A New PC for as Little as $399
Hewlett-Packard and Compaq dominate the personal computer shelves at many retail stores, which is one reason the proposed merger of the two should concern consumers.
But there are choices. And not just mail-order houses such as Dell or Gateway. EMachines, a company that was in serious financial trouble about a year ago, is under new management and is once again selling inexpensive PCs at major retail outlets.
I wrote this column on the company’s least expensive system--the $399 T1090. So even though it’s been a tough year economically, you don’t have to hobble along with an old personal computer.
Though it’s one of the least expensive machines around, the T1090 can handle most daily tasks as well as systems costing much more.
It’s basic, stripped down and maybe even a tad “slow.” But not long ago, it would have been considered pretty hot. That’s the nature of technology. Today’s high-end systems are tomorrow’s bargains.
The T1090 comes loaded with Windows XP Home Edition--for which the upgrade CD alone costs about $100. The machine also boasts 128 megabytes of RAM, which is adequate for running Windows XP and most applications. Its 20-gigabyte hard drive is enough for most people. I have a 12-GB drive in my machine, and it’s big enough to store scores of MP3 music files, thousands of compressed digital photos and even more Word files.
There are things you give up with a very cheap machine. For one thing, the $399 model comes with a 48x CD-ROM but doesn’t have a CD-RW drive, so you can’t use it to back up files, copy CDs or create your audio CDs. For that you’ll need to spend $499 for the T1100.
It’s probably worth the extra $100 because of the CD-RW drive, a faster 1-gigahertz CPU and an extra drive bay, allowing you to add another CD drive or a DVD drive.
The hard drives on the entire line run at 5400 revolutions per minute and are a bit slower than the 7200 RPM drives used on more expensive systems. Drive speed can be more important than processor speed, but it’s not that big a deal. I notice a slight delay when I’m loading applications or large data files.
Unfortunately, the mouse that comes with all EMachines PCs lacks a wheel that lets you scroll up and down documents and Web sites. You can buy an aftermarket wheel mouse for as little as $15 or spend about $25 for a mouse with an optical sensor, such as the Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical.
EMachines systems have built-in sound and video adapters, which is fine for most people, but serious gamers probably should shop elsewhere. The two sub-$500 systems don’t have an accelerated graphics port (AGP) for high-end graphic adapters, but there are two USB ports (one in the back and one in front) and two standard PCI expansion slots.
The boxes also lack an Ethernet port, which you’ll need if you’re on a network or use a cable or DSL modem. Cards that can be had for less than $20 plug into one of the machine’s PCI slots. The internal sound card has an amplifier, which allows EMachines to get away with cheap, non-amplified speakers. Anyone who plans to listen to music on the PC ought to buy a decent set of aftermarket PC speakers.
The company offers a $699 model with a built-in Ethernet port along with a 1.5-GHz Pentium 4 CPU, 256 MB of RAM and 12x CD-RW drive and a 40-GB hard drive. The top-of-the line $799 system has a CD-RW and a DVD drive and a 60-GB hard drive.
There are, of course, other low-cost systems out there. Dell’s $599 SmartStep 100, which comes with a 15-inch monitor, also is a good deal. Gateway’s $799 300S has a CD-RW drive, a 17-inch monitor and an integrated Ethernet card.
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Technology reports by Lawrence J. Magid can be heard between 2 and 3 p.m. weekdays on the KNX-AM (1070) Technology Hour. He can be reached at larry.magid@latimes.com.
