Sub-$400 eMachines eMD620-5777 laptop gets reviewed

We already caught a brief glimpse of eMachines' new budget-priced eMD620-5777 laptop when it was first announced, but if you're still pondering a purchase, you may want to head on over to Laptop mag, which now has a full review of the unit. As you've no doubt surmised, there's some considerable trade-offs with this one, with the 1.6GHz Athlon processor and all around low-end specs placing a considerable drag on performance, and the battery barely managing to top two hours in their tests. On the upside, it's $379 price tag places it squarely in competition with the masses of netbooks out there, and its 14.1-inch screen, while glossy, should do the job just fine for those that prefer a bit more real estate. Hit up the link below for the complete breakdown and, of course, a few more pics.

[inteller @ Nov 25th 2008 3:43PM]

all aboard the failboat! let's all race to the bottom!

[nerdtalker @ Nov 25th 2008 3:46PM]

Did you forget your /sarcasm tag?

Netbooks are just about the only thing keeping consumer electronics from being really really hurt by the current failconomy.

[rock99rock @ Nov 25th 2008 4:04PM]

For $379, this probably has the most value thus far.

14" screen
720p-ish resolution
DVD Burner
1gb standard upgradable to 2gb RAM
256mb ATI x1200

only downer is 5.3lbs....
I guess the Dell vostro 1000 is still a better deal then.

[derX @ Nov 25th 2008 4:16PM]

I completely agree with inteller.I've only used one eMachine computer that's lasted for more than one year--and that's only to say it still powers on. I don't have absurdly high expectations of a machine so competitively-priced, but I'd wager it's fair to want the machine to power on.

Netbooks, I'd say, are here to stay and I welcome them.

[adam lawrence @ Nov 25th 2008 3:43PM]

athlon processor?

[nerdtalker @ Nov 25th 2008 3:45PM]

Well, at least netbooks have brought the price of traditional-sized notebooks down. Ironically, I think this is going to be a lot more appealing to a lot of christmas shoppers this year than more expensive, smaller, (and less functional) netbooks.

[E. Leigh @ Nov 25th 2008 3:45PM]

What's that?

[bangladeshiluv @ Nov 25th 2008 3:47PM]

oh gawd, emachines. die already.

[ace587 @ Nov 26th 2008 7:05PM]

my thoughts exactly

[E. Leigh @ Nov 25th 2008 3:48PM]

That above comment was @ adam.

"basic build has a certain nostalgic late-1990s corporate style"

That was my favorite line from Stern's review...anyone out there feeling nostalgic for the late 1990s corporate designs? Love it.

I'm feeling nostalgic for the late-1990s economy...

[adam lawrence @ Nov 25th 2008 4:06PM]

exactly...

[cesium @ Nov 25th 2008 3:55PM]

Why would someone buy this?

For the same $379, I picked up a 14" acer laptop from microcenter a few weeks ago (normal price, not sale).
It had a 1.86ghz dual-core celeron, 1gb ram, 160gb hard drive, wireless n, etc.

Not only is it probably 5x faster than this POS emachines, but its battery lasts 2.5 hours which is better than that of this emachines "laptop"

[skinnyaznkid @ Nov 25th 2008 4:05PM]

A word of caution to those who want to buy this laptop. Emachines are known to be like a timebomb. They work for the length of the standard warranty then break! I have a emachines desktop and the day after the warranty was over the motherboard was shorted by the powersupply destroying various components. Save up money and invest in something better...

[Ashwin @ Nov 25th 2008 4:17PM]

It's not true. My cousin has an eMachines and it is five years old, still working, and is almost as fast as the day they bought it. For $379, you can't beat this deal. This isn't something I would touch with a 50 ft pole, but for some people that don't do much with their computers, this is perfect. As a second computer for a child who only needs to play simple games and do homework this is perfect. For the infinite number of uses that a simple computer without a lot of processing power can provide, this is perfect.
However, if you do have more than $379 sitting around for a primary, do get something better.

[Erv @ Nov 25th 2008 4:14PM]

I bought one and overclocked it, added a water cooling system and not it is faster than and Dell computer by far

[Patriks7 @ Nov 25th 2008 4:35PM]

You should try re-read your comment before you post next time.. just a tip you know..

[phail @ Nov 25th 2008 5:07PM]

haha

[Reader @ Nov 25th 2008 6:09PM]

Were you going for irony Patriks?

[mc @ Nov 25th 2008 6:10PM]

A word of warning to all who may be interested.... I don't know what their current build quality is like, but my eMachines M53xx was a terrible machine back in the day. So terrible, in fact, that a bunch of people with the same problem started a class-action lawsuit and won:

http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/002289.html

I'd be very careful with these laptops until it's more clear that eMachines has fixed their heat dissipation engineering problems (i.e., not putting the processor next to the battery and HD).

[bryan @ Nov 25th 2008 7:44PM]

Um, I'm sorry that so many of you had issues with e-machines so long ago.. Of course, that company no longer exists. e-Machines was bought by Gateway back in 2004, and Gateway by Acer in 2007. Acer is using the e-Machines brand for its low-cost computers (as if Acer's weren't cheap enough already).

All that being sais, this lappy uses the new ultra value AMD Athlon 2650e processor (think cheap AND slow). It may be a junk processor, but it runs circles around that Smartphone/MID processor masquerading as a netbook processor known as the Atom.

[henry @ Nov 25th 2008 8:44PM]

yeah, those are rebranded acer machines from the last few quarters. when i see that model, i automatically consider it an Acer until i look closely at it. i was tempted to purchase them a few time with their sub $400-500 prices. and they were always well reviewed, at least on Newegg. so if it follows that this is the same machine, then you won't be doing too bad in purchasing it.

[Chicken @ Nov 26th 2008 1:31AM]

Looks so crappy.

[Steve @ Nov 26th 2008 8:23AM]

I bought one for home use and I have to tell you that it works great for MP3's, Video, light gaming and of course the Internet. I feels solid. The battery life suchs big time though.

[jo @ Dec 7th 2008 1:14AM]

Just wondering what the chances are that this laptop could play World of Warcraft and do light internet like myspace and homework help for my teen?? Anybody using this machine for gaming??