EMACHINES T2865 Desktop Computer

Rating:
Summary: A powerhouse PC that won't break the bank.
Review: eMachines T2865 review
By Marc Eberhart ([e-mail])
1/5/2004

You want a powerhouse PC that won't break the bank? Well you're reading the right review. At $719 (US) the eMachines T2865 is heavy on performance and light on the wallet. A month ago the T2865 was the most powerful desktop PC ever offered by eMachines; that honor now belongs to the newly released T6000. However the T2865 is not far behind, offering massive processing power and all the goodies that a desktop PC owner could want.

Most people, myself included, hesitate to buy anything but a top name PC. Even though eMachines is now the third largest provider of desktop PCs in the US, their lack of hard-core advertising does not land them in the ranks of Dell or Compaq in terms of notoriety among consumers. But take it from me, what they lack in recognition they certainly make up for in PC-building ability. Crack open the stylish, durable case and you'll find top-quality PC components aplenty. No substandard parts here. All for a price that blows the competition away.

The T2865 is a lightning fast powerhouse. Powered by AMD's Athlon XP 2800+ processor (2.08 ghz), it offers performance comparable to Intel's 2.8 ghz Pentium 4. And with 512 megs of RAM, a fast 333 mhz system bus, and a 160 gig hard drive, this is not a PC you'll soon outgrow. For the gamers out there, NVIDIA 6-channel audio is standard, as are NVIDIA GeForce4 integrated graphics. The sound is wonderful, and the graphics are more than adequate, even when playing today's most demanding PC games. For you multimedia buffs, a high-speed CD-ROM is standard, as is a CD-RW/DVD-RW combo drive which lets you burn CDs and DVDs `til your heart's content. Also included is an 8-in-1 media reader, which allows you to insert various media (such as digital camera memory sticks and flash cards). No more connecting the digital camera to your PC, just pop in the media stick and you're off! There are more USB ports than you'll probably ever need, and an 8X AGP slot in case you'd like to upgrade to a more powerful graphics card. The T2865 also comes with plenty of software, including Microsoft Works, Norton Antivirus, and Roxio Easy CD Creator. A 56k modem and 10/100 NIC card are standard. Last but not least you'll find front-mounted USB, headphone, and microphone jacks for your convenience. All of this is backed by eMachines' warranty and highly-rated technical support.

Included with the package are a stylish multimedia keyboard, mouse, and a pair of slim profile speakers. The keyboard is the best I have ever used - the numerous shortcut and internet browsing buttons come in very handy. The mouse is your average roller-ball type; it's decent and gets the job done. The speakers, while slim and stylish, are a bit underpowered and have a "tinny" sound with virtually no bass.

As with any desktop PC, there are always a few downsides. Because the GeForce4 graphics chip is integrated into the motherboard, it has 64 megs of "shared" memory. This means that 64 megs of system RAM are allocated to the integrated graphics and taken away from system memory, leaving overall system RAM at a still respectable 448 megs. Serious gamers will probably want to upgrade to a more powerful video card for maximum gaming performance. But be careful, the power supply of the T2865 is only rated at 250 watts - some high-end video cards require more than that to run properly. Also, the T2865 seems to run a little warm, and a more powerful video card might not receive adequate cooling if installed, not to mention it will add more heat to the already warm PC case. Lastly, the cooling fans in this machine make quite a racket. It's definitely one of the noisiest PCs I've ever used.

On a rating scale of 1-10, I give the eMachines T2865 a solid 9. For $719 you'll be hard pressed to find a better performing PC with as many features as the T2865. eMachines has more than earned my respect with this model.

Rating:
Summary: A powerhouse PC that won't break the bank.
Review: eMachines T2865 review
By Marc Eberhart ([e-mail])
1/5/2004

You want a powerhouse PC that won't break the bank? Well you're reading the right review. At $719 (US) the eMachines T2865 is heavy on performance and light on the wallet. A month ago the T2865 was the most powerful desktop PC ever offered by eMachines; that honor now belongs to the newly released T6000. However the T2865 is not far behind, offering massive processing power and all the goodies that a desktop PC owner could want.

Most people, myself included, hesitate to buy anything but a top name PC. Even though eMachines is now the third largest provider of desktop PCs in the US, their lack of hard-core advertising does not land them in the ranks of Dell or Compaq in terms of notoriety among consumers. But take it from me, what they lack in recognition they certainly make up for in PC-building ability. Crack open the stylish, durable case and you'll find top-quality PC components aplenty. No substandard parts here. All for a price that blows the competition away.

The T2865 is a lightning fast powerhouse. Powered by AMD's Athlon XP 2800+ processor (2.08 ghz), it offers performance comparable to Intel's 2.8 ghz Pentium 4. And with 512 megs of RAM, a fast 333 mhz system bus, and a 160 gig hard drive, this is not a PC you'll soon outgrow. For the gamers out there, NVIDIA 6-channel audio is standard, as are NVIDIA GeForce4 integrated graphics. The sound is wonderful, and the graphics are more than adequate, even when playing today's most demanding PC games. For you multimedia buffs, a high-speed CD-ROM is standard, as is a CD-RW/DVD-RW combo drive which lets you burn CDs and DVDs 'til your heart's content. Also included is an 8-in-1 media reader, which allows you to insert various media (such as digital camera memory sticks and flash cards). No more connecting the digital camera to your PC, just pop in the media stick and you're off! There are more USB ports than you'll probably ever need, and an 8X AGP slot in case you'd like to upgrade to a more powerful graphics card. The T2865 also comes with plenty of software, including Microsoft Works, Norton Antivirus, and Roxio Easy CD Creator. A 56k modem and 10/100 NIC card are standard. Last but not least you'll find front-mounted USB, headphone, and microphone jacks for your convenience. All of this is backed by eMachines' warranty and highly-rated technical support.

Included with the package are a stylish multimedia keyboard, mouse, and a pair of slim profile speakers. The keyboard is the best I have ever used - the numerous shortcut and internet browsing buttons come in very handy. The mouse is your average roller-ball type; it's decent and gets the job done. The speakers, while slim and stylish, are a bit underpowered and have a "tinny" sound with virtually no bass.

As with any desktop PC, there are always a few downsides. Because the GeForce4 graphics chip is integrated into the motherboard, it has 64 megs of "shared" memory. This means that 64 megs of system RAM are allocated to the integrated graphics and taken away from system memory, leaving overall system RAM at a still respectable 448 megs. Serious gamers will probably want to upgrade to a more powerful video card for maximum gaming performance. But be careful, the power supply of the T2865 is only rated at 250 watts - some high-end video cards require more than that to run properly. Also, the T2865 seems to run a little warm, and a more powerful video card might not receive adequate cooling if installed, not to mention it will add more heat to the already warm PC case. Lastly, the cooling fans in this machine make quite a racket. It's definitely one of the noisiest PCs I've ever used.

On a rating scale of 1-10, I give the eMachines T2865 a solid 9. For $719 you'll be hard pressed to find a better performing PC with as many features as the T2865. eMachines has more than earned my respect with this model.

Rating:
Summary: A good PC with quality components but poor case setup
Review: I recently bought a T2865 PC and was amazed what components came with it for the price. Most components inside are A+ brands! Harddisk is western digital, DVD rewriter is NEC, Memory is Samsung and the CPU is of course AMD. The motherboard is FIC which is not so wellknown but it does the job just fine, outperforming some big brand Nforce2 chipset motherboards in benchmarks. Lots of software is also included, most of it you would want to keep and some of it (Compuserve, AOL) you might want to uninstall from the getgo.
But wait, it's not all positive.
The heat accumulation inside the case is something that the more technically advanced PC users will not like very much.
Components which get too hot are known to be detrimental to the lifespan of PC's.
The T2865 uses a minitower to facilitate all the components and
there is not much space left for any airflow, everything is packed tightly together. The CPU fan is not a problem but the overall case temperature gets pretty high eventually increasing the CPU temperature as well. Furthermore, the motherboard temperature gets pretty high, this is mainly because it uses a heatsink instead of a motherboard fan.
Now Emachines technical support claims that the temperatures the computer experienced were not considered critical, but invested in a couple of casefans anyway.
Please note that you will have to be inventive creating effective airflow in the case as the front does not have any space for a casefan.
Conclusion, an excellent value for money but be sure to invest in some effective cooling fans so you ensure that the machine has a long lifespan.


12/17/2003 Update: I would like to add that because of my own error I had to send the PC back and I am amazed by the speed of the repairs and the professional handling of my problem.


You don't have to pay sending costs at all and everything is handled by Fed EX fast oneday delivery.

Rating:
Summary: Great computer, no problems
Review: I've had this computer for two months and it's been wonderful. eMachines has made great improvements in quality and customer service - this company is no longer the Yugo of computer manufacturers. If anything, it's much closer to a Hyundai or even Toyota now... just read the latest computer quality reports. The T2865 features brand-name components, all delivering great performance. I couldn't be happier. The system is rock-solid, the DVD burner is great, there's ample hard drive space, and the price... I don't know how they did it. The only thing you might want to do is add a good video card, but that goes for almost any system - built-in graphics are sufficient only for basic stuff. I was rather surprised at what the other user reviews said, quite frankly. A 15' LCD monitor (yes, that IS too small for most people!) cannot be blamed on a computer's bad performance, and according to the description it sounds more like a faulty driver or a software conflict caused the system to be unstable. Also, these comments about too much heat... how much heat was the machine producing? As far as eMachines and heat are concerned, I previously owned their T2200, which I owned for 11 months and used mercilessly. I almost never shut it off during those eleven months, I used it all the time for something (gaming, surfing the Net, video conversion and editing) and there was never any problem. Were the allegedly excessive heat so destructive, something would have certainly happened considering the thousands of hours it worked for, non-stop....

Rating:
Summary: Think twice about buying this one!
Review: When I purchased this machine, I was hoping to replace my three year old Dell which was beginning to show some signs of wear. My daughter owned an Emachine 366i from several years ago and although it was acceptable for a child as an entry level computer, I never took Emachines seriously in terms of durability. I took this attitude until recently when I saw a few positive reviews on Emachines and noticed a great value for the dollar. Where else could you find a computer which costs $1600 elsewhere for a price of $719? By the way, Emachine advertises that this computer has 6.1 channel audio, however the audio is only equipped with two-channel sound and is integrated in the motherboard. Even so, it was a great price for the features. I purchased a package bundle for $899 which included a Lexmark printer, 15inch Emachine LCD monitor and of course the Emachine 2865 which in my opinion was loaded. The monitor was the first LCD I owned and because of the prices for LCDs, I figured that this 15inch was a good compromise. My mistake. Being use to 17inch monitors at home and even bigger monitors at work, this was no compromise, it was unacceptable. However, it wasn't just the size but the image quality was not what I have grown accustomed to with large CRTs. This concern is not necessary due to a quality issue with Emachines but because of the nature of a 15 inch LCD monitor. As far as the computer, it was slower than my Dell Dimension 4100. I was getting error messages immediately and it would constantly reboot itself for no apparent reason. there was a recurring message about a hardrive error so perhaps this was the problem of why the whole system was unstable. The DVD Rom wouldn't play properly. Every disc I inserted failed to run and when I found a DVD which would work, it would freeze shortly after I inserted it. To top it off, emachine loads it's units with software/advertisements you may not want or want to deal with. As I stated earlier, from the surface this sounded like a fantastic deal for the money. But when things don't work, it was a waste of my time invested in setting it up. My older Dell outperformed this model. Maybe I got a lemon which was not truly representative of Emachine and its products. However, my original perception of Emachine as being a company with unstable desktops was reinforced with this purchase.