Affordable gaming computer

Affordable Portable Gaming

When I first unpacked Emachines’ M6807 and got a peek at what was inside, I was disappointed. Everything about this machine seemed poised to kick some serious ass: The AMD Athlon 64 3000+ processor is no slouch, 512MB of PC-3200 DDR 400 memory is enough to drive any good multimedia machine, 60GB of hard-drive space can hold a ton of MP3s and video files, and that $1,549 price tag (after the $100 mail-in rebate) can’t be beat. Why then, I thought, did Emachines ship this machine with the 64MB version of ATI’s Mobility Radeon 9600 (M10) graphics card? The answer, of course, is obvious: The company was hoping to keep that price down. The Emachines M6807 got a higher 3D GameGauge 3.5 score than the 128MB M10-enabled ABS laptop, which we also reviewed this month! This is why we actually test the machines.

While pundits continue to argue the relative merits of 64-bit computing compared with 32-bit computing, the fact remains that AMD’s 64-bit processors continue to shine in 32-bit gaming. And to this end, AMD’s Mobile Athlon 64 3000+ is a great part. While Mobile Pentium 4 machines continue to outpace the Mobile Athlon 64 in CPU tests, the AMD part continues to outdo the Pentium in actual game tests. And since we’re a gaming magazine, that’s enough for us.

I put the M6807 through its paces with 3DMark2003, AquaMark2003, and 3D GameGauge 3.5, all at 1024x768 with AA (antialiasing) and AF (anisotropic filtering) disabled. This machine absolutely smoked! With the exception of Halo and Splinter Cell, the Emachines laptop bested the better-equipped ABS machine we tested this month, and it absolutely destroyed the nearly identically configured Hypersonic machine we tested as well. And the Hypersonic machine is over $1,000 more expensive. The Emachines rig achieved a 3D GameGauge score of 48 frames per second, while the ABS machine earned 43 and the Hypersonic 34. Specifically, the Emachines machine achieved framerates of 99, 81, and 65 in Dungeon Siege, Serious Sam: TSE, and Unreal Tournament 2003, respectively. In other words, unlike on many other laptops, it’s entirely possible to play these games on this computer at 1024x768 with AA and AF disabled. Of course, its Halo and Splinter Cell scores of 22 and 21 mean you’ll be better off playing these titles at 800x600.

But the numbers don’t tell the whole story

Ergonomically, the Emachines M6807 is great. The 15.4-inch WXGA TFT display has a native resolution of 1280x800 (essentially a 16:10 aspect ratio, similar to that of a widescreen television). The display scaled down well to 1024x768 and 800x600, and I saw no ghosting during gameplay. The M6807 weighs about 7.5 pounds (which isn’t light), but thankfully, it feels pretty sturdy—sort of like an old-school Dell laptop. And the keyboard is big enough so that it causes no problems during gameplay.

It’s rare that a machine surprises us and performs in a way that shows a computer is often greater than the sum of its parts. That said, we would like to see a 128MB M10 option with future Emachines notebooks. Also, now that Dell, Alienware, and Voodoo are offering laptops with upgradeable graphics, not having that option is a huge ding.

Verdict 4/5 Stars

In spite of shipping with a 64MB graphics card, this machine performed like a real champion.

By The Numbers

MANUFACTURER/ Emachines

MODEL M6807

PRICE $1,649

OPERATING SYSTEM Windows XP Home Edition

PROCESSOR (CPU) AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 800MHz FSB

MEMORY 512MB PC-3200 DDR 400

HARD DRIVE 60GB 7,200 rpm hard drive

GRAPHICS PROCESSOR 64MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 (M10)

OPTICAL DRIVES DVD/CD-RW combo drive

DISPLAY 15.1-inch SXGA (1400x1050) TFT Display

INPUT DEVICE Touchpad

MISCELLANEOUS One PCMCIA slot; four USB 2.0 ports;

one 1394 FireWire port; 802.11b wireless connectivity

SPEED (PERFORMANCE) 3.5

PRICE 3.5

STABILITY 4.5

SUPPORT 5

UPGRADEABILITY 0

SCORE 3.42