What's the best PC (Desktop) I could get for ~$500?

Emachines, Got me t3902 with 160 Gig hardrive, 512 ram, athlon xp 3000+ processor, dual format dvd burner, 17" flat screen (not flat panel) monitor and a printer for $500 at worst buy a few months ago. I still think it was one hell of a deal.
 
[quote name='Tennisjon2002']Emachines, Got me t3902 with 160 Gig hardrive, 512 ram, athlon xp 3000+ processor, dual format dvd burner, 17" flat screen (not flat panel) monitor and a printer for $500 at worst buy a few months ago. I still think it was one hell of a deal.[/quote]

LOLS YOU SAID WORST BUY. TEH FUNNY.

Seriously though. You're calling an eMachines a good deal. Everything you now say is null and void.
 
ha yea i asked the same question the OP did a while ago before I got my computer several people recomended emachines while a few said they were bad but the ones who were hattin were just the people mad they got ripped off on their computer. Emachines did have SERIOUS quality issues but they have fixed it now and they are more reliable than their parent company Gateway. I was VERY sceptical before I got my emachines then my computer won awards in both PC magazine and Computer Shopper (both of which I get for free thanks 2 this site :lol: :lol: ). THere was recently a review in PC mag and they found emachines to be some of the most reliable computers. Now i will tell u don't bother gaming on a stock emachines but for general internet use etc they are a kick ass deal.
 
This week at Circuit City you can get an Emachines for $500 with monitor/printer.

Specs are something like:

3 Ghz P4
512 DDR
160 Gb HD
Integrated video, up to 225 MB. This can run games like Doom 3 and Half-Life 2.
CD Burner/DVD combo


If you want to do some serious gaming, then you'll need to upgrade the ram to at least 1 GB, and you might want to consider getting a video card. The onboard video is surprisngly very good, but it has trouble running a few games, and an occassional glitch.

Btw, anyone who disses Emachines clearly knows nothing. The computers had problems YEARS back, but it's all been sorted out within the past couple years.

Emachines are fine. Go for one.
 
[quote name='ajh2298']My Emachine has been running 24/7 for over a year and evrythings been great with it.[/quote]
I do have a confession to make, my hardrive blew last week but I was able to get everything off and I called emachines customer service and they helped me then overnited me a new WD 250 GB hardrive which is a significant upgrade to what was on my computer for free. Seriously that is some damn good service, much better than the stories I have heard of Dell etc. I didn't even have 2 go on hold 2 go to a representative.
 
eMachines are fine as long as you don't do any serious upgrading. One way they cut corners to make it cheap is to put in the absolute smallest power supply they can get away with. So if you add too much stuff, your computer isn't going to have enough power to run.
 
I've had my emachines computer for almost two years, and haven't had one problem yet. Emachines are cheap in price, and reliable. Go for one. :D
 
the best way to start to build one ur self would be to search for barebone systems

like this one http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=52476&item=5157437112




then u buy ddr ram 512 = 60-65bucks
buy new harddrive or use ur current one.
xfer ur current cd/dvd drives
xfer current vid card or buy new one

etc etc.



Or look for motherboard/cpu combo deals on www.pricewatch.com

then ull need to buy a new case and the same parts i listed above.

it may come out a little cheaper depending on what u can sill reuse from your current PC and your buying exactly what u want this way instead of buying a store bought pc.
 
that circuit city one would be around 640 with taxes included.

the barebone above. 335 shipped

add 512 ddr 65 bucks
add new 160 gig hdd 65bucks (after 40-50dollar rebate)
add new vid card (various price ranges here)

Youll also need a OS so if u dont have a full version of windows xp youll be having to buy a copy for 100-200bucks depending on which one u buy

This OS factor could be a deciding factor because when u buy a pre built system u get windows xp with it.for "free" .

Also depends on how much current equipment u can reuse in ur new system. this is how it comes out better and cheaper.

if u have just an old ass pc your probably just better off buying a new store bought one (cheap p4 one .not celeron and not more then 600bucks otherwise its just a rip off for u)
 
[quote name='Ivanhoe']or just get a dell.


emachines suck.[/quote]

i think you have the two mixed up. I have an emachines and it works, and has worked great since the day i bought it. Dell, i heard that their customer service is horrible and if you want a decent computer you need to shell out at least 850$ for one while you could get the same computer for 500-600$.
 
i think you have the two mixed up. I have an emachines and it works, and has worked great since the day i bought it. Dell, i heard that their customer service is horrible and if you want a decent computer you need to shell out at least 850$ for one while you could get the same computer for 500-600$.[/quote]


Nah dont have em mixed up. i dont go off of what i "hear" either but actual experience with things. Luckily i wasnt the ones with the shitty emachine systems.

Also check out the dell website u can get a "decent" computer for 550-600bucks.
 
[quote name='help1']hey, is ibuypower.com safe?

I make buy a computer from them....[/quote]

Yes. In fact, I'd recommend them if you want a custom built PC and don't have time to make one yourself.
 
WalMart is running the PC they had at blitz for $468.00 HP A705WB
Cel 2.9 GHZ
256 MB DDR SDRAM
CD-RW/DVD combo drive
40 GB hard drive
9-in-1 memory card reader
Integrated 10/100Base-T networking interface

Just go to Crucial and pick up some extra RAM and you'd have a decent system.
 
I always buy from Dell Outlet. Have gotten many great deals. The last time I ordered was the first time with any problems. When I removed the computer from the box, I could hear loose parts inside. Turns out the PCI cards were loose inside and someone left a Dell engineering CD in the CD drive. One email to customer service took care of it. My original order was for a refurb Dimension 8300 P4 3.4 with 512MB DDR, 40 GB HD, CD ROM, integrated video/sound/networking with WinXP home for $500. They sent me a new Dimension 8400 P4 3.4 Prescott with 1GB DDR2, 250 GB SATA HD, DVD-ROM and DVD DL burner, low end PCI-e video card, sound blaster live card, gigabit ethernet, WinXP PRO, Microsoft Office, Paintshop Pro 8, full year subscription to McAfee, and a lot of other software. They also include an optical mouse instead of the regular one I was originaly getting and a 128 MB flash drive. Think I am forgetting somethings, but you get the picture. Dell = Bad Customer service? Not in my book! Not only did I not have to pay anything extra, I actually got a $75 customer satisfaction code! The only thing bad was I was going to put the Radeon 9800PRO from my old computer into the one I ordered but could not do that with this one because of the PCI-e. Thankfully, my wife was understanding and agreed that I should get an x800xt!
 
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