eMachines T3646 review

There's not much to say about the T3646's design if you're at all familiar with eMachines systems. It comes in the same two-tone gray-and-black midtower case that's unobtrusive enough to fit pretty much anywhere, if it's not downright attractive. You get a decent level of expansion, including a spare PCI Express graphics card slot, a smaller 1x PCI Express slot, and a standard PCI slot as well. You can also add one hard drive and one more memory stick.

eMachines includes a basic mouse and keyboard with every system. The T3646 also comes with Windows Vista Home Basic, and the BigFix support application that helps alert you to system software updates and provides other maintenance help. We don't really expect much more than that for this price, although be aware the Vista Basic means no Windows Media Center. There's not much other software to speak of, although you do get a smattering of bloatware icons cluttering up the desktop.

In addition to the support software on the system, eMachines covers the T3646 with a one-year parts-and-labor warranty. Support on the eMachines Web site includes tips on security, system-specific help documents and driver downloads, as well as e-mail and chat-based help. You can also call eMachines directly from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m., seven days a week, although the call is not toll-free.

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System configurations:

Apple Mac Mini
Apple OS X; 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo; 1GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 64MB (shared) Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics chip; 120GB 5,400rpm Hitachi hard drive

Dell Inspiron 530
Windows Vista Home Premium; 1.8GHz Intel Pentium E2160; 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM 128MB Nvidia GeForce 8300GS graphics; 320GB 7,200 rpm Hitachi hard drive

eMachines T3646
Windows Vista Home Basic; 2.2GHz AMD Sempron LE-1250; 1GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 128 MB (shared) Nvidia GeForce 6150 SE graphics chip; 160GB 7,200 rpm Seagate hard drive

eMachines T5254
Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.1GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 BE-2350; 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 128MB (shared) Nvidia GeForce 6100 graphics chip 320GB 7,200 rpm Western Digital hard drive

HP Pavilion a6400z
Windows Vista Home Basic; 2.1GHz AMD Sempron X2 2100+; 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 128 MB (shared) Nvidia GeForce 6150 SE graphics chip; 250GB 7,200 rpm Hitachi hard drive