In the past few years, eMachines has started selling more mainstream desktop computers. Originally known for their bargain-priced budget machines, these mainstream PCs still sell for a great price, but offer a lot more power and capability. Take their new T5224 multimedia desktop computer, sell for less than $600 but come packed with some pretty high-end components for the price.

We took a look at the T5224 with a 2.8GHz Intel Pentium D 820 processor. It's a 64-bit chip, so it's ready for Windows Vista. The people at eMachines pairs that processor with a healthy 1024MB of 533MHz DDR2 memory, while the system supports up to 2GB of RAM (although to upgrade you'll have to replace some current RAM, as both memory slots are filled with 512MB DIMMs). This configuration gives you excellent core power for everything from editing media to playing games.

This desktop computer is not only Vista-ready, it comes with Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium edition. This version of the operating system offers a lot more multimedia tools than the Basic edition--it's like the Media Center Edition of Windows XP, letting you edit, organize, and share your photos, video, and music. If you've got an Xbox 360 in your living room, you can view your multimedia on your TV via a home network.

EMachines includes other hardware for multimedia usage, such as the 16X multi-format dual-layer DVD writer. This optical drive lets you burn to DVD as well as CD in a variety of formats, including the large capacity dual-layer media which can house up to 8.5GB of data on a single disk. It's a great drive for burning home movies and sharing them with relatives and friends.

In addition, there's a 15-in-1 media card reader on this desktop for popping in a media card from your digital camera or camcorder to easily transfer multimedia files onto your eMachine. This reader supports all the widespread formats such as CompactFlash, Secure Digital, Multi Media Card, and Memory Stick as well as less common formats like Memory Stick Pro Duo and IBM's MicroDrive. No matter your media card, you can transfer data from your device to your PC quickly. There's a 250GB 7,200rpm hard drive inside the T5224, providing a large amount of storage space for multimedia files and application installs from the start, with additional hard drive bays (as well as an open optical drive bay) to add a second drive for expanded storage room later.

Our biggest concern with the eMachines T5224 is its lack of a video card. It utilizes integrated Intel graphics, which works fine for Web browsing and multimedia use, but they won't perform well--or at all--with most 3D games. Luckily, eMachines includes a motherboard with a PCI-Express graphics card slot, so you can add a high-end video card if you're a gamer. It would also boost your Vista performance, as the Home Premium edition offers a lot of visual effects including animated and translucent Aero interface.

There's no monitor at the baseline price, although a lot of vendors will bundle one with this desktop computer. Its audio is integrated, but it is six-channel sound. The system ships with a pair of USB-powered stereo speakers, so you get basic sound capabilities, but if you'll be watching DVD movies on your desktop computer, a surround-sound speaker set may be an upgrade consideration down the line.

On the front of the silver and black tower there are two USB 2.0 ports (with four more on the rear) and a headphone jack and microphone port for connecting peripherals and a headset easily. EMachines includes both a modem and a network interface so you can get this desktop computer online via either dialup or broadband. The included input devices are a mixed bag: The multimedia keyboard offers smooth typing and built-in multimedia controls, although the non-USB mouse is nothing fancy.

Gamers will definitely want a dedicated graphics card and video editors may need more RAM, but most multimedia users will be quite pleased with the eMachines T5224 desktop computer's performance as is.


Pro: Good core power, excellent multimedia components
Con: Integrated graphics

Warranty
1-year limited