Customer Reviews

eMachines Notebook Computer (M5305)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This notebook is performing great so far (after one month). I hope it doesn't break because I've heard that Emachines service is not that great. No dead pixels. Battery life is good enough to make it through a movie with about 25% battery left. Have not played any real-time games, so cannot yet testify to the video performance. The widescreen is nice. It is very bright, but the viewing angle may not be as good as some more expensive ones. It has a 16:10 aspect ratio. Too bad it isn't the standard 16:9 ratio of movie screens --- widescreen movies still have a black bar at the top & bottom. But it's MUCH nicer than watching a movie on a typical 4:3 ratio laptop screen. I'm using the media player that came with the machince since I can't get the Windows media player to go full-screen. BTW, on a Windows machine, I install the DivX player codecs which are necessary to play AVI movies. Haven't figured out why Windows doesn't come with this. The sound & speakers are very nice for a laptop. There's a volume control above the keyboard. It's probably loud enough for watching movies in a car. The first thing you have to do is uninstall the typical useless [material] that comes on new computers. You need to get into the control panel and change the mouse settings so when you tap the touch pad, it will perform a left click (it was off by default). The touch pad seems to work good, after I increased the sensitivity. My biggest complaint is there isn't a built in WiFi antenna. Had to buy a 802.11b PC card that sticks out from the side. I really like how XP handles networking now --- just plug the network cable in and you're connected without any configuration. Same with wireless --- just drive up to a Starbuck's and it will automatically start speaking to their access point ([monthly fee] if you actually want to use it). Overall I'm satisfied and I almost never give 5 stars, so 4 stars is good. I am sometimes disappointed in other people's reviews. They will slam this notebook by comparing it to the features found in a ... notebook. Some complain about the size & weight of this notebook. If you want a widescreen and good sound system, you can't have a compact package.

I have had my Emachine Laptop for almost three years now. I rushed out to buy it as soon as I could get my hands on one. I have had very good luck with it, and I am on it all the time!!

I have had to replace one battery, which was covered under my extended warranty, and it is in the shop right now, because I believe the wireless card has gone out in it.

I really couldn't be more pleased with a laptop! We have had several Emachine Desk tops and have been equally please with them.

I have had several friends buy an Emachine laptop with my recomendation!! We all LOVE them!!

Kathy

Emachines is a company that clearly considers their service department primarily as a secondary income stream. Emachine is a company, which demonstrates no intention of standing behind their products. I bought one of their laptops less than a year ago. Within less than six months I had problems with the power port. After another three months the power port burned up. By phone I asked to buy a replacement port from Emachine, they refused to provide it. They said they would only offer to repair it for 40% of the purchase price of a unit, which worked correctly for at the most six months. I simple want a power port replacement for my laptop, which has been inoperable for almost six months. Emachines is a company, which chooses to negligent it's obligation to support its product.

First impression is important for anything, and mine with the M5305 is not positive at all. The unit arrived with two production defects, one more serious (three bad pixels on the screen) and one minor (media drive doesn't fit exactly). The performance is very bad... I've seen a Fujitsu running the same processor and it was fast, but not the M5305. The video performance is also terrible. The combo drive is noisy, making one feel uncomfortable using it on the road. Travel weight is a little over eight pounds, so it's heavy! And the styling is quite ugly, too. There's a reason why emachines chose the angle for the product shot on their website... and did you notice they have very little specs info? This is one under-equipped machine. The widescreen is pretty much useless in 99% of your computing day. In sumary, South Korean PC maker Emachines must do more to make decent and reliable products... much more.