Highest Echelon

I bought my first computer (with my own money) about 3 years ago from Best Buy. A T3265 eMachines. It cost about $700, which was a lot (for me) at the time. Besides my car, it was, and still is, my biggest financial purchase. Here are the stats:

• AMD Athlon XP 3200+ Processor
• 512MB PC2700 DDR Memory
• 160GB Hard Drive
• 4x DVD+/-RW Burner and 48x CD-ROM Optical Drives
• NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX Integrated Graphics with 64MB Shared Memory
• NVIDIA nForce2 MCP-T 6-Channel Audio with Amplified Stereo Speakers
• v.92 56Kbps Modem and 10/100 Ethernet Port
• Five USB 2.0 Ports and 8-in-1 Media Card Reader
• Windows XP Home Operating System and Microsoft Works 7.0 Productivity Software

I made sure to buy it without a monitor because I would eventually buy a 21 inch flat panel. I continued using my old 15 inch CRT box monitor for a while longer until I saved up enough money for the upgrade. I also subsequently bought a wireless mouse, a premium surround sound system, and a 4 in one printer, scanner, fax, copier. All of these things I plan on passing on to the next computer so I don't consider it wasted money.

After 3 problem free years, I was sold on eMachines. eMachines has established itself as a low cost budget system, an image they are slowly trying to break. I consider them the Hyundai of computers.

Even though my computer still works perfectly and plan on using it until it blows up, it's still a lot of fun to look at the newest technology. So in a few upcoming posts I'll review some brand new computers, laptops, and related technologies. Maybe I'll even convince myself to buy a new computer this year instead of 2008.

What are the specs of your computer?