eMachines T3418 @ [H] Consumer

C

Chris_Morley

Former [H] Consumer Managing Ed.
Joined
Jul 5, 2000
Messages
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eMachines' budget PCs have come a long way since the company's inception. We take a look at one of their low-end solutions.

The overriding theme of our evaluation was that of comfort. At no time did we feel apprehension about the quality of the eMachines T3418. We trusted it with our files, and after a time we never expected it to crash or disappoint us. Sure, it was slow, but like that old beater in your driveway, you trust it to get you to work each day.
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Check it out here.
 
Good Review. It should be noted though that both best buy and compusa can provide warranty work for emachine. As long as you have your invoice you could have taken it to one of them to install the dvd drive for you if it was bad. They would have checked it in for a warranty repair and ordered the part for you. Mind you this wouldn't work for you unless the drive was really bad. There shouldn't be any extra charge although one would think they would try to sell something with it. It is also nice to see emachine do well as they seem to be good machines as of late.
 
Well it was definitely interesting. I was really surprised about the 'Vista compatible' sticker.. I mean, the recommended hardware for that OS is scary (probably exagerated though), I would not expect a small machine like the T3418 not to run it very well...

Also this is definitely a different take on desktop support in contrast to the Monarch Furia.. I mean , you actually get through to someone.. but, its not doing as much good.

Though for at least the RMA process it make things much smoother, as with what happened in this emachines in this review.

The Question about 'vista compatible' to the phone line support draws up some interesting stuff. Its definitely a trained call center group as with most places. The problem is you get people like 'me' some of the time or you get people that have 'dangerous knowledge' and other such levels of support. When a customer calls and gets 'me' for their internet problem, I can pretty much answer anything about networking (inside my normal boundaries of course) and the customer experience would be much different with an agent that didn't know what TCP/IP was. Quality is hard to come buy in a normal call center environment, as they hire EVERYONE AND THEIR DOG.

Its just bad luck to get the 'less experienced'.
 
Very nice write-up as usual.
I have an older eMachine with a Celeron that I use for email and such. Ive always been impressed with its workhorse qualities. It just works for what its made to do.

I would recommend this type of computer to anyone looking for a basic machine. :D
 
Mazgazine1 said:
Well it was definitely interesting. I was really surprised about the 'Vista compatible' sticker.. I mean, the recommended hardware for that OS is scary (probably exagerated though), I would not expect a small machine like the T3418 not to run it very well...
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I can't imagine Vista having much higher requirements than Win2k or XP. It's still being built on the NT kernel, just an updated one, and has some updated features. Major things I've noted is a new driver system, shouldn't requirement more resources, and an optional 3D desktop mode, key here is optional....
 
I've always liked E-Machines. My cousin has one that went through a PC repair shop with some parts upgrades (a CD burner rather than just a CD-ROM, and a couple other things, but stuff like mainboard and processor I think remained stock) and the machine was rock solid, and the tech support she got whenever she needed it was quite good. She only dropped about $600 on it when she bought it about 3 or 4 years ago.

I don't remember at what point EMachines has ever gone bad, but then again the last OEM PC I ever used on a frequent basis was my mom's Acer that had Win95 on it. So once I started building my own PCs, I paid no attention to the OEM market because it just seemed to be a shot in the dark and there was nobody out there who really put OEM PCs through the ropes the way the [H] does here. If there was, either I didn't have the net yet, or I just wasn't finding them.

Still, it's great to see what these things can really do, whether they're budget machines or high dollar ones. I think I finally see a machine I can recommend to my mother. She's on a kick now where she wants a new PC to replace that Acer that's somehow survived the last ten years and the last year with the CPU fan making that loud ass buzzing/grinding sound that fans make when they're ready to die. I believe it's called dry-bearing? I think I replaced it though.
 
Great review. The spot about your tech support made me laugh, but also made me think about all of the bad advice and incorrect knowledge floating around for those poor souls who are not PC savvy and looking for advice. I was also surprised when you stated that there were only 20 processes running at idle, heck that is way less than my custom PC! My wife's brother didn't take my advice and bought a PC from BestBuy the other week('cause he wanted it that night), and I looked at it when he brought it home. It had 68 processes running! I managed to knock it down to about 33, but I don't even know how you could bring it to 20 without losing funcionality.
 
I would say that the Tech support you encountered is about on par for most call centers.

I used to work for a call center that supported a large variety of companys, I happened to work for the Gateway portion. Their main focus when hiring new employees was their phone skills. They didn't have to have hardly any technical knowledge, just as long as they were able to sweet talk an angry customer or to BS a person into believeing whatever they told them. I guess they figued they could teach them (and by teach, I mean show them how to use the database of fixes that they had) how to get rid of the easy calls and would let them use their phone skills for the hard calls.

If you really want to test the Tech Support lines you should find a BSoD that is repeatable and fixable (if looked up on Google or on the MS database). You will most likely get one of the following responses:
A) Its a software problem that isn't supported by your warranty due to 3rd party programs and you will have to pay for tech support.
B) They will FFR your system.
C) They will elevate the call and tell you that you will recieve a call back, which you never will.
D) You get the 1 person in the place that knows what they are doing and they actually fix the problem.
 
Newegg prices (includes shipping)

Abit 6100 mobo: $65
Sempron 3400 retail: $119
512MB PC3200: $45
160GB hard drive: $70
Dual layer DVD: $40
Media card reader: $25
300W Topower PSU: $25
Crap speakers: $10
XP Home OEM: $90
Crap case: $30

Total: $519

-saves my time assembling the machine
-e-machines 1 year warranty instead of me fixing it
 
Good read, I am a little surprised with the 8.5 on build quality though. That baby looked to be a mess. The wires look kinda bunched together and not run very cleanly. The HDD apears to be crooked too. I am sure the pictures must not show what you saw in person, but from the pictures it is maybe a 4.5 or 5.0

just my .02
 
First off, another solid review. Thanks guys. :)

Do they have anything on the High- end for e-machines? Or are they all just barebones? ( I would like to see another E-machine review)

It would be interesting to see if you could get a higher-end system and then compare them to another boutique such as Velocity Micro or Maingear. You would probably have to upgrade VPU and PSU to get descent enough frames to make a good comparison.
 
JOESKURTU said:
First off, another solid review. Thanks guys. :)

Do they have anything on the High- end for e-machines? Or are they all just barebones? ( I would like to see another E-machine review)

It would be interesting to see if you could get a higher-end system and then compare them to another boutique such as Velocity Micro or Maingear. You would probably have to upgrade VPU and PSU to get descent enough frames to make a good comparison.
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We have an eMachines inhouse with an Athlon64 3500+ in it - nothing else really different about it though...
 
JOESKURTU said:
First off, another solid review. Thanks guys. :)

Do they have anything on the High- end for e-machines? Or are they all just barebones? ( I would like to see another E-machine review)

It would be interesting to see if you could get a higher-end system and then compare them to another boutique such as Velocity Micro or Maingear. You would probably have to upgrade VPU and PSU to get descent enough frames to make a good comparison.
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There is no high-end for the eMachines brand, besides their media center level. It switches over exclusively to Gateway after that.

For buying at Best Buy, I would have liked if they had also reviewed it with the free monitor and printer BB bundles with that system every other week.
 
I have always loved the idea behind emachines. Their slogan says it all. Actually, I just love any company that wants to take a shot at some of dell(evil). I havent heard of any problems with a emachines desktop and the one i recently redid was a pleasure to work with.

I also seem to think that them only making desktops now was a good direction. They had a little trouble at first with their notebook screens and probably ruined that aspect of the company. Any possibility you could grab one of their LCD's to test on your next project? They dont seem too bad, not the sharpest in the world but probably decent.

I would really like to see gateway/emachines get a little more competitive. For some darn reason everyone i talk to wants a dell. My face gets very red and i tell them to burn. Recently, i was told that "gateways are virus and spyware magnets, dells are just a lot better." Needless to say i wanted to scream but i held back.

P.S. I am a "pc enthusiast" u might say but i really like the new consumer part of the site. Gives me something to reference too when I try to help people out.
 
that tech support experience was really impressive. for anyone who's been on hold with dell's terrible support, and then has to talk to dell's terrible support, the wait time and responses were stellar. granted they didn't know much about vista, but they got the job done when it came to replacing components and answered right away. to any regular customer who's buying the system, i think that's what counts.

i do tech support and when a part is broken in a dell machine, they usually would rather me bill them $30 an hour and be the one to deal with dell. message to dell: when your support is so bad that people will pay good money not to be frustrated by it, you have a problem.
 
Great review.

I think these machines are a great base for building a low end gaming solution. They do offer true AMD 64 chips in their higher end machines and the price is great, less than 600. Throw in any decent PCI-E video card, an extra stick of memory (kudos to them not using 2x256 but instead using a single 512) and your on your way.

The 6100 motherboards are great for any system. They do provide amazing sound and have enough built in features that the expansion slots are rarely needed. I believe the 6100 series using the AMD64 chips (939s) have 4 memory slots but can't find a picture to make sure.

I have recommended these machines to a number of people at work looking for a cheap upgrade. Heck, their price with a 17" LCD isn't bad either (699). I don't think its simple to build one cheaper than they can.
 
"...even our Sims’ argued with a little extra pizzazz."

Wait, you're serious, right? "pizzazz"? Is that a technical term?
 
emaciated said:
"...even our Sims’ argued with a little extra pizzazz."

Wait, you're serious, right? "pizzazz"? Is that a technical term?
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Yeah, it's hardware accelerated by NVIDIA and ATI.

;)
 
I was impressed that the wiring was better than some gaming rigs I've seen reviewed.

While I thought the part where you guys asked the techs about Vista was funny, I doubt anyone who would actually buy that computer would have done the same. From my own experience in electronics retail, the average Joe is just happy that it turns on and would likely pay little attention to a small sticker on the front, let alone care what it meant.
 
I had a eMachine running as a linux server (I got it for $50, it was worth at least $350) and I absolutely loved the damn thing, then Fedex lost it. :mad:

Good review, good to see that eMachine is still chugging along.
 
Great review. I totally agree that eMachines is a great computer for what it is, a basic computer for surfing the net, writing letters and playing low end 2D games. I always recommend eMachines when someone at work or a friend wants a PC for those types of uses. It's much easier then building them a machine myself and then being 24/7/365 free tech support. It's also nice they can slap in a nicer video card and even be able to game decently.

I recommended an eMachines PC when my Dad bought my aunt a PC 2 years ago and it's been a perfect fit for her. Does what she needs with no problems and the price was right (circuit shitty had it for $350 or something like that). I was impressed at how easily it setup and how it ran for what it was. I'd never touch a machine like that myself, but then I'd never do anything other then build my own... :p
 
Mazgazine1 said:
Well it was definitely interesting. I was really surprised about the 'Vista compatible' sticker.. I mean, the recommended hardware for that OS is scary (probably exagerated though), I would not expect a small machine like the T3418 not to run it very well...
Click to expand...

Vista is set up so that if your machine doesn't meet certain criteria, the "Aero Glass" UI and possibly a few other bits of eye-candy will be turned off, much like going to "Best Performance" in Windows XP. Seeing as I look after a number of P3-667 workstations with 256MB of RAM and 10GB hard disks which run XP Pro reasonably well in Best Performance mode, I'd see no reason to believe that the T3418 will do poorly with Vista in its own version of the same.

I've actually been reasonably impressed with the build of eMachines systems over the past few years. The only thing I think I might find a little dodgy are the power supplies; I've heard of several people who had one fail, and got one from a colleague whose PSU had failed and took the mainboard with it. Other than that, the sliding-side case is nice for a PC in that price range, and the layout makes it really easy to swap out a hard disk or RAM, as the cases are fairly open. They make decent Linux boxes, or basic machines for a family member; with more RAM and a graphics upgrade, they can be a little more than that (though once again, careful on stressing the PSU). The one I have is onboard Intel graphics only unfortunately, but I'm running Server 2k3 on it so that's not a big deal, and for a SoHo network, it operates fine.
 
LoneWolf said:
I've actually been reasonably impressed with the build of eMachines systems over the past few years. The only thing I think I might find a little dodgy are the power supplies; I've heard of several people who had one fail, and got one from a colleague whose PSU had failed and took the mainboard with it.
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They did have an issue with some of the emachines from like 2 or 3 years ago where the power supplys were killing logic boards. As far as I know that issue is long gone though.
 
Vista compatibility is not really an eMachine, Gateway, Dell etc...etc.. issue anyway - it's more of a chipset/mobo bios issue really. Eveyone knows that the NF4 chipset will support vista, and most people that will do any research at all know to go to nvida.com to get the updated chipset drivers that will work with vista if that needs to be done for better compatibility . What I would like to have seen asked also touches on a question a previous poster touched on and that addresses high end CPU's - meaning can you actually upgrade the CPU to an X23800-4200 or 3700vVenice, or even an FX57 with littel or no trouble (EG will the current bios support the CPU's). Of course if one were to move up to an FX57 or X4400 you would think it would be an enthusiast that would also drop some cash on a 7600GT-7900GTX, or possibly an X1800GTO-X1900XTX and a much better PSU.

A typical bang for the buck that's likely for a unit like this as far as a potential future upgrader scenerio for a balanced system would be something like an 7600GT/4200X2/OCZ 520W PSU.
 
swatbat said:
They did have an issue with some of the emachines from like 2 or 3 years ago where the power supplys were killing logic boards. As far as I know that issue is long gone though.
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This one was a Socket 478 Celeron 2.8GHz, so fairly recent. I doubt it would be part of that, but anything's possible. I do hope that it's taken care of though, like with this one, it'd be a bummer for anyone to be half a year out of warranty and have the heart of the system fail. Considering that motherboard quality of eMachines has really improved (this model had an Intel D845GVSR), it stinks that a good system can be brought down by a cheesy power supply
 
Thanks for the review. Especially the part about throwing in the 6600GT. Next time, try a 7600GT or 7900GT.

Hopefully you've got the next tier on the bench - the Gateway 4016. The socket939 version of that computer, but with more RAM, HD and connectivity.

I've been recommending the gateway/Emachines for people for a while. Nothing like an easy buying experience and system setup with a company to call for support to keep them from calling YOU.

Hardware really has outpaced software except for a few areas (Movie Editing, LARGE format picture editing, high-end gaming). For 80-90% of people, these machines are perfectly fine.

Heck, now that they're using modern mobos - getting one of these and throwing in a GPU and PSU seems a heck of a lot easier than building my own.

BB
 
nice review!

i have an emachines, i got it full out bargain at a black friday sale, w/ printer & monitor.

i put in 2.5 GB of ram (the dual channel on the mobo only works with 1 pair, and i had 3 sticks of 512 lying around, so i'm not even bothering :p ) an x800gto2 OC'd and UL'd, and then a 500W PSU (these oem PCs finally fit standard PSU!!!!!!), and i'm rocking

stability is great, and it's awesome to bring an emacrap to a lan and everyone laughs til i bust out a 6700+ on 3dmark05 and play fear and quake4 like butter

live on emachines! without you, i'd have a much slower and more expensive computer!
 
Well, after looking around (on my unfortunately limited budget) and reading the review of the eMachine and what I read here on the forum, I went ahead and ordered a T6528 from BB.com (none in-stock of course). I'd been waffling on getting one because it's part of Gateway and I got burned bad years ago with a Gateway computer. After reading everything, I thought, good, this company has gotten their act together.

I don't know that much about all the inner workings of computers, but at least I know enough to know that something was wrong. I feel bad for someone for whom this would be their first computer. Turns out the motherboard is defective.

This was confirmed after 2 long online "tech" support sessions with eMachines which made me want to either throw the computer out a window or repeatedly hit myself in the head with a hammer. I don't think the hammer would have given me the headache their alleged support did. I tried everything I could (being somewhat technically challenged and disabled) that they recommended, and finally they agreed with me that there was a problem. eMachines' solution to a new computer with a defective motherboard? RMA, send it to them via FedEx on my dime, wait at least 2 weeks for it to be repaired, then send it back to me. Oh, and this would be my only "free" replacement/repair unless I buy their extended warranty.

I'm now in the process of waiting to hear from BB 'research team' for a call tag to come pick this thing up.

Fortunately, the person I spoke with (toll free) from BB said what I was thinking (and thought maybe I was being unreasonable) -- that doing a repair and having at least a 2 week wait on a new less than 2 week old computer was unacceptable, then went ahead to start the process to have this one picked up and I'm going to take a chance and have a replacement 6528 ordered. That should be shipped here next week, sometime between Monday and Wednesday.

I originally opted for the current one to have it sent to the closest BB store and have the "geeksquad" test it. They were rude and their whole attitude was that they just couldn't be bothered. If they had actually done anything besides just turn it on and stayed at the counter while it booted, they would (or should) have immediately known that there was a problem. And I did bring this up with the person I spoke with from BB. It was a hassle for me to pick it up - hour bus ride each way, then about a mile and a half walk to and from the store - coming back with a computer on a handcart, and ended up not being at all worth what that trip took out of me.

At the moment, I'm withholding final judgement until I get the replacement and see how it goes. If I have the same memory failure problem I will be trekking to the store to return it and will obviously never consider an eMachine again. I don't know what I'll get in it's place at this point, my old custom built Thermaltake PSU decided to go, taking the board and I don't know what else with it, and getting another built isn't an option around here. I wish I could afford something like one of the Velocity systems - better computer, better support. But that's not happening living on SSDI!
 
NIce review, wish i would have read it before i purchased my current eMachine. I have a T3104 and its below average. I'm just tired of its slowness. But i mean it was 400$ which is cheap and its the only system where the monitor was optional. So yea, its kosher but the T3418 sounds like it would have been a better buy. :(
 
ditzilla said:
. I wish I could afford something like one of the Velocity systems - better computer, better support. But that's not happening living on SSDI!
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Yeah that would be nice but you can sort of make up for it by just getting a better GPU with this system - i hope it works out for you and let us know how it goes.
 
Aww, thanks Zone! :)

I ordered from Newegg what I think (hope) will be good for the eMachine. It arrived this week, just before we all came to the defective motherboard conclusion. So, I'm really hoping the new one will be fine. If all goes well, this should serve us for quite awhile.

Already have a 1 gig stick of Crucial RAM (and will save for a second matching),

this PSU (which I hope is ok - these things get confusing!), this is the one think I never again will skimp on:
Enermax Noisetaker 485watt
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103457
and Leadtek Geforce 6600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122203
(and it comes with 2 games to introduce us to these types of games!)
 
BB Gun said:
Thanks for the review. Especially the part about throwing in the 6600GT. Next time, try a 7600GT or 7900GT.
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On most eMachines, the default power supply would be heavily strained by a 7900GT. After seeing the power supply that failed in the eMachines Celeron 2.8 I was given (a lightweight Bestec rated for 250W max) I wouldn't try one of these cards without an aftermarket power supply.
 
I just got my second T6528, paid to have it shipped this time (since the instore experience was so bad).

Before I even turned it on, I took the supplied 512 RAM out and put a 1 gig stick of Crucial PC3200 in. Turned it on, and under the sound of the fans starting up was the Beep. Then the pause and 3 short beeps. Now I know I'm a computer noob, I freely admit it. About the only thing I can do is put ram in.

I've tried contacting eMachines, no one can or will tell me anything about these 3 extra beeps. All they'll say is to try different ram (and try to sell you more of theirs, along with their "extended warranty") or to RMA the computer for "repair" once I tell them I have changed the ram and tried it in slot 1 and slot 3. Then they'll agree that there's a problem with the motherboard.

So I don't know if the 6528 just got a bad batch of boards or if they weren't set up correctly or what. The computer does run -- I just worry that it'll drop dead in a few months.

I tried (haha) putting an Enermax Noisetaker 485 watt 20+4 pin psu in last night. I mean, there's only 5 things to plug in, even I should be able to do that. Now, I might have gotten a bad PSU (don't have anything else to test it on), but when I put it in nothing happened. No fans, nothing. Put the Bestec thing back in and it started right up.

I note that the eMachines site has a BIOS update for this model, but I've never done this and their instructions are kind of vague. Plus one of their instructions say to open the update on your desktop, click on a file and that should launce NeroCD - except that's not even on this computer. Then to burn the CD, reboot and press 1. Press 1 where? as it starts up? Did that and nothing happens (with the CD in the drawer), just goes to windows.

Bottom line - I'll be contacting BestBuy and returning this thing. I just don't know what the heck to get in it's place. There's basically no good, reputable place around here to have one built and the only other place to buy off the shelf is Radio Shack (and I live in a city!). At this point I'm tempted to just go to the one repair shop here and buy something used just so I have a computer.

They may have gotten their act together with some of their computers, but unless I'm just very unlucky or this is some weird quirk of the MS-7207 motherboard in the 6528/6532 eMachines (don't know anyone with either to ask about the beeping).

All in all, for what was supposed to be a fairly straightforward, get something so we have a stable, useable computer until I can afford something better has turned into an expensive nightmare. Right now I have the price of 2 eMachines on my credit card until BB credits the first (returned) one.
 
First.

Never EVER change anything with a new system before you turn it on and verify that what was purchased actually worked.

3 beeps is nearly universal for bad memory/bad memory read. The common solutions are.
a. remove and reseat the memory.
b. use a known good memory module


So basically from what I can tell you are returning a machine that actually works as sold?

Yeah the first one apparently had problems but the second one's problems are of your making.
 
Hi Shivetya

I would not have changed the ram if it had not been suggested to me by support. It is not my policy to just go willy-nilly and change things. I should have been clear on that -- that changing the ram was not a "whim" on my part. Part of the reason I was advised to do this was because the first computer, with the stock ram (or whatever the problem was) could not, after disabling anything non-essential on startup (also done step by step with support) open my browser. It would just sit blank and sort of "flash" over and over as if it was trying to start. Once the ram was increased to 1 gig, I was able to get onto the internet and perform other normal functions. I was told that part of the problem may be the onboard graphics taking 128 mb of ram out of the 512 ram (this was the default setting on both computers just going to my computer, properties and the amoutn of available ram).

I did ask re: the brand of ram that would be compatible and was told that crucial would be. Not by eM, as they sell their own generic brand, but by other people who do own eM's and a technician at a shop.

Why did I attempt to change the PSU? Because the current one is acting strangely. It does work, but the fan is making intermittent noise and last night I caught a hint of an odor I only smelled once before - the the PSU on my old computer was starting to fail - I did not know at the time that that was what was happening.

I have attempted reseating the ram, I have tried putting it in different slots. I went ahead and ordered the eM 1 gig of ram (which luckily I can return) and tried that. Then I tried the crucial. All had the same effect. I asked a friend who is an IT person at our college to check the ram to ensure that I had, in fact, placed it correctly. He could find nothing wrong with that. He does not build computers, but he does do upgrading of components. He also heard the repeated beeps, both on the first and now the second computer. He concurred with eM and BB that in fact, this was more than likely a motherboard problem.

I of course read the documentation that came with the computer, sparse as it is. I found and d/l the pdf of the more detailed documentation and read that also.

Again, this may just have been bad luck on my part, it could be that there is a problem with this particular model and maybe not alot of people have it so the problem is not well known or documented. I have been unable to find any reviews, etc. from anyone (user) for this model.

I am not in any way trying to be a bad customer. I will not be posting regarding this computer anymore.

I thank you for your thoughts.
 
"They did have an issue with some of the emachines from like 2 or 3 years ago where the power supplys were killing logic boards. As far as I know that issue is long gone though."

they have always insisted on using sorry underpowered bestecs to keep the price down, and they still do
hp and compaq are now doing the same thing as well -- the hp 1230n i bought has one also and it is also pitiful
 
ditzilla said:
Aww, thanks Zone! :)

I ordered from Newegg what I think (hope) will be good for the eMachine. It arrived this week, just before we all came to the defective motherboard conclusion. So, I'm really hoping the new one will be fine. If all goes well, this should serve us for quite awhile.

Already have a 1 gig stick of Crucial RAM (and will save for a second matching),

this PSU (which I hope is ok - these things get confusing!), this is the one think I never again will skimp on:
Enermax Noisetaker 485watt
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103457
and Leadtek Geforce 6600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122203
(and it comes with 2 games to introduce us to these types of games!)
Click to expand...
you bought a 485watt psu to power a 6600?? the stock psu can easily handle a 6600gt. you should have just bought a better pc to begin or built your own. all the crap you are doing defeats the whole point of buying a low budget pc. :rolleyes:
 
Not sure about that. I set up a nearly identical system today (emachines) for an old lady that lives in my building. Set up fine with no issues at all. Her grandson games a bit (he's about 13) and he bought a 6200 and i installed that with ease. Grandson asked about more ram so i ran the tests in the ram that was in the machine and it was micron default cas 2.5 8-3-3. So i informed him when he does buy extra ram to try and get identical timed ram eg: Corsair value or Kingston value ram. Sometimes if you try to install a stick of very high performance ram in one of those machines they get a no-boot because of it's defaul voltages and timings and you may need to clear CMOS with the battery then reset defaul values but even then sometimes cas 2.0 6-3-3 ram just won't work in those OEM machines depending on how the bios handles the default post of the ram . You need know what you're doing basically.
 
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