Just Bought M6809...

Have been looking for two notebooks, one for my son to take to Gonzaga and one for me to replace both my desktop machine and ThinkPad TransNote. After weeks of exhaustive research in these forums and others, I came across eMachines. I thought they made cheap stuff but saw all the positive reviews on their notebooks...

I had wanted to spend no more than $700 on my son's and $2000 on mine. (I need to run Photoshop and ACAD, he doesn't...)

I had been looking at the Sony Z1 series because one of my digicams has memory stick and the other CF. I also was looking at the HP ze3000(?) series. I then compare the specs on the EM 6800's and read the positive reviews from both users and magazines and decided to go that way. I cheaped out on the lower-end EM for my son and ended up getting him the HP ze4700 from Best Buy with the AMD Athlon, DVD/CDRW drive and the 15" screen. $899 at BB with $250 in rebates drops the price to $649. Not bad.

I wanted the M6805 because I really need the higher res, faster processor, bigger HD, 6-in-one media reader and WiFi. I ended up with the M6809 on impulse, because the $200 difference brought an 80GB HD and the DVD burner plus a faster CPU. $1699 with $250 in rebates for a net of $1449. I drove from Seattle to Portland, OR to save on 8.8% sales tax. (My Jetta TDI cost $15 down and back) I really would have liked the WGA+ of the higher end screen, but I can live with 1280x800.

Oh yeah, and add an HP 1210 all-in-one for the son and a $249 3 year for his unit and I ended up with a total tax savings of $268!

It's going to take awhile to get the thing set up the way I want it, but after turning it on and doing the initial XP stuff I'm fairly impressed. I saved so much over what I was looking at with the other units and get way more utility. The HP only had an SD slot and the Sony only had a MS slot. Being able to work with all formats will be GREAT!

I've never really used the TransNote ThinkScribe Tablet, and once I give my desktop Athlon 900, SCSI scanner and Epson 740 to my kids and get rid of the Dell 21" and get an Epson RX600 all-in-one, I'll have greatly increased my available desk real estate.

I can get full insurance for the M6809 for $102 per year from www.safeware.com. Has anybody used these guys?

Wonderful to find this forum.

Tony

 

hey Tony, nice savings on the purchase there and glad you seem happy so far, I think you made good choices. I live in New York and will also go out of my way to avoid the high taxes if possible, unfortunately it's a long way to go for that, this area is all expensive and has high taxes. Key would be to move to Alaska and not pay any sales tax and get a yearly dividend from the state government for those oil fields they have.

But I digress.

As far as safeware.com goes, I would actually use your homeowners or renters insurance agent to see what they have or in fact already include on insurance for your laptop. You'd be amazed what's actually covered under such policies for purchases like this, or talk to an agent to get something added to your policy...it's usually the cheapest way to go.

 

abaxter:

Thanks for the note!

I thought of the homeowners thing after I posted. I'll call my agent on Monday and see what they say...

Tony

 

PART TWO:

Well, I've had the 6809 now for two months and have to say that it is the single best computer I have ever owned or used, desktop or laptop.

The battery life (for me) has been adequate; so much so that I don't bother to take the AC adapter home with me from the office at night, except on the weekends.

I now have a wireless G network set up at home with Comcast cable, and it's a BLAST to surf the net sitting in my recliner or out on the deck.

I have loaded all of my apps on the machine and it runs everything very well: AutoCAD 2002, Photoshop 7, Illustrator 10, Corel 10 plus all of the standard cast of characters, ie, Office 2000, etc.

Speed on startup is stellar, as is speed of opening apps and execution of commands. I thought the 1280 screen would be limiting, but it works very well. I do sometimes miss the touchscreen I enjoyed on my IBM ThinkPad TransNote, but one can't have everything...

I've even gotten used to the touchpad and scroll bar, which is saying a lot because the IBM TrackPoint is EXCELLENT.

I haven't gotten any of the rebates back yet, but have no regrets getting this unit. Very solid build and while heavy, not unbearably so. My REI computer backpack houses the 6809, Canon BJC85 printer and all of the peripheral goodies with ease.

One issue is that I do notice the crack on the outside surface of the left hinge (looking at the open unit). Sooooooo I guess I'll have to give eMachines a call and test out that warranty support. Definitely not me: I baby this thing.

Tony

 

Check out the stickied thread, the crack on the hinge is a known defect.

 

Called eMachines and left my info a week ago... They called yesterday and will fix my 6809. I will however, have to back everything up and find another unit to use while I'm waiting to get mine back.

I definitely want them to FIX MINE>

I DON'T want to get a replacement unit that would have the same issue, ie, a 6811, etc.

Tony