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Product summary
The good: A better deal than most budget PCs available from major online vendors.
The bad: In-store desktop deals offer more for the money.
The bottom line: With stiff competition from other sub-$400 PCs, eMachines' T5247 has a hard time standing out. It will certainly serve as a basic productivity system, but other desktops will help you stretch your computer dollar even further.
Specifications: Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 (2 GHz); RAM installed: 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM; Hard drive: 320 GB Standard; See full specs
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 07/21/2008
The eMachines T5274 is eMachines' higher-end budget desktop for the back to school season. While it seems like a good deal for $400, the fact is that the low-end PC market has become increasingly competitive this year, which makes it hard for systems such as this one that straddle two different price points. If all you want is basic functionality for a rock bottom price, you can find PCs for $200 to $300 that will do the job (including eMachines own W6350 and T3656 models). If you're looking for a minor performance uptick, you can spend $50 to $100 more for more RAM and a larger hard drive. Worse, systems from Compaq and Acer (eMachines' parent) offer nearly identical specifications for less money. It's become more difficult than ever to nail the sweet spot for low-end desktops, and unfortunately, eMachines missed it with the T5274.
The eMachines boilerplate has become familiar during the past few years. As with many systems before it, the T5274 gives you a straightforward midtower case with basic expandability, a dual-layer DVD burner, and a media card reader. The only major differences between this model and previous systems are the processor, memory, motherboard, and hard drive. On the one hand, there's comfort in eMachines reliable formula. However, given the growing list of other PCs in this price range, we'd suggest that it's time for eMachines to consider a case redesign or some other kind of refresh.
| eMachines T5274 | Acer Aspire AM3100 | |
| Price | $400 | $365 |
| CPU | 2.0GHz Intel Dual Core Pentium E2180 | 2.6GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000 |
| Memory | 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM | 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM |
| Graphics | 64MB (shared) Intel GMA 950 integrated chip | 256MB (shared) ATI Radeon X1250 integrated chip |
| Hard drives | 320GB 7,200rpm | 320GB, 7,200rpm |
| Optical drive | dual-layer DVD burner | dual-layer DVD burner |
| Networking | 10/100 Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet |
| Operating system | Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (32-bit) | Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (32-bit) |
Acer's Aspire AM3100 makes a great comparison system for the eMachines T5274. The components that stick out for us the most are its price, its significantly faster processor, and the fact that it has full-fledged Gigabit Ethernet, compared with the eMachines' 10/100 Mbps Ethernet adapter. For Web browsing, that lower end network adapter won't have that big an impact, but you'll feel it when you go to transfer large amounts of data. We'd love to be able to review the Aspire AM3100, and Acer, if you're reading this, our lab is ready when you are.
Both the eMachines and Acer systems, and in general, most low-end PCs are available directly from Best Buy, Circuit City, and other big box vendors. Neither Dell nor HP's direct order Web sites let you configure competitive desktops with such a low cost. Prices fluctuate wildly from the larger retailers, so next week could very well be the week that eMachines gets a price cut and the Acer system's current $10 rebate goes away. However, with the current pricing, the Acer system is a better deal.
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