eMachines ET1810-03

If you're shopping for a light-duty computer on a budget but still crave the performance benefits of a full-size desktop, the $370 eMachines ET1810-03 budget desktop might be the answer. It doesn't have the eMachines EL1300G-01w's slim-tower profile, but it makes a dramatic improvement in performance with a fast Intel dual-core processor, 3GB of memory, and a larger hard drive for less than $100 more. If you don't expect too much out of this system and relegate your activities to Web surfing and light media editing, the eMachines ET1810-03 won't disappoint you. Just know that spending slightly more money will net you a much faster system.

The ET1810-03's midtower design isn't considered large by today's standards, measuring 14.5 inches tall by 7.2 inches wide by 16.1 inches deep, but you still don't get the space savings offered by smaller slim-tower PCs such as the HP SlimLine series or the Gateway SX2800-01, our new favorite budget desktop. Instead, what you get is a concealed DVD burner, an empty slot below to fill with another optical drive, and a media bay down below with two USB 2.0 ports, media card ports, and jacks for a microphone and headphones. The case itself retains the same creamy white finish as the EL1300G-01w--the design emulates a slightly less modern Apple iMac. Regardless, we're confident that it will blend well into almost any home or office environment.

We chose the $510 Gateway SX2800-01 budget computer as a direct competitor based on the Gateway's strong bang-for-the-buck. Of course, it's a faster and better-equipped PC than this eMachines, with a larger hard drive, more RAM, and even a quad-core chip. That's to be expected given the price difference. The eMachines' components make sense for its price, and if you're locked into the $375 to $400 range, it's a fair deal. However, for the sake of overall performance and capability, you would be wise to save up for the Gateway, which you can even find at some retailers for $480 or so.

CineBench test
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Rendering multi-CPU

Rendering single CPU

Gateway SX2800-01

10,085 

2,773 

Asus CM5570-AP002

5,832 

3,046 

Dell Inspiron 537s -002B

5,391 

2,917 

eMachines ET1810-03

4,191 

2,232 

eMachines EL1300G-01w

1,305 

The performance scores of this group also don't surprise us. The Gateway leads the pack in all four benchmark tests, eMachines ET1810-03 makes a fair account for itself given its specs, even outperforming the $480 Dell Inspiron 537s on our iTunes benchmark. This is no multimedia editing powerhouse, but the eMachines is at least capable for its price, especially when you consider it next to the $298 eMachines EL1300G-01w, an even lower-end lesson in the benefits of spending just a few dollars more.

In terms of upgradeability, the eMachines offers ample room inside for one more hard drive, the aforementioned optical drive, a 16x PCI Express card, and one more PCI card slot. You can also open up another PCI slot if you remove the 56K modem. Unfortunately, both DDR2 memory slots are taken by one 2GB stick and another 1GB stick--you'll have to sacrifice one if you ever upgrade the memory. The inside of the case has plenty of wiggle room to beef up this budget PC, but you're better off saving up and getting a faster system now if you're already looking to upgrade. For everyone else, the core components in this system can aptly run productivity applications, media playback, and streaming video online.

Juice box
eMachines ET1810-03	Average watts per hour
Off	1.63
Sleep	3.14
Idle	38.58
Load	58.24
Raw (annual kWh)	153.02406
Energy Star compliant	Yes
Annual energy cost	$17.37