I’ve been pondering a new computer for the last while. The machine that’s running this site is getting a bit long in the tooth (it’s a shade more than 3.5 years old) and I’ve been pining for a new Athlon64 rig. I have three basic choices: an eMachines T6000, a Compaq Presarrio 8000Z, or a custom made Gamer Ultra 6000 SE (64) from Cyber Power.
There’s three problems with these selections:
- I’ve never had good luck with hp/Compaq equipment. Taking a look at the specs of the 8000Z, it looks like they’re using good components and I could potentially get a great machine for a good price, but the fact remains that it would still be a Compaq.
- I don’t know anyone who owns an eMachines box. They are getting better and better reviews all around the ‘net, but I’m still not sure. They were just bought by Gateway, after all, and the mobo on the T6000 is an MSI that doesn’t appear to have dual channel memory support and definitely doesn’t have an SATA controller on it. Plus, I’d be limited to a subpar ATI Radeon 9600, whereas with the other machines, I can choose top-o-the-line GeForce cards (much, MUCH better driver support under Linux).
- I’ve read some negative reviews of Cyber Power’s customer support and response times and am a bit worried about getting the machine on time. Also, the other two machines have the advantage of free shipping from BestBuy.com.
Above and beyond all this, I promised my wife that I would get her a laptop before I get another machine. I’d like to balance her laptop between features and a decent price. Once again, eMachines sells the fairly attractive Athlon64-based M6805, as well as the less expensive Athlon-based M5309 and M5312. There’s always an iBook as well.
Any advice on these subjects would be most appreciated.
If you build it…..I don’t know why you don’t build one on your own fool! costs less and you probably
know more than those guys at tech support. What with pricewatch pricing 64’s at
under 500 and you probably owning most of the guts it seems a better idea.
Yeah, but I’d like to get some upgraded components to work with, plus, buying all the parts and paying for shipping for each on makes it as, if not more, expensive than if I just have a rig put together for me.
I recently purchased a m6805 from Best Buy. In almost every respect, it is great. Its pretty fast; ive overclocked it
and i hit 11400 3d marks in 3dmark 2001. My desktop which is an athlon 2500 at 2.4 ghz, 512 MB PC3200, and gf4 4600 gets
roughly 14.4k. In 3dmark03, my laptop whoops my desktop, with a score somewhere around 3200.
The only complaints about the system are:
– Dead pixels: I have one, but its hardly noticable. We actually went through 4 machines at BB and all had dead pixels
(the sales rep was nice enough to boot each up and check for us, so be sure to request this).
– 64 MB video card: this is good but 128 would have been a nice addition
– 4200 rpm HD (some of them come with a 5400 rpm HD, but they are not as common)
Other than that, its a great machine, and the vid card overclocks very nicely.
Id definetly recommend emachines over HP or Compaq. You can only get a better
bang for the buck going with alienware or perhaps Cyberpower.
As for cyberpower, my destop i got a couple yrs ago was made by them: they did a great job.
Not so sure about their laptops, but im sure they are just as nice.