I purchased the et1300-02 (has the G100 512mb graphics card) because my old comp crapped out on me. I thought "hey, $399 for a computer that is decent AND a video card? great deal!"...not so much. The video card is about $60 if you purchased it elseware and it can't play games at all. I tried to load up Crysis and it couldnt get through the intro lol. Granted, i am not a gamer and i didnt buy this for a gaming machine, but come on, my p4 could have ran the game and it is 4 years old. The computer runs vista ok but I have seen better. It can be slow to responding sometimes. There is not a lot of preloaded crap on it which is a plus. It runs quiet and looks nice.
Regardless of its pros, there are other machines out there that are better values. I am going to return it, spend $100 more and get something a little better spec'd.
FWIW they seem to have changed the video card in the ET1300-02 to a much more crappy integrated Geforce 6150SE.
As for your comment...
Games use graphics cards more than they use CPUs. That being said, I can't imagine why you'd ever consider pairing a P4 with a graphics card decent enough to run Crysis. Furthermore, the specifications on their website state that there is a PCI Express x16 2.0 slot. I seriously doubt the 2.0 designation given the chipset but even a plain old PCI Express x16 could take whatever card you used to run Crysis with on your old desktop.
The ET1300-02 is sold at Costco which has a very nice support system and a fair return period. This costs as much as a decent video card, and can't be expected to play games. For someone who doesn't need gaming and just wants everything including a decently reviewed monitor this really isn't a horrible deal.
I doubt most who read this site would have much use for this computer for personal use, but we all have parents/grandparents/relatives who aren't that tech savvy, and this would work for them.
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I purchased the et1300-02 (has the G100 512mb graphics card) because my old comp crapped out on me. I thought "hey, $399 for a computer that is decent AND a video card? great deal!"...not so much. The video card is about $60 if you purchased it elseware and it can't play games at all. I tried to load up Crysis and it couldnt get through the intro lol. Granted, i am not a gamer and i didnt buy this for a gaming machine, but come on, my p4 could have ran the game and it is 4 years old. The computer runs vista ok but I have seen better. It can be slow to responding sometimes. There is not a lot of preloaded crap on it which is a plus. It runs quiet and looks nice.
Regardless of its pros, there are other machines out there that are better values. I am going to return it, spend $100 more and get something a little better spec'd.
FWIW they seem to have changed the video card in the ET1300-02 to a much more crappy integrated Geforce 6150SE.
As for your comment...
Games use graphics cards more than they use CPUs. That being said, I can't imagine why you'd ever consider pairing a P4 with a graphics card decent enough to run Crysis. Furthermore, the specifications on their website state that there is a PCI Express x16 2.0 slot. I seriously doubt the 2.0 designation given the chipset but even a plain old PCI Express x16 could take whatever card you used to run Crysis with on your old desktop.
The ET1300-02 is sold at Costco which has a very nice support system and a fair return period. This costs as much as a decent video card, and can't be expected to play games. For someone who doesn't need gaming and just wants everything including a decently reviewed monitor this really isn't a horrible deal.
I doubt most who read this site would have much use for this computer for personal use, but we all have parents/grandparents/relatives who aren't that tech savvy, and this would work for them.