Techno Savy AOers I need an honest opinion

[RevBrown]

I need to buy my own pc for school.
Since I am a broke assed college student I am looking to save as much money as possible

I am looking at a refurbished emachine for around $350 with the following specs



Operating Systems Windows XP Home Edition SP1

Platform Learn More PC

Form Factor Learn More Tower

PCI Slots (Total) Learn More 3

Expansion Slots 4

Processor Brand Intel

Processor Class Celeron

Processor Speed 2.80GHz

Memory Type DDR

Total Memory 512MB

Capacity 80GB

Optical Drive Type DVD-ROM
CD-RW

Audio Description Integrated Audio

Graphics Description Integrated Graphics

Communications Description Integrated LAN Support

Data Transfer Rate 10Mbps
100Mbps

Power 150 Watt

Mouse Type Ball-Bearing

Buttons 3

Keyboard Type Multimedia

Keys 110

Front Speakers 2


My brother says these things are pieces of <B>*POOF*</B> but this fits right in my price range
Anyone have any experience with them? Am I screwing myself out of 350 bucks?
All I want to do with the thing is listen to music, play UO, and run AutoCad for school.

<B>*Warning: No Cussing*</B> -Miscue

[Brak]

you can't play UO or use autocad with an integrated graphics slot. you need to make sure you get an AGP slot so you can put a decent 3d card in there. i made your mistake (im on the computer right now actually) and didnt get a computer with an AGP slot so i could put in a decent 3d card. now im stuck with a crappy integrated dell graphics card, and cant play any games

[Ultimator]

It's a piece of <B>*POOF*</B>.

<B>*Warning: No Cussing*</B> -Miscue (although I completely agree)

[Miscue]

I
My brother says these things are pieces of <B>*POOF*</B> but this fits right in my price range
Anyone have any experience with them? Am I screwing myself out of 350 bucks?
All I want to do with the thing is listen to music, play UO, and run AutoCad for school.

I've had a lot of experience... fixing those stupid things - throwing out their parts, replacing them with parts that don't suck. I'm not saying they all break or even a large percentage... I'd just get a disproportionate number of them on my tech bench - lots of bad power supplies... which can take out other parts when it takes a crap. Before you could get an aftermarket power supply that was the same size, ended up having to swap cases a lot. It's not a big deal now because you can get them easily, but they haven't changed much on their quality issues. I personally think they are designed to break on purpose, well it seems like it to me sometimes.

Go to a mom & pop shop... look at their tech bench... and behold the e-machines. If you do get one, throw out your power supply and get a $30 aftermarket one that fits.

[RevBrown]

<B>*Warning: No Cussing*</B> -Miscue

I thought there was a curse filter ooops


Thanks for the help though sounds like I should pass this up and I probably will

[gamarada717]

Yeah, that's junk. Go around to your friends and buy their old parts from them. I use it as a secondary computer, and it can run most games pretty well even. Took me 200 bucks for used parts and then 80 for a case.

[Timmee]

I've had a lot of experience... fixing those stupid things - throwing out their parts, replacing them with parts that don't suck. I'm not saying they all break or even a large percentage... I'd just get a disproportionate number of them on my tech bench - lots of bad power supplies... which can take out other parts when it takes a crap. Before you could get an aftermarket power supply that was the same size, ended up having to swap cases a lot. It's not a big deal now because you can get them easily, but they haven't changed much on their quality issues. I personally think they are designed to break on purpose, well it seems like it to me sometimes.

Go to a mom & pop shop... look at their tech bench... and behold the e-machines. If you do get one, throw out your power supply and get a $30 aftermarket one that fits.

I just replaced a blown power supply in one, for one of my co-workers. Glad to know it wasn't due to any unusual circumstances. Anything else he should look out for?

[BrockSampson]

The only thing worth any money in that deal is Windows XP, at around $100. You can get a fairly decent card for a PCI slot, but it certainly won't live up to it's potential sharing that small bandwidth. My next MoBo will be PCI Express, so I refuse to invest any more in AGP video cards...

[Miscue]

I just replaced a blown power supply in one, for one of my co-workers. Glad to know it wasn't due to any unusual circumstances. Anything else he should look out for?

If it's working... then should be ok.