she went out and bought another POS box store computer. it sucks. her emachines lasted 2 years and had to be thrown away when the mainboard went. she bought a acer with a dual core pentuim, 1 gb ram, 250 gb hdd, and vista home premium. i dont like it all, i think its slow out of the box. it has intergrated video and since it only has 1 gb of ram, only 800 something is useable. it should have xp not vista, vista is way too memory hungry for less than 1gb. it doesnt need to be dual core either, thats a waste. i told her i would have built her a decent machine but she didnt care and went against my advice. i would have built her a single core athlon 64, 2 gb, lower end video card, a decent case/supply, and a good motherboard. i would have built it so its serviceable and not a throw away. i personally only buy something if it can be repaired easily, something i build myself. i cant stand computers that are slow out of the box. this machine shouldnt have vista installed, i dont use it myself and i have a athlon x2 with 2 gb of ram. i used vista for a little while but quickly realized it has way too much overhead just to run the OS. to be honest my stepfather has a computer in the basement that i built 4-5 years ago, its a athlon xp 2600+ (512mb ram-running xp), its quite old but its still faster than my mom's brand new vista machine. the old basement computer is also alot more serviceable, components are easily swapped out. i built that computer a long time ago and its still not that bad. it outlasted he emachines and will probably outlast her new acer.
my mother will never learn
- Thread starter ad356
- Start date
Wow, that's hard to read.
Emachines are somewhat of a basic system and are not meant to directly compete with other pre-built systems. Does your mother game, run multi-threaded applications, or use it for major CPU-intensive tasks? If not, then the system should be fine with the listed specs.
The system you built 4-5 years ago may seem faster, but understand that XP requires less resources than Vista, and pre-builts (regardless of brand) contain lots of additional software that the manufacturer installs. Also, basic versions of Vista don't need super-high specs.
For most people (realistically, not those of us here), a pre-built system is the way to go.
Emachines are somewhat of a basic system and are not meant to directly compete with other pre-built systems. Does your mother game, run multi-threaded applications, or use it for major CPU-intensive tasks? If not, then the system should be fine with the listed specs.
The system you built 4-5 years ago may seem faster, but understand that XP requires less resources than Vista, and pre-builts (regardless of brand) contain lots of additional software that the manufacturer installs. Also, basic versions of Vista don't need super-high specs.
For most people (realistically, not those of us here), a pre-built system is the way to go.
my feeling is that a computer purchased at a retail outlet is not serviceable. i dont think a mega-powerful computer is always necessary but when it comes time service, repair or upgrade it, you may as well find a dumpster. when you build your own computer or go with something built by a local computer store you get something thats serviceable. if the motherboard, or power supply fails you can simply buy a replacement power supply or motherboard. when it comes time to upgrade (move to newer generation processor) you simply replace the motherboard, processor, and ram. the case and power supply (even hard drive, if its large enough) may be reused. sometimes a large power supply is needed depending upon how much more power the new equipment consumes. often times it can be reused (i always use a larger supply than what is necessary for upgrade-ability). i think building your own is slightly(not much) more expensive than buying off the shelf but the long term is much cheaper. simply replacing the components that are needed rather than the whole unit makes sense.
Vipernitrox
New Member
the main issue when building pc's for family/ friends is garantuee (or whatever you spell that). If something gets broken they need to pay for a new one. At good stores you get 3 years garantuee on most (mostly all) of the parts.
And it saves you time of repairing the thing. You just need to make sure you pick a good pre-built one. So no crappy acers or something. Hp is the way to go for me.
And it saves you time of repairing the thing. You just need to make sure you pick a good pre-built one. So no crappy acers or something. Hp is the way to go for me.
Well, I guess that depends on what you call 'serviceable'. I service pre-built units all the time, almost on a daily basis. If you know what you're looking for and where to look, the prices aren't that much out of line for parts/upgrades for pre-built units.
It's all a matter of taste, I guess...
when you build your own machine you build it to your specs. you also get the choice of what software is to be run. no-preinstalled crap. you also have to remember that if i go and buy PC components separately the individual manufactures provide warranty on the components. example if i buy a new gigabyte motherboard and it fails 6 months later, gigabyte will replace it free of charge. often times you get better warranties by buying separate components. buy a hard drive, some manufactures offer a very good 5 year warranty to hard drives sold to the consumer. buy a pre-built computer, now its an OEM drive and usually you get cheated on the warranty and its only 1 year. im not sure how upgradeable a prebuilt computer really is. i do know that the 3-4 year old computer that i built in my parents basement is easily upgraded. it has an athlon xp, if he wanted something faster he would simply buy a new board, power supply and processor. can you do that if you had a 4 year old hp that was generations old? i doubt it.
speedyink
VIP Member
Hating prebuilts for the reason that if something breaks it can't be replaced is bullshit. Everything is replaceable in my computer, an HP, and it's the same with every other company besides Dell. The only advantage to home built I can see is that you know exactly whats going in the computer
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twitchtwice
New Member
go custom all day long
Protozoa
New Member
Acer sucks
I know it's a bit of a side track here, but I really can't stand Acer. I purchased one of their laptops a few years ago (from the Aspire line). It was a very handsome looking computer, and I remember the size and resolution of the screen seemed impressive. However, there was a problem. Every now and then, the screen would just go blank. Whatever you were working on would be forever lost, because the only way to "re-activate" the screen would be to cycle the power. This was an intermittent problem that I believe existed when the unit was brand new. It seemed to have little to do with work CPU usage, heat or any other factor.
I had to send the unit to the Acer tech support center three times (which is ironically located in Temple TX, about twenty miles from where I lived at the time). As simple as my description of the problem was (see above paragraph), they seemed to not understand what an "intermittent" problem was. They would give it a quick once-over, fail to duplicate the problem, and mail it back to me (usually after sitting on it for a month). Of course, a week later... ppphhhzzzt!.... there goes my five page work document.
I started a campaign of e-mailing and snail-mailing their corporate headquarters and initiating complaints with the Better Business Bureau. During the computer's second visit to the tech support center, someone saw the fault occur. They made the mistake of admitting this to me, which was powerful ammo for my letter-writing campaign. In the end, they refunded my money.
I wouldn't own another Acer product if they offered to pay me to take it. Not so much because the unit I had was crap; but because they were so frustrating to deal with when I needed service.
I know it's a bit of a side track here, but I really can't stand Acer. I purchased one of their laptops a few years ago (from the Aspire line). It was a very handsome looking computer, and I remember the size and resolution of the screen seemed impressive. However, there was a problem. Every now and then, the screen would just go blank. Whatever you were working on would be forever lost, because the only way to "re-activate" the screen would be to cycle the power. This was an intermittent problem that I believe existed when the unit was brand new. It seemed to have little to do with work CPU usage, heat or any other factor.
I had to send the unit to the Acer tech support center three times (which is ironically located in Temple TX, about twenty miles from where I lived at the time). As simple as my description of the problem was (see above paragraph), they seemed to not understand what an "intermittent" problem was. They would give it a quick once-over, fail to duplicate the problem, and mail it back to me (usually after sitting on it for a month). Of course, a week later... ppphhhzzzt!.... there goes my five page work document.
I started a campaign of e-mailing and snail-mailing their corporate headquarters and initiating complaints with the Better Business Bureau. During the computer's second visit to the tech support center, someone saw the fault occur. They made the mistake of admitting this to me, which was powerful ammo for my letter-writing campaign. In the end, they refunded my money.
I wouldn't own another Acer product if they offered to pay me to take it. Not so much because the unit I had was crap; but because they were so frustrating to deal with when I needed service.
i have an extra laying around
OvenMaster
VIP Member
Then by all means, don't use her machine.
If your mom paid for it, she's the sole/main user, and she's happy with it, what's the problem?
Different strokes, y'know?
Tom
PunterCam
Active Member
I love pre-built systems. As long as it's not a really shit make then they're usually more stable, much quieter and cheaper than anything I could build.
My brother just bought an imac so I took back the athlon64 based pc I built him a couple of years ago. I formatted the h/d and reinstalled everything. It's awful! No obvious reason, everything should be good, the drivers are all up to date, and the only piece of software on it is m/s word. It slows up for no reason, sometimes doesn't boot up, goes to sleep in the middle of something... I've been building pc's for years, and the majority have been very stable, but with the huge amount of hardware out there there will be conflicts (which is all I can imagine is happening with me).
Buy a prebuilt computer and wipe it clean and start again, the way to go. Or buy an imac - the most beautiful machine I've ever seen!
My brother just bought an imac so I took back the athlon64 based pc I built him a couple of years ago. I formatted the h/d and reinstalled everything. It's awful! No obvious reason, everything should be good, the drivers are all up to date, and the only piece of software on it is m/s word. It slows up for no reason, sometimes doesn't boot up, goes to sleep in the middle of something... I've been building pc's for years, and the majority have been very stable, but with the huge amount of hardware out there there will be conflicts (which is all I can imagine is happening with me).
Buy a prebuilt computer and wipe it clean and start again, the way to go. Or buy an imac - the most beautiful machine I've ever seen!
They are quieter due to the lack (most of the time) or extra fans to supply cooling. Many don't come with CPU fans, instead opting for very large heatsinks. Quite often, the only fan you'll find inside a pre-built is at the back. If you have a self-built that is running loud, you can play with fan settings via BIOS to help reduce the RPM, thus reduce the noise.
Good point about being cheaper. For *MOST* (read: not everyone, especially the majority of users on CF) people, the cost of a pre-built system is worth the time saved researching parts, building the unit, and installing the software. If you find a free shipping promotion, or instant rebates, it makes a pre-built system very desireable for the general public.