from the New York Times
February 18, 1999
STATE OF THE ART
Good Enough Computers for Low-End Users
By PETER H. LEWIS
The most compelling reason to buy a computer these days is to get
access to the Internet. The most compelling reason not to buy a
computer is cost.
Cost is becoming less of an issue. It is now possible to get an
Internet-ready computer for less than $500, and last week one
company even announced that it was going to give away free personal
computers and Internet access to people who agreed to fill out
detailed personal questionnaires and to be zapped with Internet
advertising. The way things are going, computers will be given away
in Cracker Jack boxes, as soon as they get small enough.
Lately I've been testing the cheapest system I could buy, the $399
"emachines etower 300k," coupled with a $100 "emachines eview 14"
monitor. Hey, for $499, what do you expect, capital letters? At
least emachines throws in some asterisks and parentheses, like
"(*price after $50 rebate)" and "(*price does not include monthly
Internet access charges)."
And guess what? The system works surprisingly well, if all you want
to do is connect to the Internet, send and receive e-mail, browse
the Web, balance the checkbook and check your portfolio, write
letters and school reports, play some simple games, use educational
software, shop on line, visit chat rooms and newsgroups, and listen
to audio CD's while you work. And you may even have some money left
over to buy software and a printer.
This computer is not for everyone, but it is an impressive bargain
for $500, and if that is the budget, this is the machine. A lot of
people are on a tight budget, apparently. The first emachines
reached stores in November, and by the end of December, emachines
was nearly tied with Apple Computer for retail sales in North
America, according to ZD Market Intelligence, a market research
company. A joint venture of two Korean technology companies, Trigem
and Korea Data Systems, emachines plans to sell 100,000
mass-produced computers a month.
There will always be people who want the fastest machine on the
block, and others who just want basic transportation on the
information superhighway. Back at my high school, there were two
guys who came to school in strikingly different vehicles. One was a
flame-red Lamborghini Miura, a sleek Italian sports car whose
speedometer did not even start until 20 miles per hour. The other
was a hot rod whose body was rebuilt largely with scrap plywood,
junkyard treasures and stolen cafeteria chairs. Both vehicles got
their drivers to school and back. Both required obsessive
maintenance, and both attracted equal attention from girls (*and
from the police).
Both did all the basic things cars were supposed to do then, except
that one was wildly expensive and the other cost substantially less
than an emachines etower 300k (*not counting all the oil it
burned). Some people are willing to spend for performance and
cachet, while others just want something that runs.
The etower 300k, however, is not assembled from junk. Under the
hood, the etower 300k mainly uses quality parts.
The "300k" in the name stands for the 300-megahertz K6-2 Advanced
Micro Devices microprocessor, which is a feisty little chip that is
completely Windows compatible. The company also offers a 333k model
for $499, as well as an assortment of "i" models (using Intel
Celeron chips) and "c" models (Cyrix chips). The most expensive
emachines desktop computer is the $599 etower 333id, which uses the
Celeron A 333 chip and includes a DVD-ROM drive.
The AMD-based etower 300k comes with 32 megabytes of SD-RAM memory,
the bare minimum for doing anything useful with Windows 98, which
is already installed. One can add more memory, up to a maximum of
256 MB, although if you need 256 MB of memory, you do not want this
computer. The 2.1-gigabyte Samsung hard drive is relatively puny.
It has a 24X CD-ROM drive, which works just as well as the 32X
drives used in more expensive machines. It has a 56K V.90 fax
modem, the same as the fancier computers. And it comes with an
offer of 30 days of free Internet access through Netcom (*requires
signing a monthly contract, $9.95 for 10 hours a month, $19.95 for
unlimited access.)
The ATI Rage IIc 3D AGP graphics card comes with 4 MB of video
memory, which does a respectable job on 2-D and 3-D graphics. The
Crystal sound card is nothing to sing about, and neither are the
pair of fist-sized stereo speakers, but the sound is better than
the transistor radio my hot rod buddy had dangling from his
rear-view mirror. That is hardly a game player's dream machine, but
neither is it a complete drudge.
The keyboard is decent, the mouse is cheap, and the 14-inch monitor
will frustrate anyone who does a lot of Internet browsing. As a
starter system, it will do. There are two Universal Serial Bus
ports, including one on the front of the computer, one free
expansion bay and one open PCI expansion slot, and two ISA slots.
I was impressed with the small touches that emachines offers, like
clear setup instructions and color-coded cables for attaching the
keyboard, mouse, monitor and speakers. It comes pretty close to
Apple's iMac for ease and speed of setup and costs half as much;
emachines plans to introduce its own Windows-based version of the
colorful, all-in-one iMac this summer, for about $750.
But, moving beyond the company's hardware, the customer support
plan is abysmal. The company provides free setup support for only
15 days, although the calendar does not start until the first call,
then charges $25 per problem.
An extended three-year service warranty costs $59 extra and
entitles the owner to free phone support for 36 months (*you pay
long-distance tolls) and free replacement if the computer breaks
(*if it's not your fault). At these prices, it is cheaper to
replace the broken computer than to fix it. And if data are stuck
in a crippled machine, the company has no incentive to rescue it
for you.
Why spend more for a computer when this one does the basics so
well? In general, more money means bigger, better and faster, and
most computer users eventually lust for bigger, better and faster.
For first-time PC buyers, however, more money can mean greater
peace of mind and enjoyment. Spending more for better features can
also delay (but not avoid) the need to upgrade the system later. On
the other hand, at $399, some people may be content to use the
basic etower 300k until it runs out of gas, then hand it down or
turn it into a planter and buy a better model for even less money.
If I could squeeze an extra $205 out of my budget, I'd probably
choose the $799 Compaq Presario 2286, which includes a Cyrix
333-MHz chip, 32 MB of RAM, a 4 GB hard drive, a 32X CD-ROM, better
sound and graphics cards, JBL pro speakers and a 14-inch monitor.
It also comes with a better assortment of software, which is an
important consideration when evaluating low-cost PC's.
The actual components are not as important as the support behind
them. The Compaq comes with a full year's warranty (parts and
labor), a year of toll-free technical support and access to
Compaq's Internet support system.
Of course, some folks would not invite PC's into their homes even
if they were free. For the rest of us, cheap PC's are an attractive
way to tap into the Internet (*junk mail, system crashes, virus
hoaxes and bad jokes included).
Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company
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