The eMachines 566ir is a computer I appreciate less for its capabilities, and more for the context in which it existed in the year 2000. Retail rebates that made it cost $0* to take home, plus the infamous claim of NEVER being obsolete! I’ve discussed this on LGR Tech Tales but I’ve wanted to take a closer look at one of the actual systems, and finding this one at VCFMW 2022 complete with all the stickers was a prime opportunity.
● LGR links:
https://www.patreon.com/LazyGameReviews
https://www.twitter.com/LazyGameReviews
https://www.facebook.com/LazyGameReviews
● The 566ir restore CD-ROM is available for download here:
https://archive.org/details/eMachines-eTower-566ir-Restore-CD
● All background music licensed from:
http://www.epidemicsound.com
#LGR #Retro #computer
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Farts.txt easteregg
I still have our families first computer, a 600is. I'd love to try and "build" it but don't know much about period correct PC builds from that era.
Wow, that Windows 98 startup sound brings back memories when we got our first PC. 🤓
Seeing 60MB ram today is so bizzare. Like how did that function? My 2GHZ 16GB ram computer can barely run OpenTTD
Ah, rebates. I remember the trouble my father always had getting companies to honor their rebates. Usually something small like $5 or $10. Even then it was an epic struggle every. single. time. He usually had to threaten to sue to finally get them to honor it, and twice had to actually sue.
My god, I am used to modern laptops, it’s crazy how noisy these were!
Ahh back when 7.5 GB was hard drives space.. now days RAM exceeds this small size
the web had a lot of promise, companies ruined it, the same way they ruin everything else that they touch.
My recent goal for a new gaming rig is to try and get ahold of one of these towers and fill it with a Ryzen 5 7800X3D build
I had this computer. I got it second hand from my grandparents. If i remember correctly, you could program the shortcut keys to whatever you wanted. I used the greetings button as a shortcut to my create-a-card software.
This was My first P C Worked for Me , upgraded its ram to the max . Then soon upgraded to a another pc
These weren’t bad if you paid $300 for them instead of the freebate, and threw a bigger hard drive and fresh Windows on them. Then use them for 1-2 years and do it again.
stickers provide extra FPS just like RGB 😀
We had an emachine growing up. It was awesome, I could play the Sims and a lot of my friends couldn’t on their computers.
Edit: we got it at Microcenter and I got a Microsoft Sidewinder and a disk full of games of questionable legality, like Earthworm Jim, all the Tables of Microsoft Pinball (remember Space Cadet? There were 3 other tables), a Commander Keen game, and a few others I don’t remember.
Since this video I have acquired a eMachine eMonster 550 from the same time period. I had to replace the HDD but have the OEM repair disc for it. It also had a DVD drive with Power DVD software as standard. The drive was dead though so I had to replace it with a non-OEM part. It comes with a Pentium 3 and a Nvidia Vanta as standard. It was supposed to come with 64 MB of ram but was upgraded to 256 MB. Unfortunately it didn't come with the original peripherals.
The front of that case looks like a NASCAR firesuit 😂
Mail in rebates were such a scam. Most people never got the check. This was by design.
Cute!
Friend bought one of these computers back in the day. It seemed that the contract was illegal and you were able to cancel the monthly fees. So my friend didn’t have to pay a cent for the computer, even on the monthly fees. If I remember correctly.
I think this was our second or third family PC.
Did it's job playing The Sims, Half-Life, Theme Park World, Warcraft and even DVDs, until my Dad's friend put XP on it, needless to say it could hardly handle it.
Never obsolete? Nah. It was always obsolete.
Just got the 500mhz model.
So this was CaaS ( Computer as a service) long before the XaaS term was invenred, well ok here you got something to actually take home so it was't tottaly the same but as closecas anuthong
Oh yes, that small turbo engine sound of start up. I miss that sound.
1:09 the ‘e’ maze
People are misconstruing this as eMachines trying to say that this model was as far as computer technology would ever go. That's not what they meant at all. This was actually a great deal, and eMachines honored it until the day they went out of business in 2010. There were hoops you had to jump through, and it took some time and effort on the customer's end, but eMachines would ship you a brand new updated PC every two years if you held up your end of the bargain. I wish everyone would actually watch YT videos before they make a stupid assumption based entirely on the thumbnail.
I've recently been give an emachines 360 from 2002. It's a 1.4GHz Celeron. It's still got all the stickers, but I'm removing them as they are not in great condition, and the machines also needs a good clean. It doesn't have the never obsolete sticker. Seems they'd stopped doing it by then. It's missing the sliding door, and it had been upgraded to from 256 to 384MB of RAM, but I've had to remove the 128 stick as it won't work with it installed. I just need to replace the BIOS battery. Here in the UK it most likely came from PC World. Mine has the flat rather than curved optical drive too, a DVD ROM/CD rewriter.
Lord I remember my family having one of these terrible things!
When I was a kid, I used to go the Mac store and load orgasm sounds into the startup folder. When they booted up the Macs in the morning, it was pretty funny.
Should been always obsolete as a Moto
Definitely had an eMachines back in the day but I don't remember them being "free" here in Canada.
Now can it run crisis?
This computer was the first computer my family had. I remember it fondly. At the time I thought it was the coolest thing ever to own acompuiter. I was 6 years old.
Ah yes the etower 566ir, such a storied product. Thanks for this!
these kind of desktops have a special place in my heart– I heavily assoiciated these 2000's desktops for The Sims. The whole set up was an experience
I had that computer when it was new 😂
…there was a lawsuit payout to people like myself who dealt with crashing issues which required rebooting back to factory constantly,literally crashing to the point you couldn't recover sh*t, the offer was a $400 dollar voucher towards another PC or laptop.
i chose a laptop, and i still have it 🙃
This brought back memories I completely forgot about . Thank you !
Lol, CRT is still better in response time
When your computer comes with a sticker that says it has "chat".
OMG I had a VAIO once!
Terrible thing…
Playing Everquest on it was not a great experience.
eMachine? Oh man! I have seen it almost 30 years ago! As a Taiwanese………
Part of my memory in my childhood!
When you opened Moto Racer I accessed a memory so far back I completely forgot about that game
Well, that was false advertising lol. Good old Emachine.
Lol "farts.txt"
I actually had a en emachine that lasted 15 years, never slowed down, its was only until the power supply burned out that i replaced it
Unreal tournament was my shit back then