Western Digital hard drive salvaged from my old system. The RAM upgrade did improve the performance somewhat but I think it could still benefit from a little more RAM.
When I opened the case, everything was nice, clean and well laid out. I had no problems doing the upgrades. All of the parts that need to be taken out for drive upgrades come out pretty easily and go back together without requiring undue force.
In short, this system retains my original five star rating and I still have no regrets. It's perfectly suited to my needs.
Original Review:
First and foremost, I'd like to note for the record that I'm by no means a full-fledged computer geek. Some computer terminology means something to me and some doesn't. Therefore, I won't include a lot of specifications here unless I can explain why they're an advantage or a disadvantage. Since Epinions typically lists most specifications for most products, it would be pointless for me to go listing a lot of specs with no comments.
Next, most of my comparisons to other machines in this review will be based on my older system, an HP Pavilion 8655C 530 Megahertz Pentium 3 (which is still running fine) or comparably priced systems from other manufacturers that I have seen but not necessarily used.
Until recently, I was fairly satisfied with my old HP Pavilion 8655C. I made quite a few upgrades to that machine, including (but not limited to): Upgrading the memory to 512 MB, Adding a Geforce2 video card, Tossing the CD ROM drive that came with the system and adding a Buslink 32 X Max CD RW drive, and adding a 1394 firewire card that came as part of a package with Pinnacle's Studio DV. I also moved the standard Quantum Fireball hard drive down one slot in the expansion bay and installed a new 7200 RPM 40 GB Western Digital drive. The machine was running much better when I decided I needed a new one than it was when I bought it (Retail price: Well over a thousand Dollars a couple of years ago). Anyway, that's just a few details on my old system so you can see what I'm comparing this new one to.
To make a long story somewhat shorter, a few weeks ago, I decided to try a few games. Looking at the minimum requirements on the boxes of some of the recent games, I began to realize that I was almost certainly going to need more processor power. 530 Megahertz just doesn't cut it with today's games. However, I've never been and don't ever plan to be really serious about gaming. I was also beginning to feel the frustration of the agonizingly slow process of rendering digital video with a 530 Megahertz processor. So, I figured it was time for a moderate upgrade. The problem was that (particularly in this economy) I didn't have a lot of cash to spend on a new computer. I looked at a lot of options, including simply buying a new case, motherboard and processor and reusing my drives and other components from my HP. But as I said, I'm not a serious computer geek. I know how to do simple upgrades like hard drives, DVD drives and PCI cards but some of the terminology and concepts involved in building your own system were a little too involved for my taste at this time. Adding to this was the fact that no matter how I looked at it, I was still looking at a bare minimum of about $400 for this upgrade, and that's using the cheapest components I could get my hands on.
I also looked at what was available in the retail outlets. I ruled out buying from an online source early on for the simple reason that I don't like the online shopping experience. Plus, you usually end up paying virtually the same amount as you would at a retail outlet and you can't simply return and exchange it in half an hour like you can if you buy retail. Anyway, I looked at HP, Compaq, Dell and Gateway. All of them have entry level systems for under $700. The catch is that most of these systems are bare-bones. I had previously shied away from Emachines because of my initial impression of low quality. However, upon doing some research online, it became fairly clear that the components used in the construction of the new Emachines systems are virtually identical to the components used in the bigger name brands like HP. In the case of the Emachines T2042, the hard drive is Western Digital, which is a great name brand. The modem is a Conexant Soft 56K V.92 ready (I'm assuming this means that all you have to do is download the V.92 drivers to use it with a V.92 service), virtually identical to the modem in my old machine.
I haven't taken the cover off yet, to avoid voiding the warranty or causing return or exchange problems until I've done a proper burn in (I usually burn my new electronics in for a week after purchase, just to be on the safe side). When I do feel comfortable opening the cover, I feel pretty confident that I will see components that are almost indistinguishable from those used in the run of the mill offerings from HP and Compaq.
OK, a few specs for those of you who want to know:
*Processor: Intel Celeron 2 Gigahertz
*Ram: 128 MB DDR SDRAM (Which is extremely inadequate for
the included Windows XP Home Edition. More on that later)
*Hard drive: 40 GB Western Digital
*16 times DVD ROM drive
*40 times max CD RW drive (Sorry. Don't know the name
brands of these drives)
*Six USB 2.0 ports. Two on the front and four on the rear.
(A BIG plus on a computer this inexpensive).
*Two PCI expansion slots (Three if you pull out the
internal modem and use an external modem. I plan to do
this anyway, as it frees up some system resources). This
doesn't need to be a major limitation if you don't mind
using some external peripherals connected via USB for
future upgrades. Yes, it's somewhat annoying and might
cause some clutter in a cramped location but certainly
not impossible.
*There's also an Ethernet port that can be
used for high speed Internet modems.
First Impressions - Upon getting the PC home and opening the top of the box, the first thing that greeted me was a large, easy to understand quick setup chart. This will be a very welcomed plus for computer newbies. However, being who I am (Someone who usually doesn't read the instructions unless something goes wrong), I tossed this to the side and dug into the box. Next in line is the keyboard, the mouse and speakers. None of these included components are going to win any awards for style or grace, but this is to be expected when buying almost any bargain PC from any manufacturer. The keyboard (Branded Emachines, but could be made by any one of the larger keyboard manufacturers) is a sort of graphite gray color, has soft touch buttons and works well. The mouse, I haven't used because I already had a Microsoft optical Wheel Mouse that I absolutely love.
The necessary cords were packed in neatly, as well as the documentation (including a manual for the motherboard! Kudos to Emachines for including this often neglected manual!). The speakers are bare bones stereo speakers. They're Almost worthless if you want to watch DVDs or listen to music. If you plan on doing anything involving audio reproduction with this system other than basic computing and web surfing, you'd probably want to upgrade the speakers. Vastly superior 3-pice speaker systems are available at very reasonable prices. Again, I must emphasize that this is what you would expect when you buy a budget system. You save money in the short term and you can expand and upgrade if you want as your budget allows. None of this was a surprise to me, nor should it be to anyone who doesn't buy a system that's fully decked out already.
Taking a look at the fit and finish of the exterior of the case itself, I have to say that I'm impressed. Emachines has done a nice job of putting everything together in a small case without any hint of sloppy workmanship that I can see. Keep in mind that this is only my initial impression from looking closely at the exterior. All of the cable connections are color coded (which is pretty much standard but it's still a plus if you're a newbie). What impressed me was that the labels for the various connections and ports on this Emachines are easier to see and better implemented than some of the systems from HP and Compaq. All in all, you won't find better fit and finish as far as assembly and hardware quality goes unless you go farther up the price scale.
If I have one minor gripe about the quality of any of the components that I can see without opening the case, it's the optical drives. The sliding doors on both drives look and feel pretty flimsy. But again, this is not all that unusual on budget systems. Plus, if you have any computer upgrade knowledge at all, both drives are easily replaceable later on down the road. Some folks may never feel the need to upgrade these drives unless something goes wrong with them. In any case, it's not a terribly expensive or time-consuming upgrade if you're comfortable with doing the work yourself. I expect to be at least upgrading the stock DVD drive to a DVD recordable drive when prices for those come down to what I consider to be an acceptable level.
I chose not to buy the Emachines package with the monitor because I still have my 17" Viewsonic A75f monitor that I originally bought with my HP. This has been a very good and reliable monitor that has been powered up for very lengthy periods of time. The only complaint I've ever had was the max refresh rate of 60 HZ at it's maximum resolution of 1280x1024 (terrible flicker at that refresh rate). I'd advise anyone who is considering such a system to opt out of the system with the company branded monitor, save some money and go with something with an established track record. Unlike the PC itself, you're far more likely to notice major performance and reliability differences between different brands. Company branded monitors, like the one Emachines sells in their packages, are usually not very well made and probably won't display text, photos or graphics very well. Again, I paid less than $200 for my Viewsonic well over two years ago and it has been absolutely rock solid.
Now on to the operating system - Before buying this new system, I was a very happy and comfortable Windows 98SE user. I learned a lot about Windows 98 over the two years that I used it and could do pretty much anything I wanted if I really set my mind to it. Windows XP Home Edition comes pre-loaded on this machine and I don't have a stand alone Windows 98 disc, just a generic recovery disc that came with the HP. Again, this is very common for manufacturers who include Windows as part of a software package. The Emachines T2048 also uses this generic two-disc recovery CD method. The CDs won't work on another system because the recovery system looks for some sort of system-specific tattoo buried somewhere in the motherboard chipset before it will install.
Anyway, I was a little wary of the new interface for XP. The start menu doesn't look the same, the windows don't look the same and things that I could easily accomplish in Windows 98 seemed to be difficult to accomplish in XP. However, I played around with it for a couple of hours and managed to switch the interface to the familiar and comfortable Windows "classic" setting. I've been moving right along more or less happily ever since. I'm still learning some of the specifics of XP though. Although the look and feel of the classic setting is familiar, it's still a different operating system and will take some time to learn the intricacies.
Booting up - The first thing I did before I booted up was to read the part of the manual that tells you how to get into the BIOS setup menu (Note: this is DEFINITELY not something that a computer newbie should EVER do with any computer! You can seriously throw things out of whack if you don't know what you're doing and it might take a technician to restore your system to working order). In particular, I just was curious to see if there was an option to disable the onboard graphics in the BIOS because I plan to add the Geforce2 card that I already have. This system doesn't have an AGP slot but you can add a PCI graphics card and disable the onboard video via the BIOS. As it stands, the PCI graphics option is perfectly acceptable unless you're really into some seriously intense games.
In use The system is very quiet. Much quieter than my old system. I haven't experienced any lockups or freezing like I did (quite frequently) with my old Hp. The hard drive is so quiet that you actually have to look at the access light to make sure that it's working. There is some fan noise but it's very subdued and quite tame compared to other systems I've seen. The modem and the sound card don't seem to be integrated into one card like my old HP, which seemed to be the source of some of my headaches with that system.
Cons - If there's a single biggest con to buying this particular system, it's the RAM. 128 MB is inadequate, even for running XP by itself, not to mention having any other applications running in the background. If you buy this system, you may as well plan on getting some additional RAM pretty soon. I would suggest, at the very least, one 256 MB module, in addition to the 128 that's already there. That will take you up to just above the recommended minimums for XP. Even though the processor is only a Celeron, the 2 Gigahertz clock speed and a 400 Megahertz Front Side Bus makes this a pretty fast system (Though it's no Pentium, to be sure). With the right memory upgrade, you may not even notice much of a difference between this and a Pentium with a similar clock speed. The included 128 MB of DDR SDRAM should be adequate for Internet surfing and very light duty until you upgrade it though. It might slow you down a little when it starts using virtual memory but it hasn't locked up or anything on me yet. I expect a considerable boost in performance when I eventually upgrade the memory.
Who is this Emachines T2042 best suited for? Because reliability might not be the greatest with this system, I wouldn't recommend it to a complete computer newbie (Who, oddly enough seems to be Emachines' target consumer) or someone who isn't comfortable opening the case, replacing fried power supplies or cards or upgrading the memory. You can almost always buy extended warranties but this cuts into your savings and the warranty (Depending on who you bought it from) might not be worth the paper it's written on. I can't comment on Emachines tech support because I have no first person experience with them. I've heard some bad things though, so you might want to keep that in mind if you're considering an Emachines system.
IMHO, this computer is better suited to someone who knows how to replace something like a fried power supply or a faulty CD ROM drive, doing all the work themselves. It would make an excellent second system for a family who doesn't want to spend an arm and a leg for a PC for the kids to play with. This system is perfectly suited to someone like me. I know how to do most hardware upgrades myself (Or can learn if need be) and where to get excellent deals on replacement parts. I feel that with computer technology advancing at the rate it's been going, it's not worth it to spend in excess of $1,000 on a new computer if all you want to do is surf the net and maybe play a few games. The price for this computer was $499 + tax. At that price, you can buy a new Emachines computer every year and not feel cheated when a better system comes out two months after you bought yours. Sure, you can spend $1,500 on a fully decked out system and keep it a few years. The problem there is in initial cost and within the first year (Probably more like the first few months), your processor and graphics card are yesterday's news. Thus, if you're comfortable with opening the case and doing some minor upgrades or repairs yourself, I don't see a down side to an Emachines in today's market. There will always be computer geeks who like to build their own systems from the ground up. for them, I say great! Have fun. There will always be the Gateway and Dell folks who spend thousands of dollars on a system that's obsolete in months. To them, I say cool. If you've got money to burn, have fun. For the rest of us, there's Emachines, HP and Compaq. These last three are pretty close to the same systems with different names on the case. Sure, some of them perform better than others because of the way they're configured but the internal components are more or less the same.
Conclusion - I chose the Emachines T2042 because I felt that it offered exactly what I needed for the price I was willing to pay. I don't regret the purchase at all, and don't expect I will.
I will be updating this review on a regular basis as I add RAM and drives. If you're considering an Emachines, you might want to wait and see how my burn in goes. The system has been continuously powered up for two days now and I plan on leaving it on until about Thursday. If it can stand up to that kind of torture test, chances are, it will last at least two years. If not, it's a five minute drive to return it for a refund or replacement (Always check the return policy of the retailer before a computer purchase
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 499 tax
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Celeron
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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Epinions.com ID:
Ahab1973
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Member: Brian
Location: USA
Reviews written: 132
Trusted by: 65 members
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