eMachines, the US maker of bargain basement PCs, has signed up Taiwanese mobo maker FIC to supply a "significant number of PC systems from its extensive range of products".

The contract is described as "lucrative" by FIC, while eMachines, recently bought out from its Korean owners, will, we guess, have lower working capital requirements following the deal.

Also, eMachines gets access to a better build quality, kind of important now that US and most Western Europe is saturated, so far as new buyers are concerned. Poor quality product doesn't matter when there is a steady stream of newbies coming through the door; it matters a hell of lot when the market is mostly replacement purchases.

In a statement, Wayne Inouye, eMachines CEO, says "eMachines has traditionally targeted the first time PC buyer but we want those customers to keep coming back. Choosing FIC as a business partner means that our customers get a quality product and will want to come back when it's time to upgrade."

Which beggars the question: how good - or bad- are eMachines' pre-FIC machines?

Dixons Stores Group, the UK's biggest computer retailer, has sole European distribution rights for eMachines. ®