EMachines Rolls Out Holiday PC Line
Cost-conscious consumers can take advantage of new PCs priced between $399 and $999.Tom Spring, PCWorld.com
EMachines is the latest of a number of computer makers to introduce a fall line of PCs priced competitively for the holiday shopping season. The budget computer maker's offerings range from a starter system for $399 to an uncharacteristically expensive PC for $999 aimed at gamers.
The $399 T1742, announced Monday, ships with a 1.7-GHz Intel Celeron processor, 128MB of memory, a 40GB hard drive, and a CD-ROM drive. The $499 T1840 features a 1.8-GHz Celeron processor, a CD-RW drive, and a DVD-ROM drive. Pricing for all models does not include a monitor.
At the high-end, EMachines' $999 T2200 Special Edition features a 1.8-GHz AMD Athlon XP 2200+ chip, 512MB memory, a CD-RW and a DVD-ROM drive, a 100GB hard drive, six USB 2.0 ports, and three FireWire ports. The T2200 also features a good-quality ATI Technologies Radeon 9700 graphics card loaded with 128MB of memory.
The T2200 will only be sold direct to customers through the EMachines Web site. All other models will be sold at the retail stores Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Circuit City.
Battle for the Penny Pincher
EMachines, known for its low-cost computers, will be facing challenges from some of the bigger PC vendors. Analysts say we should expect fierce competition among all PC makers for the wallets of cost-conscious consumers.
Hewlett-Packard is targeting that market with its fall line-up, which includes an entry-level system priced at $499. It ships with a 1.7-GHz Celeron processor, 128MB of RAM, and a 40GB hard drive. Dell has a similarly configured system priced at $549 after a $50 rebate.
The market for midrange systems has dried up, says Roger Kay, director of client services for the research firm IDC. Kay says high-end system sales remain meaningful, yet represent only a small niche of PCs being sold today. EMachines' rock-bottom PC prices, on the other hand, position the company well to take advantage of price-conscious PC buyers. "Consumers have the [purchasing] jitters thanks to everything from the fear of war to the economy," Kay says. "In a market that is already saturated with PCs, we are looking at very tough winter for computer sales."
EMachines may get additional competition this fall at the low-end from new competitors like Lindows.com that sell non-Windows computers that run on a variant of the Linux operating system. Lindows.com sells its PCs at Walmart.com at prices that range from $199 to $599.