eMac problems

This is from someone else on another forum I go to every once in a while. I tried to answer a little, but my Mac knowledge quite small compared to some here, so I thought I'd consult the experts. Here's what he said:

"My school has a little lab of eMac computers as a sort of addendum to the normal computer labs (which are all Dells). I occasionally like to use them, as they have nice programs like Photoshop that the Dells don't have. However, it never fails that the first three I sit down at are simply DEAD. Either the spinning-wheel-of-death (is this Apple's BSOD?) is going eternally, the dock won't respond (nothing... nada... zip... zilch), or the computer locks itself into the screensaver. What in the name of high heaven is wrong with these computers?"

He said they were likely about 2 years old. I asked if they had Tiger on them, and he didn't understand the question. But I'm assuming they don't. I told him about Disk Utility, and the likely fact that these Macs probably aren't being maintained at all, plus adding the fact that a lot of users are going at them, that the eMacs just can't handle it. But anything else I could inform him about why these computers might be freaking out? He seems to think that even if they are lab computers, they should still be able to "keep themselves running"