Digital Trends

eMachines T6212

May 31st, 2005 | by Ian Bell

Design and Features

When Gateway (which merged with eMachines) first contacted Designtechnica asking us to review their eMachines T6212 system, we almost said no. Designtechnica usually only reviews products that are high-end and offer some sort of design flare. But after checking out the T6212's specifications, we decided to give it a try; and we found out it does offer something unique after all.

The eMachines T6212 looks very similar to some of the systems available from Gateway. Most likely they share a lot of the same parts and go through the same chassis manufacturer. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Compared to the eMachine PC's of the past, the company definitely has stepped up the quality of their systems. The front face of the system is silver with glossy black highlights and buttons. The T6212 comes with a dual layer DVD writer and a CD-Rom drive; both share identical looking faceplates that rest flush with the system when their drawers are closed. There is an 8-in-1 media card reader with an integrated USB port in the middle of the system which lays flush with the chassis to give the T6212 a very clean look. A flip up cover on the bottom of the systems front, reveals a single FireWire port, two USB ports and some audio inputs — perfect for the multimedia enthusiast who wants easy access. The rear of the system has 4 more USB ports, an additional FireWire port, modem and Ethernet ports, a parallel printer port, VGA input and two PS2 inputs for your keyboard and mouse. We are impressed that eMachines was able to fit 7 USB and two FireWire ports into this small system. The overall look of the T6212 is very clean and attractive, definitely not what you are used to from a system in this price range.

The core of the T6212 system is its motherboard which is based on the new ATI Radeon Xpress 200 chipset. The motherboard was really designed to offer powerful options in a smaller form factor. This means eMachines can keep the initial cost of the system down while still offering an upgradeable computer to the user. And if they wanted to, they could offer multiple systems in the same product line with different configurations; it's a win/win situation. For $579.99 (after rebate) you get an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor, 512MB of PC 3200 memory (2x256MB sticks), a 160GB 7200RPM hard drive, a Dual Layer DVD writer and an extra CD-ROM drive, an 8-in-1 media card reader, 6-channel audio, and a 128MB shared memory ATI Radeon Xpress 200 (PCI-Express) integrated video adapter. You can read more about the ATI Radeon Xpress 200 motherboard on ATI's website.

Now normally, you would expect a budget system to use cheap, low quality parts, but fortunately that is not the case with the T6212. In order to cut costs, eMachines gives you a hard drive that uses the slower IDE ATA interface, as well as integrated graphics instead of a stand alone card. But that's Ok with us because you can always upgrade those two components. The meat and potatoes of the T6212 system are the AMD Athlon 64 2100+ processor and the 512MB of dual channel DDR memory.

The T6212 comes with plenty of preinstalled software including Microsoft Works, Microsoft Money, Encarta Online, Cyberlink PowerDVD, Nero 6 Suite, Norton Internet Security 2005, McAfee Anti-Spyware 2005 and more. For complete system specifications and a listing of preinstalled software, please click on the specifications tab and link located above and below this review. You also get a multimedia keyboard, 2-button wheel mouse and stereo speakers with this system.

eMachines includes 1 year parts/labor warranty (not on-site) and 1 year of technical support, which is pretty standard.