Yes. The guarantee is in the computer lease- every two years you come in with your old computer and they replace it with one using the newest hardware.
It was a quite popular setup in the 90s.
this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2026
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I long for the simpler times represented in this image.
If you look at it in a "Ship of Theseus" sort of way this might be true. For example I have a machine that I built in 2006, Over the years parts here and there have been swapped out to the point that the only original piece is the case. I still think of it as the same machine I built in 2006 even though it most definitely is not.
Of course, the ship and my machine both slowly changed over time where as this machine here would just be swapped out entirely every 2 years.
Interesting thought. I transferred files I wrote in the 80s over the years from system to system, and still have those. I've upgraded my parts so many times it must be at least 10 distinct PCs could be made out of all the parts.
The hardware has all changed.
"Ship of PCus"
I have nothing intelligent to add here.
Im calling it that from now on.
My PC started in 2003. It had a 32 bits CPU and Windows XP. Now it has six 64 bits cores and Debian. Still the same case, but it's mostly the fourth iteration. Except I'm only on my second screen and keyboard.
I love the modularity of OG PC cases, I plan to keep mine until I can no longer stuff computer bits inside it and then it's going on display.
My brother got the 400mhz version of this when he went to college. I later got is as a hand me down, for my first PC that was shared with the family. When I later built a computer, I stripped the emachine down and mounted all the parts to a board and hung it on the wall where it still ran. It became the machine I tried installing linux on and stuff.
Country roads, take me home...
Oh shit AOL 5.0!
Give it a few months. Altman will have us using shit like this again.
I had forgotten about computers being slathered with stickers in the past
If you post this on Lemmy, sooner or later someone is going to come along and explain how to get this machine to run Linux.
I am 100% sure that you can install Slackware on this device
Puppy Linux
RTLinux
TinyCore Linux
DSL still a thing?
("Damn Small Linux" or, as I like to write it: "Damn, small Linux!")
They used to brag back in the day that it could run as a live system contained entirely on a standard 1.44 MB floppy! I made such a disk as part of my gonzo IT arsenal around 2007-ish, and it actually came in handy a few times as a rescue disk for PCs that still had a floppy drive.
I can get Windows 11 to run on it.
why?
Some people enjoy suffering.
Imagine paying $99 every TWO years to get the fastest pc.
Faster than this 64MB monster?
Damn, would that deal still be going or nah?
Lol I think they'd tell you to go fuck yourself if they were still around. I think i saw another user say e machines died around 2013
Sounds expensive, definitely wouldn't take that deal
Bold claims for something with a celeron in it
My wife's family had that exact model eMachines PC when we started dating. I made it a priority to build her a better PC as soon as I could.
I hope you built it inside that exact case with sticker intact to fulfill the promise of the sticker.
Sadly, I didn't because it was technically her parents PC even though they didn't know how to use it much.
Will still probably work as a local server somewhere
Yes. I would give even odds that the exact one pictured is humming away, under a desk, forgotten, serving someone's email, somewhere.
I can see her ports!
Reading the tag it's saying you can spend $99 to upgrade to the latest model every two years as you would a cellphone, fulfilling the promise of you never having an obsolete pc.
Fine print. Probably didn't work out well.
Special eMachines™ Upgrade for $99 to eMachines™Network Members Only
Subscribe to the eMachines™ Network for 24 consecutive months and we’ll upgrade your eMachines™ for only $99 (plus shipping)!
Here’s how it works: If you live in the contiguous U.S. or Canada, we’ll contact you after you’ve subscribed to The eMachines™ Network for 24 months and offer to upgrade your eMachines™ PC to whatever processor technology is built into whatever eMachines™ PC you can buy at the time of the upgrade for whatever you paid for your original machine. For example, let’s say your eTower* PC was priced at $399 (not including promotional discount) and runs a 366 MHz processor, but at the time of the upgrade $399 would buy an 800MHz eTower. We’ll upgrade your eTower* to 800MHz.
All you have to do is ship us your PC within 90 days, plus $99 (or Canadian equivalent), proof of purchase and payment for return shipping. We’ll promptly upgrade it and return it. Note: you’ll have to back-up your data to avoid accidental loss, and use the original packaging (we have replacement packaging available). See more detailed information"
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I was there, Gandalf. IIRC this was because emachines had a type of subscription program for upgrades. They were shit machines, btw. The power supplies were trash and had a non-standard form factor.
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I miss the old Gateway cow PCs. This would make a pretty sick sleeper PC to bring to LAN parties.
Just missing this sticker
Did any of y'all old folks forget to turn it off?
It was obsolete before you even bought it. It has a shitty celeron.
A home pc that came with Win98LT... Lite! As in you didn't need the full version which had the nice network components (home server services, network neighborhood, windows firewall, etc).
64 MB RAM and 3D graphics? That's more than most of us can afford nowadays!
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