Gateway has decided to continue the eMachines brand at Wal Mart apparently, got this press release today:
eMachines W4620 Notebook PC: Affordable Performance at $895 MSRP at Wal-Mart
The eMachines W4620 notebook PC delivers power and performance in a mobile form factor. Outfitted with a blazing AMD Turion(TM) 64 Mobile Technology
MT-32 processor, the system is ready to take on the most demanding applications. The notebook's ATI Radeon(R) Xpress 300 based graphics makes digital video, games and multimedia vibrant and realistic. Plus, the notebook is ready for the latest digital media hobbies; it features a 4-in-1 media card reader, three USB 2.0 ports and an IEEE 1394 port. In addition, the notebook comes with integrated 802.11g wireless with SecureEasySetup(R) for an easy-to-set-up, secure wireless connection.
eMachines W4620 Notebook Configuration:
* AMD Turion(TM) 64 Mobile Technology MT-32 64-bit Processor
* 15-inch XGA Ultrabright Display
* ATI(TM) Radeon(R) X300 based graphics
* 512MB DDR Memory
* 80GB Hard Drive(3)
* Multi-Format, Double-Layer DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
* Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home
* 802.11g Wireless with SecureEasySetup(R)
* Weighs 5.5 pounds(2)
* Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of $895.00 available exclusively
at most Wal-Mart locations
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I bought this laptop for my father. Nifty performer but gets hotter than my Dell 600m with Pentium M 725.
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I saw that the other day.
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That's too bad about the heat, eMachines actually started to become a more respectable brand when Gateway took it over. I'm sure they cut some corners on the design on this notebook though, could be they weren't very careful in designing the fan location and overall heat dissipation qualities.
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wow. i am in the market for a new notebook and this ones nice. my rules are lightweight-ish, thin form factor and have some kind of video in it besides the horrible intel stuff. this has a chance
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Anyone has experience with this model?
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dryanwilson Notebook Enthusiast NBR Reviewer
Not sure yet. Do you know who makes the MOBO/Case? All previous laptops in the past 3 years were made by Arima.
Research into the components yields positive review, initially. I just ordered this unit on ebay NIB for $715. (The individual sells this for $715 and the W4605 for $589 regularly. I called and he has hundreds NIB) Will let you know more as I learn it! -
When buying PC from eBay, how do you get the warranty? I saw one on eBay around your stated price, asked the seller, but I never have his response.
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dryanwilson Notebook Enthusiast NBR Reviewer
I talked to seller and he confirmed that most buyers were getting warranty from registration, which seemed unusual. Though, I also called emachines tech support and they said it would be remaining, but thought I might get it from reg as well. We will see, I suppose, and I will let you know. Since he is a wholesaler and not a reseller ex. who bought one at walmart and is reselling it now w.o opening it, I should have a decent shot at this. Plus, I am offered a 3-yr warranty for $129.
Hope this helps. I will let you know when I receive it! Also, might I add that when I registered my open box M5310 2.5 years ago, it was from date of purchase, not date it was first purchased, that emachines honored it! So, I would say as long as you have proof of purchase, when you register, place you bought would be in the "other" category if applicable and it should be from that point or of registration.
Would be great to hear other comments on this!
Ryan -
dryanwilson Notebook Enthusiast NBR Reviewer
Got this laptop last week. It works excellent but I recommend 1 gig ram (runs a bit funny in games at 512, but at 1GIG I can turn the resolution ALL THE WAY UP in America's Army! Not bad for integrated shared.
The bad, but being dealt with swiftly: 1 dead pixed near corner (black) and the bezel around the LCD is a bit warped. Emachines is replacing the bezel and screen nexy day air!
Ryan -
I bought it for the simple reason it was the only one Walmart had that was not intel based. it has the lowerer wattage proc (25 watt compared to the ML line of 35). As far as heat, it runs cooler then my friends Dell Inspirion. The mobo according to CPU-Z is by gateway with a pheonix bios. The ram is PC2700 single channel. The keyboard feels kinda cheap. the performance of this i think would be most noticable with at least 1 gig of ram. the 512 is a good starting point tho.
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dryanwilson Notebook Enthusiast NBR Reviewer
Yes, it does flex considerably. After a couple weeks, awesome laptop. I just wrote the review (hopefully soon to be on this site.) One thing to watch out for is warping of the LCD bezel around the LCD--if it sharts to bow out, send it in.
Also, 3 yr emachines extended warranty for $129 if you buy it within 3 months...not a bad idea...nice components, cheap build.
Also, it is made by arima, though it says it is a gateway mobo in my cpu-z also...and is model M622-UK8X (on bottom of unit, says emachines and then this...this is the ARIMA model number!!) So, we should have the same good quality we have seen with past, but recent, emachines laptops!! ( http://www.arima.com.tw/ViewProduct.asp?View=134)
Ryan -
What kind of battery life you are getting with the W4620?
Hope it is resonable since it is a good price for a low end laptop and for a 15" it is pretty light as well. -
dryanwilson Notebook Enthusiast NBR Reviewer
Heres my full review on it, though it's not up on this site yet, I have sent it to the admin already...
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eMachines W4620 Turion 64 15 Thin-and Light Notebook PC
1. Emachine Notebook W4620
2. This is an excellent overall laptop! It is not only lightweight, but it offers a crisp screen, excellent gaming and vivid color, good hard drive size, moderate power consumption and EXCELLENT manufacturer service.
1. Overview and Introduction:
The eMachines W4620 is a value notebook, sold exclusively at Wal-Mart, and is available in most stores, or online at www.walmart.com eMachines was recently purchased by Gateway. Historically, eMachines laptops have been made by Arima, and this unit is no exception, as it is stamped on the bottom of the unit Arima M622-UK8X. ( http://www.arima.com.tw/ViewProduct.asp?View=134) eMachines has yet to put this laptop on their site.
My personal impression is that this laptop is a thin and light value-performance notebook. This laptop comes equipped with:
AMD Turion 64 Mobile Processor MT-32, Operating at 1.8 Ghz with a 512KB L2 Cache
512 MB PC2700 DDR Ram
80GB 4500RPM Hard Drive
Integrated Wireless 802.11G (Up to 54MBPS with Secure EasySetup
Onboard LAN and Modem
ATI Radeon Xpress 200M Integrated Shared Graphics (Built off of X300 technology)
1 Firewire (IEEE 1394), 3 USB (2 on left, 1 on right side), 1 VGA, 1 Mic, 1 Headphone, 4-in-1 Memory Card Reader, (SD, Mem. Stick, Mem. Stick Pro, Multimedia Card)
6-cell battery pack (standard)
Laptop Comes with the following preloaded software:
Microsoft Works 8.0, Money 2005, MS Digital Image Starter Ed. Trial, Bug Fix, Nero 6, Adobe Reader 7, Power DVD, MS Office 2003 Trial (60 Days), McAfee Internet Security Suite 90 day trial, AOI 6 month subscription
Weight: 5.5 lbs
2. Reasons for Buying: Why you bought this laptop, and what other laptops you looked at before deciding to buy this.
I was looking at this unit as a replacement for my eMachines M5310, which I had excellent luck with. I felt the first eMachines unit I purchased was up superior value, and the quality build was also comparable or equal to other manufacturers I looked at, such as Dell, HP, and so forth. I did have a couple overheating issues with that PC, and eMachines went out of their way to fix it, even out of warranty. I never stayed on hold more than 20 seconds, and the call was always answered by a competent technical service advisor who did not run through a script. eMachines always sent customer-foam boxes to have me next day mail my old laptop to them (free to me). Thus, when the time came to upgrade to a faster, more mobile PC with better gaming options, I looked around at many brands, like the Dell B130 (loaded), but for the price, it did not compare to the eMachines W4620
3. Where and How Purchased: .
I bought this notebook on eBay, new in box, for $715 shipped to my door, and was still eligible for a full manufacturer warranty. This was an excellent deal, as wal-mart is currently asking $895 on their site, and remember at this time they have exclusive rights to sell this notebook, but I feel this may change shortly due to their environmental requirements for laptops sold in their stores.
4 Build & Design:
The design of this notebook is sleek, light, and fairly square. Its essentially a no thrills design, though the silver-on black really stands out. In terms of sturdiness, I would not rate it very high for the following reasons. The units keyboard flexes under light typing. The LCD bezel can be twisted. (play the c|net video with the gateway cousin of this laptop to see this issue here: http://reviews.cnet.com/Gateway_M320/4505-3121_7-31012312-3.html?tag=toc) It is light at 5.5 pounds, and at about 2 pounds lighter than my old laptop I can honestly say the laptop bag is much more comfortable across my shoulder now. The case is made of basic plastic, nothing to impressive in terms of thickness, quality, or texture, though the keyboard-pad is textured. I did have an issue my first week with the bezel around the LCD screen warping in the lower right corner, by the hinge, and sent it back to eMachines. Fortunately, it was fixed and returned within 3 days. However, the LCD is of good quality, with only 1 dead pixel in the corner. I do not see ripples when moving the LCD panel back and forth or pushing on the back of the unit. The hinges themselves seem fairly sturdy, though there are 2 instead of three connection points as with the eMachines M5310. Overall, I give this laptop a 4/10 in terms of outer durability, though the quality of the components seems fine.
5. Screen: The screen on this unit has extraview, and is much brighter than my M5310 side-by-side (now sold, cannot give a comparison shot) One dead pixel is noticed by the windows start bar in windows XP, near the lower-left hand corner. It is typically black and is hardly noticeable. eMachines policy as communicated to me was that screens could be replaced within the first 15 days of purchase with as few as 1 dead pixel, if in the center of the screen. I was told I would get a replacement screen when I sent it in for a new LCD bezel (warped), but it returned with a note stating that it did not meet requirements. Thus, the pixel policy seems to fit under the industry standard. There are some signs of light leak around the lower corner, only at certain times, such as when the windows XP screen saver is on. Overall, I am VERY happy with this screen, and feel it is far superior to all LCDs I have previously owned. The max resolution is 1024 X 768.
6. Speakers: I was amazed at the sound quality of the internal speakers, much in part due to the fact that they are downward facing, on the front of the notebook. They are quite crisp, and the bass really depends on the surface they reflect off of. I would recommend external speakers, because I prefer high sound quality, but certainly, these are louder than expected and good for most users.
7. Processor and Performance: This computer comes with the AMD Turion 64 Mobile M-32, which operates at 1.8 Ghz and has a 512KB L2 Cache. Boot to the windows screen is average, though I have upgraded this unit to 1 Gig of memory, and this has helped significantly. At 4500 RPMs, the hard drive speed on this unit is disappointing, but it is still adequate for gaming, picture processing and editing, and basic tasks. This laptop came with 512MB of DDR 2700 memory, which is inadequate for gaming on this notebook. When I first received the notebook I was very disappointed by the performance of the graphics processor, but once upgrading to 1 gig any and all problems went away, no more frame rate problems, better resolution and clarity, and more vivid colors and processing. The laptop will occasionally lag after playing short video clips, even when the processor is not in speed step mode. At all other times, the processor is quick, and I find wait times are minimized. Americas Army and Quake 3 Arena are the two games I play on this laptop. Both can be run at the highest possible resolution without problems. Extremely remarkable is the graphics rendering in AA! I was quite impressed and this has helped justify this purchase.
8. Benchmarks:
9. Keyboard and Touchpad: The keyboard on this unit has keys that are light and easy to touch, providing a minimal clicking noise when touched. The do feel a bit more loose than those on my M5310, but nevertheless, the quality feels confident and the pressure it takes to type is consistent. Ive had no issues with pressing buttons but receiving no text on light taps of buttons. The keyboard flexes, even under light and moderate typing, which is only visually noticeable, however, it does not instill much confidence in the build quality. The touch pad has a scroll on the side, with two buttons below the scroll pad. It cannot be turned off, so one has to be very careful not to touch it when typing, or they can erase text they are typing accidentally. There is a scrolling button on the right front side of this unit which turns sound up/down/muted. There is one button on the keyboard area that corresponds to system commands other than the keyboard, and that is the on/off button, so there are few multimedia buttons. There are, however, CD buttons embedded in the F row keys that can be used in conjunction with the Fn key.
10. Input and Output Ports: This unit has 3 USB 2.0 ports (2 on the left side, 1 on the right front side) This unit also has a FireWire IEEE 1394 port, a memory card reader, a VGA out, sound out/mic in, Ethernet and Modem, and CDRW/DVDR inputs. Unfortunately for me, there is no parallel port for my laser jet printer, though a USB adapter will suit me just fine. I find the layout of the inputs foreign, as I am used to having majority of the inputs on the back of a computer, though on this unit, the battery pack occupies 85% of the rear of the unit.
11. Wireless: This unit has 802.11G, with a max 54MBPS, and it picks up signals that friends of mine cannot pick up on campus, or out and about in town. The signal does not drop off, ever, and it has been very quick in usage, picking up signals, and connecting to signals.
12. Battery: The 6-cell battery life is at 2:45 hours when unplugged, which I am told is low by todays standards, though I know it is better than many older units. I am very happy with the battery life, because this life extends over to heavier usage with the screen up fairly bright. I know that Gateway offers an extended life battery for the sister model they offer (same case design as eMachines unit) on their site (Check for the M320 extended life 9-cell battery here: http://accessories.gateway.com/Acce...eSupport&cm_cat=Search&cm_pla=&cm_ite=Battery)
13. Operating System and Software: The included software with this unit is: Microsoft Works 8.0, Money 2005, MS Digital Image Starter Ed. Trial, Bug Fix, Nero 6, Adobe Reader 7, Power DVD, MS Office 2003 Trial (60 Days), McAfee Internet Security Suite 90 day trial, AOI 6 month subscription. I found the trial software for McAfee easy to use, whereas the MS Office registration was time consuming and inconvenient. I found Bug Fix, a program created by eMachines, to be very good at finding updates for all my installed software, and for my particular notebook. The standard operating system loaded on this unit is Windows XP Home, and it is the only available option from eMachines at this time. A single compressed DVD is included to restore the unit to its original software configuration, and a partition is set up on the hard drive that can also take care of restoring the computer (F11 at startup, when indicated on the screen) Overall, I appreciated the free software, such as MS Works, and appreciate eMachines Bug Fix software immensely.
14. Customer Support: As mentioned under the screen section, I had to return this unit in the first week for a warped, bowing out LCD bezel near the right side LCD hinge. It was returned within 3-4 days and I have been a happy camper since. The tech support was friendly, and I was connected after 7 seconds wait time! This IS typical of eMachines customer support, and I believe it is the chief reason they have received customer support awards recently. A 3 year warranty is available on this unit for $129 within the first 3 months, and the sale goes off after that, in which you have until the 9th month of purchase to buy the 3 year warranty for $159. From personal experience in the past, eMachines has fixed the old laptop free outside of the warranty period, however, I feel on this unit I will be purchasing the extended warranty (just in case, and due to the build) Technical support is available in chat, live by phone, and through email. I have found that calling customer support gets you to less competent support, and recommend you exclusively call technical support! This has been the case EVERY time I have called, word to the wise.
15. Complaints (optional): I have no complaints regarding this notebook, though I feel it should be shipped standard with one gig of memory (even for a standard user) or it tends to lag.
16. Praises (optional): I absolutely love the weight of this unit, the screen brightness, vividness, and quality, as it does not flicker or become wavy when being touched or used in general. The graphics card, screen, and customer support superceeded my expectations, no questions! Also, the price is fabulous, though for $200 more a similar HP notebook might have a tougher build to it. Nevertheless, this is a thin and light budget performance notebook, and for someone looking for a desktop replacement that will do it allat a budget, I recommend this computer. What do you really like about this notebook and how has it superceded your expectations? I also didnt like the side-positioned USB drives on this unit, but over time, I found it was easier to plug in accessories like a thumb drive this way, versus reaching behind the laptop to plug it in.
17. Conclusion: This is hands down the best laptop for $715 dollars for the AMD, performance, mobile user! I cannot recommend any other brand to you at this price range either, as eMachines/Gateway and Arima have teamed up to make one of the best notebooks around. If you want a widescreen, dont look here, I would suggest a heavy, solid dell or hp, but if you want a thin and light performance computer, this is the only computer for you. Available exclusively at:
http://www.walmart.com
ebay search emachines W4620 from TopmanComputers reseller
Contact Andrew at [email protected] for any questions. -
Well done, dryanwilson.
Seems like a very good deal. I like how you posted a few links too.. -
dryanwilson Notebook Enthusiast NBR Reviewer
Well, there wasn't alot of information out there when I made my buying decision, so I wanted to do a quick into to help others with the purchasing decision.
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I just bought this laptop. I love it. I would like to upgrade the memory. What were the specs of the memory. Was it:
sodimm 200pin pc2700
or
ddr pc 2700 normal desktop type.
When I look up memory for this machine it always says its normal desktop memory.
thanks
kefta -
sodimm pc2700.
there are 2 slots, and 1 is already taken by the stock 512mb.
i just bought a 512mb pc2700 sodimm from staples and it worked perfectly. -
dryanwilson Notebook Enthusiast NBR Reviewer
I have another 512 in 2300 in the 2nd slot because I had some sitting around...works fine as well..
New emachines W4620 Notebook at Wal Mart
Discussion in 'eMachines' started by Andrew Baxter, Jan 25, 2006.