eMachines T1600 Review

Whirring Right Along

Instead of a costly sound card, the eMachines relies on VIA's integrated silicon and the Avance AC97 audio codec; the results won't satisfy audiophiles or avid gamers, but are certainly good enough for the supplied low-fi stereo speakers. The latter gave us our only hassle during setup, when we had to jab and wiggle to plug their AC adapter into a jack not quite aligned with the hole in the plastic case.

As we mentioned, the T1600, unlike many under-$700 systems, has an empty AGP slot for video upgraders. But its integrated S3 ProSavageDDR video controller has a slight edge over the snail-slow Intel 810/815 and Nvidia TNT2 graphics we usually find in entry-level desktops. (It reduces system memory from 256MB to 224MB, but that's still far more comfortable for Win XP than any 128MB system.)

When we fired up the admittedly dated Quake III Arena benchmark, the eMachines managed 48 frames per second in VGA Normal mode and an almost playable 26 fps in High-Quality 800 by 600 (32-bit) mode. That's more than twice as quick as the suitable-for-word-processing graphics in the cheapest HP and Compaq desktops, and we were also able to load and run the DirectX 8.1 torture tests of MadOnion.com's 3DMark 2001 SE Pro. Actual results for the latter, however, were in the 3- to 10-fps range with a final score of 674 -- about one-ninth as fast as our ATI Radeon 8500-fueled system at home. But at least we can see families using the T1600 to play The Sims, if not Serious Sam.

Similarly, considering its DDR architecture we were disappointed in the system's PCMark 2002 memory score of 2,392, but its hard disk score of 756 and CPU score of 4,057 are eminently respectable for a value-priced PC. And the eMachines motored to an overall score of 127 in BAPco's SysMark 2002 application benchmark, with 161 in Internet Content Creation -- one-quarter quicker than a 256MB Compaq Celeron/1.3 home PC we tested recently -- balanced by 100 in Office Productivity.

And decent performance is balanced by decent design. Two thumbscrews let you remove the side panel and enjoy wide-open access to the three PCI slots (one occupied by the Conexant 56Kbps modem) and one AGP slot; the two memory sockets are under some cables but still well within reach. The Bestec 250-watt power supply, and the whopping heat sink and fan on the Athlon XP processor, reassure you that nothing's about to blow up -- although the fans do make the T1600 fairly noisy; we had to turn up the speakers louder than we usually do to listen to music CDs.

Aside from the noise, our only real gripe with the system was the plain gray keyboard -- it has a cheap, stiff feel that caused numerous typos until we adjusted to it. By contrast, the eMachines mouse may be a conventional rolling-ball instead of slick optical design, but it feels smooth and includes the scrolling wheel which some ultra-cheap mice omit.

Comeback in Progress?

Except for eMachines' version of Windows XP Home Edition's default meadow-scene wallpaper, with the company logo perched on one hill like the Hollywood sign, the preinstalled software bundle has no surprises: Microsoft Works and Money, AOL 7.0 and CompuServe 2000 offers, Netscape 6.2, Adobe Acrobat Reader. You do get both ICQ and AOL IM as well as Microsoft's messaging client and Winamp as well as RealPlayer, though we'd have liked to see an antivirus package and at least a "lite" version of some CD-burning software other than Windows XP's own bare-bones functionality.

Though it's a toll call, eMachines offers free phone support during the one-year warranty ($20 per incident after that, unless you pay $89 for a three-year extended warranty that includes including parts and labor). Diagnostic and update software from a company called BigFix is preinstalled; the latter delivers patches and tweaks for the rest of the computer much like Microsoft's automatic (default) Windows Update setting does for the operating system, though BigFix pledges not to transmit any info about you or your PC without your express consent. A factory-disk-image recovery CD is provided, as is a slim but helpful system manual and not-entirely-accurate motherboard manual ("The processor that you install must be compatible with PGA370 socket"?).

Hyundai has greatly improved its cars since the Excel, to the point where it offers a 100,000-mile warranty and regularly finishes in the top three in comparison tests; the old stigma seems to linger in lower resale value, but car buyers can overlook the brand no longer. It seems clear that eMachines is trying to make a similar turnaround.

A few days' testing is no indicator of a few years' reliability, but on our five-star scale, the T1600 earns a three- and flirts with a four-star review, especially as other PC retailers quietly raise prices or trim 256MB configurations to 128MB. It's nice to see a company heading in the right direction.

Pros:

• Undeniable value -- e.g., 256MB of DDR and an AGP slot for what HP and Compaq charge for 128MB of SDRAM and none
• Good performance, good components, capable case design -- a pleasant surprise

Cons:

• Flimsy keyboard, noisy fan, no DVD
• A leap of faith to forget eMachines' former eLemons?