eMachines' new T5246 and T3642 desktops make you go "Eh."

eMachines, long known for dropping mediocre, middle of the road, inoffensive desktops, has once again busted out of the gate with two new defiantly tame PCs that will make you say "Hello." The latest entries -- confusingly named the T5246 and T3642 -- share similar guts, including NVIDIA GeForce 6100 GPUs, DVD DVD±R / RW SuperMulti drives, and 6-channel 5.1 audio. The differences are more apparent where it counts, with the T5246 utilizing a 2.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ dual core CPU, 2GB of RAM, and a 400GB hard drive, while the T3642 uses a 2.6GHz Athlon 64 4000+ CPU, carries 1GB of RAM, and downsizes the hard drive to 250GB. Both systems are available now, with the T5246 clocking in at $429.99, and the T3642 listed at $349.99.

[Dave @ Jan 30th 2008 10:06AM]

slow day for news, huh engadget?

[Phil Ringsmuth @ Jan 30th 2008 10:15AM]

Hey, it's better than the alternative "headline" news...

"February in Two Days: iPhone SDK Almost Here!"

[trumpton @ Jan 30th 2008 10:12AM]

They may be 'tame' to your big-wallet eyes, but they're as cheap and chips and will no doubt serve many people well, so how's about you quit the sneering?

Not everyone can afford the latest iGoldBar, nor do they want it.

[Mike @ Jan 30th 2008 10:59AM]

you're exactly right. the specs look good, and so do the prices.

it's what a normal person should be looking for.

[Chebwa @ Jan 30th 2008 11:42AM]

Seriously... eMachines that make them go "eh?" When has an eMachine ever made anybody go "HOLY SHIT!"?

[3monkies @ Jan 30th 2008 3:13PM]

You sir, are an ass.

[ace_spades @ Jan 30th 2008 7:14PM]

Chewbacca has a point. whenever e(h)machines releases something, I still don't care

[fred @ Jan 30th 2008 10:16AM]

Um, what do you want them to produce?

PC making is for the most part, just a matter of turning out reliable machines that get the job done. This machine will likely be in labs, offices, homes, and schools where people are getting work done, not playing games or trying to make a fashion statement.

[darkman @ Jan 30th 2008 10:39AM]

What People seem to forget that these so-called "cheapo" computers are made with OEM parts, so you can easily put a Geforce 8/Radeon HD card in there if you want to run games on it. Then again these machines are mostly made for families and college students looking for a fast, good, cheap computer for work.

[John B @ Jan 30th 2008 11:04AM]

Agreed, but even the X2 4200+ is a great gaming rig as long as you add a GeFore 7600GT or something like that. I built something almost identical to these for my nephew for Christmas. All that he needed to do was to move his GeForce card over from his old system. He has yet to run into a game that he can't run, although he doesn't have "Crysis". "Call of Duty 4", "Unreal Tournament 3", "Neverwinter Nights 2" -- all of them in 1024 x 768, medium to full detail, run very smoothly and he's very pleased with the PC.

I paid about $200 for everything through NewEgg (X2 4000+ barebones, 2 GB RAM) and used an existing hard drive to build it, so these eMachines are still more expensive even with the hard drive. But the T3642 would make an great gaming rig as long as a separate video card is used.

I agree completely that those who bash this PC are doing so through an air of smug superiority that is quite distasteful and undeserved. Just because it might not be a show-off system like Alienware or the Dell XPS line doesn't mean that it will serve no purpose to anyone. Frankly, I would much rather save hundreds by not buying unnecessary flash and glitz and then laugh at those who gloat about paying x thousands when I built my own comparable system for 1/2 the cost. Add a good video card to either of these units, and you'll have a more-than-acceptable gaming rig.

[Spyvie @ Jan 30th 2008 11:57AM]

The power supply would likely need to be upgraded to support a decent GPU

[Ignatius @ Jan 30th 2008 10:13AM]

I used to own an eMachines, it did pretty well considering it cost me $500 back in 2003.

[Mobius_1 @ Jan 30th 2008 10:13AM]

Tame indeed, but cheap will make up for it

[CHRISTina FAITH @ Jan 30th 2008 11:27AM]

I actually brought the Emachines T5246 yesterday for my mom. The reason I purchased it was because I brought an Emachines in 2000 and gave it to my mother after I had it for 2 years and it is still running strong to this day.

Just because the price is not outrageous does not mean its not a good machine. Nor does an outrageous price mean a machine will be good.

My 2cents

[KushielsScion007 @ Jan 30th 2008 10:21AM]

Wow really you guys sound so so snobbish and arrogant it almost reminds of bluray fanboys...

OH wait a min...yeah thats right I forgot.

How about you realize that not everyone wants, needs, or can even afford CUTTING EDGE PC's that provide a bunch of frills and useless accessories that only a small niche market will use.

[Randy @ Jan 30th 2008 10:33AM]

Wow, you guys take this WAY to seriously! As if Engadget's opinion will effect the cost conscious shoppers out there...price trumps all in our capitalist society.

[Quentyn @ Jan 30th 2008 10:48AM]

I agree with everyone else's statements: These PCs churn out excellent performance for cheap prices, and are almost always aimed for the college student or home business adult looking to get simple work done. I've enver seen an emachines (even their most expensive ones) touted as a gaming machine. Not everyone needs a LAWLZ MACBOOKERZ PRO or a LAWLZ 8800GTX witz t3h OC'd ramz and cpu!!!11@1~

[FK @ Jan 30th 2008 10:51AM]

I agreed with you up until you typed "LAWLZ MACBOOKERZ PRO or a LAWLZ 8800GTX witz t3h OC'd ramz and cpu!!!11@1~"....

[Quentyn @ Jan 30th 2008 10:59AM]

The need for emphasis justified that line, as some people just can't seem to get it any other way =)

[chris @ Jan 30th 2008 11:54AM]

Uhhh... no. Have you ever used an emachines? after you waid through all the crap they put on, the PSU blows and screws the whole thing.

[Quentyn @ Jan 30th 2008 11:59AM]

I'm actually on an e-machines right now, so yea that kind of nullifies your argument. Oh, and yea it comes preinstalled with bloatware but anyone with half a mind will either a) do a fresh install of XP (it usually comes with its own disc without all the crap) or b) use Unix/Linux (which I currently do).

[Chris Clemons @ Jan 30th 2008 1:06PM]

Hello

[packetsniffer @ Jan 30th 2008 11:05AM]

So now I'm confused. Will these desktops make me go "Eh" or "Hello"?

[MARSHAK @ Jan 30th 2008 12:34PM]

depends if you're canadian or not.

[chris @ Jan 30th 2008 11:54AM]

Why is this news? Emachine stuff is pure crap.

[GriffinMG @ Jan 30th 2008 11:10AM]

At first glance I thought that the "display sold seperately" was going to be some sort of clever tagline...

[Constable Odo @ Jan 30th 2008 11:11AM]

"Things that make you go UGH."
Seriously, nothing wrong with decent low end machines if all you need to do is email and browse the internet (as long as it doesn't fall apart in a month or two). They're right, no need for the latest iGoldBar Mac.

[KAD @ Jan 30th 2008 11:14AM]

So if this were an automotive related article then the only thing that you would want to read about are utilitarian economy vehicles that get you from point A to B at the lowest cost and work reasonably well for the most part. There should be no articles or editorial license applied in the posts to appeal to the enthusiast. I get what you guys are saying, and I don't own the latest and greatest PC nor do I have a desire to, but it is cool to hear about exciting and new technology and companies that are pushing the envelope. So every now and then when an article comes out and points out that a company has put out a new product line that doesn't offer much in the way of innovation, what's the big deal? Why be so hostile in the comments? It is analogus to Car and Driver doing a write up on a Kia Spectra and pointing out that it is plain vanilla and doesn't offer much in terms of driving excitement. All this to say, lighten up.

[Quentyn @ Jan 30th 2008 11:28AM]

Noone's saying they don't want to hear about the latest and greatest, but noone exactly wants to read demeaning journalism from a group of writers who should want to come off at least a bit less fanboyish and markish and a bit more professional.

[SIC TR4NSIT @ Jan 30th 2008 11:32AM]

It starts at $350, stuff like this is good, the cheaper the price of the pc's the more people can get on. I like it for the same reason I like the $200 Walmart pc's, it allows low-income families to take advantage of a computers educational benefits. The cheaper we can get them the better.

[David @ Jan 30th 2008 12:42PM]

My dad's got an almost 7 year old emachine pc and it's still working. It was one of the first pc's to have xp pre-installed. All emachines are good, you just need to replace the graphics card.

[Ssamm @ Jan 30th 2008 12:53PM]

Hmm, i know a guy who bought 3 emachines for his retail business and after a year, none of them would run his Quickbooks without crashing. Unfortunately average workstation users need wicked rigs so they can still have acceptable performance after they mostly unknowingly fill their machines with crap like 5 different spyware detectors, and the spyware that they cant detect, and 7 different IM clients. I say keep the Emachines rolling out because they boost the bottom line of my PC and network support business enormously! :-)

[umm....hello??? @ Jan 30th 2008 1:11PM]

eMachines are just inexpensive....they're not cheap. I bought my parents one in 2001 running WindowsXP and it still works just fine. the only internal upgrades I made were for the RAM and adding an ethernet port. it does everything they need it to do--MS WORD, EXCEL, email, and internet. it cost $350 after all the rebates. SEVEN YEARS and it works.

[magnumquest @ Jan 30th 2008 1:26PM]

After wasting 5 minutes of my life reading through the garbage people wrote about this article.. I realized I need to say.. "E-Machine ARE CRAP" and NO it's not the fanboy side of me speaking (although I would love to make my 'fashion' statement with a quad-core gaming rig), for people who say 'I bought it for my mother/father x amount of years ago and it's still running'.. Dude, My Intel 286 from early 80s is still running too, doesn't mean its useful.. I bought an e-machine for my mother too, it worked till all she knew was email and browsing, when she learned to do more, it became obsolete.. If your mother/father still think it's useful after 2 years, then they are probably still playing solitaire on it 80% of the time..

[Garst @ Jan 31st 2008 6:10AM]

It needed to say the screen wasn't included in the article. I hate when I have to read pictures.

[Thrillcekr @ Jan 31st 2008 10:32PM]

I think it's cool myself. That's an extremely powerful PC for that price point and more than enough to meet the needs of all who aren't obsessive hardware geeks.

[Thrillcekr @ Feb 1st 2008 4:25AM]

"Hmm, i know a guy who bought 3 emachines for his retail business and after a year, none of them would run his Quickbooks without crashing. Unfortunately average workstation users need wicked rigs so they can still have acceptable performance after they mostly unknowingly fill their machines with crap like 5 different spyware detectors, and the spyware that they cant detect, and 7 different IM clients. I say keep the Emachines rolling out because they boost the bottom line of my PC and network support business enormously! :-)"





You'd be wrong. If none of them worked ran software properly it was a software problem. Emachines doesn't write software. They build computers and they build them with the same basic hardware manufactured by the same companies that make components for every other computer company. As long as this person you know doesn't know how to maintain a Windows based PC. This is why I don't believe for a minute that you run such a business. If you did then you'd know that these problems this "person you know" has are, in the end, a result of stupidity on their part and not because he was using an emachine.

[e-mach user @ Feb 12th 2008 4:05PM]

Wow, I came here looking for a review of the new t5246. I don't get all the negativity. I have an e-mach from 2001 running XP. I have never had a problem. I use it daily, for everything. I am looking to replace it only because it doesn't have a usb 2.0, and processors are faster now. I highly recommend e-machines to anyone.

[Clay @ Mar 17th 2008 3:15PM]

the impressions people get from EMachines are from the pre Gateway days where they only used cheap Intel parts and ran bad versions of WinME i happen to be running the T3642 with Windows Vista Home Premium with no probs i did upgrade the memory to 2gigs and add a 256mb pci express GPU card the day i bought it and a 2nd DVD burner i had from my old machine but aside from that i agree not everyone needs or can afford the latest and no so greatest Apple Junk and i also support the $200 Everex Gos pc i think they would be great for a family that does basic computing and my Emachine i have now runs very well for the price i paid for it :-) the only negative i did find as a hardware junkie on this machine was no IDE ports for a Hard Drive and i had to make my old hard drive into an external USB 2.0 drive for $20 no biggie there got all my data Back :-) Emachine PC's rock now that they use good AMD parts so people get over it

[clint @ Apr 24th 2008 1:12AM]

Any recomendations RE: what vid card (PCIE) to upgrade too (I use an Emachine T3642) that would give me a decient gaming experience? What's the max this machine can take? Within' reason? Cost of a decent card (PCI or PCIE)? The onboard video of the T3642 is:

NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 405. What card would be an upgrade for me? What card would max this macine out without upgrading the power supply etc... I may need to go to EMachines' site to see my upgrade options.

One more ?... Anyone recomend a high end gaming machine? PC or PS2?

Thanks.