A decent gaming PC from ... eMachines?
Gateway and eMachines have, deservedly, developed a reputation over the years for selling mediocre PC clones. Many of their systems are complete crap.
But today Gateway announced a new eMachines model that I have to admit, turned my head. It's a gaming PC for less than $600.
The new T6212 model sports an Athlon 64 3200+ microprocessor, 512MB dual-channel RAM expandable to 4GB, integrated ATI Radeon Xpress 200 graphics and an open PCI Express slot to upgrade to a "real" video card when customers realize they need more horsepower. It also comes equipped with an 8-in-1 media card reader for digital photos or whatnot, USB 2.0, FireWire, a 160GB 7200RPM hard disk and a dual-layer rewriteable DVD drive -- all for $630 before a $50 rebate.
The eMachines Web site hasn't been updated as I write this, so I can't check out the full specs -- in particular I'm curious about the networking capabilities and video port, and whether or not it has any other expansion capabilities -- but I'm guessing the T6212 is going to be in another one of eMachines' trademark mini-tower cases and will have otherwise fairly limited expandability. But still, for the money, you'd be hard-pressed to build your own PC for that price and have it match the features of eMachines' model.
eMachines' profit margins on these systems must be pretty slim, all things considered.