I was going to reply with much the same info as Geoffrey just posted. Acer is the biggest selling brand of notebooks in Europe (or was about 2 yrs. ago). I do expect that they have raised the quality of their product from what Emachines formerly offered. I've only ever worked on one and it was a hard drive problem, but like the old Compaq's it had some of the BIOS info written to the hard drive, so you couldn't just replace the hard drive and go on our merry way. Wound up replacing it with a Dell fro ~ $400 or $500 (this was maybe 6 yrs. ago).<br>
<br>That said, over all, computer hardware is far more reliable now than it was 10 yrs. ago. There are only a few hard drive manufacturers for all manufacturers to choose from (Hitachi, Toshiba, Samsung, Seagate & WD) and memory is pretty darn good these days, both the chips and the modules. The things that separate the higher quality from the lower quality machines are basically the components on the motherboard and the power supply. Is a $200 Emachines as good as a $800 "roll your own", no, but it is still a LOT of computer for the money and compute-power wise, probably something most of us would have been proud to have owned not many years ago. OK, so maybe you have to replace the power supply or even the whole unit in 2-3 years, is that better than dropping $300-$500+ today? To each his own, in that decision.<br>
<br>GC<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 11:04 AM, Geoffrey <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:lists@serioustechnology.com">lists@serioustechnology.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im">Warren Myers wrote:<br>
> every eMachines box I've used has worked on the order of 2-4 years.<br>
<br>
</div>Emachines was purchased by gateway and now acer now owns them. I've<br>
heard their quality has gone up since the acquisitions, but no personal<br>
experience.<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
><br>
> WMM<br>
><br>
> On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 8:57 AM, Jim Kinney <<a href="mailto:jim.kinney@gmail.com">jim.kinney@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>> Emachines are bottom-feeders. Lifespan measured in months not years.<br>
>> Disposable hardware by design. If that's OK for the use, $200 is a very<br>
>> cheap price for new hardware.<br>
>><br>
>> On Mar 29, 2010 8:30 AM, "Chuck Payne" <<a href="mailto:terrorpup@gmail.com">terrorpup@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>><br>
>> Guys,<br>
>><br>
>> Don't take this as spam, but I just got an e-mail from <a href="http://buy.com" target="_blank">buy.com</a>, they<br>
>> have e-machine for $200, are they good machine?<br>
>><br>
>> <a href="http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=214870148&i=0&adid=17070" target="_blank">http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=214870148&i=0&adid=17070</a><br>
>><br>
>> --<br>
>> -----------------------------------------<br>
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>> -----------------------------------------<br>
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>><br>
>> Have you tried SUSE Studio? Need to create a Live CD, an app you want<br>
>> to package and distribute , or create your own linux distro. Give SUSE<br>
>> Studio a try. <a href="http://www.susestudio.com" target="_blank">www.susestudio.com</a>.<br>
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>><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
</div></div>Until later, Geoffrey<br>
<br>
"I predict future happiness for America if they can prevent<br>
the government from wasting the labors of the people under<br>
the pretense of taking care of them."<br>
- Thomas Jefferson<br>
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