eMachines intro the eMD620-5777 bargain laptop, curved keyboard and all

If you're looking for a low-priced laptop option come this holiday season, and you want a little more screen real estate than most netbooks provide, you might want to take a peek at the eMachines eMD620-5777. The 14.1-inch, widescreen, entry-level model comes equipped with a 1.6GHz AMD Athlon 2650e CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, the ATI Radeon x1200 graphics chipset (with up to 1919MB of fancy schmancy HyperMemory), 802.11b/g, a SuperMulti DVD-R/RW drive, and all the ports you know and love. At a totally reasonable $429.99 with Vista Home Basic preloaded, you could certainly do a lot worse. The laptop will be available November 1st at Best Buy, but you can take a look at a quick hands-on we had with a prototype of the eMD620... right this second.

Gallery: eMachines intros the eMD620-5777 bargain laptop, curved keyboard and all

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[RedBull Runner @ Oct 30th 2008 12:09AM]

That keyboard looks horribly uncomfortable to type on...

[Boards of Canada @ Oct 30th 2008 7:41AM]

keyboard look just fine dude... get a life.

[lowdef @ Oct 30th 2008 12:09AM]

sure thats not just a wide-angle lens?

[Aaron P @ Oct 30th 2008 6:13AM]

Check picture number 4.

Point and shoot.

[Rollins @ Oct 30th 2008 12:09AM]

Not a bad basic machine for those who need something larger than a netbook. It'd be nice to see a Linux version under $400, but that's life. I wonder how much it weighs. It definitely looks better than the bottom-of-the-barrel Dells.

[d00b @ Oct 30th 2008 2:44AM]

$400 laptops are common now, and their specs are fairly substantial. The Acer Aspire 5735 was on sale for also $400 at Best Buy a couple of weeks ago: Intel T3200 (2GHz), G45, 15.6" LCD. Build quality may be iffy, but at this price point, they may be considered quasi-disposable, as long as they last beyond the break-in (read: take it back to the store) period. Since the most popular use of these is for around the house, battery life and ruggedness aren't the main concerns. I think these will be the main driver for desktop replacements, alongside HTPCs and nettops.

[Cory @ Oct 30th 2008 12:10AM]

Why 1GB of RAM? Couldn't they bump up the price $30 and have 2GB?

[digitallysick @ Oct 30th 2008 12:13AM]

How does that processor compare to the atom?

[Tommy W. Lee @ Oct 30th 2008 12:24AM]

looks like a slightly bastardized rebrand of my acer extensa 4420 which sold for around the same; curved keyboard and all.

[AC @ Oct 30th 2008 12:27AM]

but is the screen glossy?

[Ethan @ Oct 30th 2008 4:22AM]

Sure looks like it.

[RoboDan @ Oct 30th 2008 12:28AM]

eMachines is KNOWN for their "great" quality


... no really!


(Not really)

[lowdef @ Oct 30th 2008 12:46AM]

lol we bought one once. brought it home, plugged it in, xp couldn't boot, back to the store.

[Phoenix987 @ Oct 30th 2008 6:12PM]

Yeah, both their desktops and laptops have a "great" build quality. They come with an more "wonderful" tech support. that tries and tell you your 2 month old desktop is "not under warranty."

And then they wondered why I got slightly annoyed.

[Uncontrol @ Oct 30th 2008 12:28AM]

hilariously these specs are almost as good as the macbook white

[Uncontrol @ Oct 30th 2008 3:39AM]

wonder if my comment would've done so well had anyone known i typed it from my macbook

[Jon Nelson @ Oct 30th 2008 12:39AM]

I got an Acer Extensa 4420 about a month and a half ago for $400 with a 2ghz AMD, 2gigs of DDR2 RAM, a Super-whatchamacallit DVD-Drive, and the exact same graphics card as listed above. Same size harddrive and screen, and I got Vista Home Premium instead of Basic.

Huh. Doesn't sound like the new eMachine is that good of a deal, eh?

[AJ in the East Bay @ Oct 30th 2008 2:16AM]

You must have gotten it at Best Buy for $400 like me.

[Jon Nelson @ Oct 30th 2008 2:19AM]

@ AJ

Indeed I did. In fact, I got it from the Best Buy on Fitzgerald Rd in Pinole.

I would find it wholly weird (albeit awesome) if you and I bought the exact same laptop from the exact same store, haha.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Oct 30th 2008 3:02PM]

I got it at Emeryville.

Unfortunately it may have to be serviced because sometimes it won't turn on. Acer thinks it's a powerboard issue. Best Buy is an approved service center so I'll be bringing it over for them to steal my porn -- I mean -- fix my laptop.

[Rotaryfan @ Oct 30th 2008 1:08AM]

but can it play doom?

actually, it looks like it is capable of playing DOOM 1 at LEAST at 10 frames per second.

don't go too crazy on those specs eMachines!

I bet the price of manufacturing is way lower than $400, since those components are borderline retro. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't athlon in laptops nearly 3 years past being an acceptable processor? I bet the OEM practically dumped these laptops on eMachines.

[Jonny @ Oct 30th 2008 1:32AM]

These are rebranded older model Acer Extensas.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Oct 30th 2008 2:17AM]

Yep. That's exactly what they look like, at least.

[nicholaelaw @ Oct 30th 2008 4:17AM]

That explains why the keyboard looks exactly like the keyboard on my TravelMate 8200.

[Phoenix987 @ Oct 30th 2008 6:13PM]

You think it might be because Acer owns eMachines?

[andreas @ Oct 30th 2008 9:41AM]

This IS an Acer. I have an old Acer TravelMate 8204, and it's by far the worst piece of "you-know-what". Overpriced stove you could call it. The keyboard is, on the other hand, the best ever (if it weren't for the heat from the HDD and GPU).

[bby employee @ Oct 30th 2008 10:48AM]

hmmmm if you look at the best buy website, they have another emachines laptop, the 5880, that has the same processor, smaller hard drive but it gives you xp, and that one is also at 500. Not gunna lie, i'd take that xp machine with 1 gig over any vista machine with 1 gig

[isaacbnyc @ Nov 2nd 2008 9:42PM]

Yes, this looks a lot like the 14 inch Acer Extensa series (which I'm using right now), stripped down. I believe that this model will be heavily discounted. Bet it'll be the Black Friday doorbuster for less than $350.

[zooth @ Nov 8th 2008 5:55PM]

Would you believe $300 this Sunday Nov 9th at Bestbuy.
Should I buy one?

[Gator @ Nov 10th 2008 11:04PM]

gald most of you have no clue on what your buying or playing with good thing Dell owes Acer and Dell is planing a takeover of HP with thier lower company gateway. If you have any knowledge you would stop your bickering use your lap tops for the suitable job if its too much get a pc. No one in North America is interested if your Acer does this or that or if your Emachine is equal since Dell owns both. And Mac your wasting mone all systems are intergrated like Dell used to be if you get a Mac I will laugh in your face because you will have to spend thousands to get it repaired look at the fine print.

Sincerely:
Gator a Computor Engineer
For Apple

[David @ Nov 14th 2008 5:12PM]

Hey, it's true---they're on sale at Best Buy thru Sun. at 299.00. If all I'm looking for is a replacement for a five-year-old Inspiron 1100, is it worth considering? The price looks great, and I can always add memory...

[Stay_Away_From_This_Laptop @ Nov 15th 2008 11:59PM]

STAY AWAY FROM THIS LAPTOP. YES I AM SHOUTING WITH MY UPPER CASE LETTERS. IT IS HORRIBLE, ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE. I KNOW BECAUSE I WAS DUMB ENOUGH TO WASTE $299 + TAX AND SHIPPING ON THIS LAPTOP. THIS AMD PROCESSOR IS SOOOO SLOW, PLAYING A SINGLE MP3 FILE (3MB) LOADS THE PROCESSOR ALL THE WAY TO %90, NO ANTI VIRUS RUNNING OR ANYTHING. JUST THE MP3 FILE, TRIED IT WITH VLC AND WITH WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER, SAME THING. I THOUGHT MAYBE IT IS WINDOWS VISTA, SO I LOADED XP WITH SP2 AND ALL PROPER DRIVERS, AND TO MY SURPRISE, SYSTEM WAS SLOWER WITH XP THAN WITH VISTA. PLAYING XVID ENCODED FILES (349MB, 700MB) LOADS THE PROCESSOR TO %80. ALSO SYSTEM WAS FASTER WITH VISTA THAN WITH XP. I AM CONFIDENT THAT IT IS NOT ACERS OR EMACHINES FAULT BUT AMD'S FAULT, THIS IS ONE CRAPPY ATHLON PROCESSOR. I TRIED THE ASUS 1000HD EEEPC WHICH RUNS THE CELERON MOBILE AND IT WAS A LOT FASTER THAN THIS PEICE OF CRAP LAPTOP. I TRIED OTHER LAPTOPS WITH AMD X2 PROCESSORS AND CPU LOAD WAS HALF THE NUMBERS I GOT WITH MY LAPTOP. I TRIED OTHER LAPTOPS WITH CORE 2 DUO PROCESSORS AND LOAD WAS BELOW 10% FOR VIDEO FILES. JUST STAY AWAY FROM AMD PROCESSORS

[phail @ Nov 17th 2008 6:14PM]

yeah it's definately AMD's fault.

[Nick @ Nov 17th 2008 7:28PM]

Awe man. Im buying this laptop on Sunday. It was either this, or the Acer Aspire (XP, 8.9" screen). So, I decided that since I can always change stuff around later, Ill just get this.
I dont have a problem upgrading to 2GB RAM when the time comes.
And, you gotta know that eMachines wouldnt ship out a laptop that couldnt run an mp3 file. Thats just wrong. Sure it may not be the greatest, but its definetly worth it at its price point. I have an eMachines desktop, and its great quality. Im hoping the laptop will follow suit...
If I remember this site on Sunday when I buy it, Ill be sure to post a response.