I’m just about fed up with the crappiness that is my sister’s computer, as are my sis and niece. I’m looking for a decent, but low-priced brand of computer that they can use instead of eMachines. Dell seems kinda promising, and I haven’t had many problems at all with my Hewlett-Packard, but I know that my sis is looking for something in, like, the lowest cost range possible. But NOT eMachines! Any recommendations?
You can probably get a built computer at a computer store for $500 or so. I know the store I went to to get my power supply fixed offered computers for about $469 that were pretty well equiped. However with those you won’t get a monitor, mouse or keyboard but you can use the eMachine’s.
My parents have an eMachine and it sucks too. Is it really really slow or does yours have something different that is wrong with it.
Strong rumors indicate apple will introduce a headless low-end Macintosh for around $500 at next Tuesday’s Macworld San Francisco conference. Worth a look if you’re tired of fighting viruses and spyware on your current system, IMO.
Oh my gosh, rjung, are you serious? $500 for a low-end Mac? I am so there! 
(And just for the record, a Mac is a far more “peaceful” surfing experience—I use both Mac and PC and there’s no doubt about that.)
As far as recommending a computer, have you considered getting one custom built? (I think that’s what Wesley Clark is suggesting also.) Sometimes you can get a really good deal, get just the configuration that you want, and have local support. This is a good option of you can find a local shop that is 1) reliable and produces good quality work, and 2) will stick around for a while. If you feel confident that such a shop exists in your area, I’d recommend that you seriously consider going that route.
Another vote for finding a local whitebox maker and having a low end machine built. That will give you the best quality for your dollar.
Monarch Computer would be a good place to look at, if you don’t have a local whitebox maker. Check out some of their system specials - the Athlon 64 one is nice, with WindowsXP Home installed, you get an Athlon 64, 512MB RAM, 80gb HD, a CD-RW, all for $640. For less than $500 you can get one of their AthlonXP 2400+ systems with XP installed.
Or you could ask your sister if she wants a laptop - Wallyworld has a half-decent one for $650.
Yeah, but remember, that Mac (if the rumors are true) would have no built-in monitor, so the monitor will cost extra, unless you already have one.
As a longtime Mac user and fan, far be it from me to discourage anyone from buying a Mac over a PC, but it’s an important point, if cost is an issue.
Plus, I can’t remember a single rumored to be cheaper Apple product that was actually as cheap as it was rumored to be.
Remember when the iPod minis were rumored to be $150?
Of course, I hope it really is $500. I’d love to have one for that price. But I predict that this Mac will be at least $599.
Funny you should say that, since ThinkSecret (who first broke the $500 iMac rumor) is now reporting a $150 1GB iPod next week as well…
I’m going to also suggest Monarch Computer , they have system specials for about $369 for the system itself. Do you already have a keyboard/mouse and monitor? If so, this would probably be your best bet. Or they can also custom build your computer for you, if you don’t know enough about computers to custom build it yourself, you can always call or email them. They have always been real friendly to me. You can also check them (or any other reseller) out at Reseller Ratings to see how other customers rate them. (Monarch is a 9. something)
Relating to the discussion of Macs, apparently the next OS upgrade will be 10.4 “Tiger,” with some improved file search functions and other features. For someone who’s thinking of buying a Mac, but doesn’t need it right away, is 10.4 worth waiting for? Has a shipping date been announced?
re: 10.4 (“Tiger”), the usual pattern is that if you buy your Mac within a short period before the release of a system release, you can qualify for that release for free. Usually the folks you’d be buying the system from would know about whether you’d qualify for Tiger for free if it has Panther preinstalled. If Tiger is in distribution at the time, there’ll probably be an overlap period when you receive the upgrade CD or DVD along with the machine when you buy it.
The only issue is price. Every MacOS X upgrade except the major one from 10.1 to 10.2 has been effortless and problem-free, and even that one was only messy for people who’d installed an extensive X11 environment under 10.1, all of which had to be recompiled for 10.2 because the BSD Unix stuff underneath had been updated to keep up with BSD development in other builds, etc. To buy a Mac with 10.3.x and upgrade it to 10.4 shortly afterwards would be no more awkward than buying a software title and installing it. All your settings and preferences and stuff migrate over when you do (using “Archive and Install”).
I would definitely ask about free upgrade being incorporated in the price though, as 10.4 will probably be dubbed “golden” and going to ship pretty soon now.
Based on some recommendations I received here, I bought a Monarch Computer PC. I also highly recommend them.
To be honest, I’m completely happy with 10.3 (“Panther”) right now, and haven’t seen anything from a laymans POV that’d make me want to upgrade to 10.4.
On the other hand, the inner geek in me hears rumors about a unified database API, which means some creative developers could do some serious schnazz with 10.4… which would translate into more fun for me. 
I just ordered a part from Monarch, so I can vouch for their responsiveness on that. I’m building my system myself, and if you’e up for it, you can stretch your budget much further. But if you want a prebuilt system, you’d do well to go with something like Monarch’s low-end option – they have systems starting at $369, although you’ll want to get an operating system as well. Windows XP Home is all of $89 with a new system, through Monarch.
One caution on low-end systems, though – to get the price that low, there are a number of tradeoffs. Upgradability is usually very limited, which can shorten the lifespan of the machine.
I operate a business (small, part-time) building, repairing, and upgrading home PC’s. I readily admit that I’m a “hardware guy,” but since we’re considering a new PC that will very likely run Windows, and they all do that in pretty much the same way, I think that the issues are essentially hardware-related. Based on ten years of sticking my fingers “under the hood” of a great variety of systems, I’ll offer the following:
Stay away from Compaq/HP.
Dell and Gateway are both generally good, offer excellent service and support, and also have some very nice low-end machines. eMachines are now “G-machines” (Gateway bought the company), and will likely benefit from Gateway’s influence. Actually, I’ve worked on a number of older eMachines and found them to be quite well-made and very good values.
In general, a laptop is a poor choice for desktop work, and a miserable value if compared, feature for feature, with practically any desktop. As a rule, expect to pay 2-3 times the money for the laptop, and understand up front that service and upgrading options for any laptop are extremely limited and usually very expensive.
Consider the case carefully. Avoid cases that are extremely small or have a very unusual shape. Cases with fancy fronts usually mean you’ll be going back to the manufacturer for replacement or upgrade parts down the road – and there is no place that will charge you more for parts. The custom curves of the DVD drive drawer may be appealing, but you won’t find a replacement on the shelves at Circuit City. (Incidentally, optical drives of all types, CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, etc. fail on average more quickly and more often than any other piece of hardware.)
Avoid systems with integrated video, or at least try to find one with an AGP or PCI-X slot that will permit you to upgrade later.
Buy all the RAM you can afford.
A Mac will do anything you want it to do – as long as you don’t want it to do very much. Actually, for a certain (very small) number of tasks, a Mac is as good as a PC, in some ways even better. But owning a Mac means paying considerably more to start with, assuming the same performance as a PC. (There is no such thing as a “low-end Mac.”) Also you’ll be blessed with a comparatively miniscule selection of both software and hardware options.
I’m perfectly happy with Windows XP Pro on my home-built system, but if there were a Mac available for roughly $500 or less I might very well buy one. I haven’t used a Mac extensively since grade school (when I mainly used one to play Oregon Trail). It would be fun to play around with it.
Some shops have pre-made computers with the same configurations on the shelf though. The place I went to to get my power supply had pretty good setups for $450 or so.
To build a computer you need (I could be forgetting a few things) a mouse, monitor, speakers, keyboard, case, power supply, motherboard, CPU, heatsink/fan, RAM, hard drive, CD drive, ethernet card or modem, operating system & video card. Some of these parts can be taken off the emachine.
My family is all Dell at the moment. If you catch the right sale you can get a nice complete (with monitor and such) system for about $450. Free shipping is available at times as well.
If you’re buying a Dell, just watch out for the software. Their current default choice for word processing is WordPerfect. Getting MS Works or MS Office will cost you a bit more (only $29 more for Works, but $149 more for Office Basic).
Ok, I’ll bite. I work in a place where PCs are used for most purposes, but MACS are used for some graphics applications. The people who use their MACS intensively seem to like them. I don’t have a computer at home, and I’m thinking of buying an eMAC for email, web surfing and other routine functions. I am especially attracted to their apparently stronger resistance to viruses and hacker attacks.
I know the MAC/PC debate has diehard partisans on both sides, but in practical terms, what couldn’t I do on a MAC that I might reasonably want or need to do?