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Updated eMac Line Released Today
TellarHK writes "Today, Apple's eMac line got a nice upgrade with all models getting a 32M Radeon 7500 video chipset, display capable of 1280x960 resolution on a 17" flat CRT, and price cuts across the board. $799 will get you a base model with 40GB of drive, 128M of RAM (continuing the rather odd stinginess on RAM configurations), and an 800Mhz G4. $999 will get you an extra 20GB of drive and a 1Ghz processor, while $1299 lands you a whopping (ahem) 256M of memory, 80G, and a SuperDrive at 4x."
Not a bad update but 128MB of RAM on the lowest and middle configuration? C'Mon Apple! OS X needs at LEAST 256 MB to be useful and more is even better. The video card is also at the bare minimum for OS X with the ATI 7500, but thats understandable in a .edu machine. The Speed bump and the rest is a nice update and for the price its a pretty good deal.
On another note Thinksecret nailed this one a month ago. They also get the iBook update on the nose too. Seems to be the only rumor site with a shit anymore...
I hope you die painfully and alone.
They seemed to have made some nice updates. Too bad im so poor, id really like to get a mac desktop workstation soon.
You also get an Airport Extreme wireless slot and iTunes 4 included along with the rest iLife. I think the bus speed has been bumped up to 133, but I could be wrong about that
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstech nology/134689749_winhec06.html
I may yet eat my words.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
FYI, if you are a student you can get better prices at their online educational store:
(For my school - University of Maryland at College Park)
$749.00
800MHz PowerPC G4
128MB SDRAM
40GB Ultra ATA drive
CD-ROM drive
Discounted from $799 retail price
$949.00
1GHz PowerPC G4
128MB SDRAM
60GB Ultra ATA drive
Combo drive
Discounted from $999 retail price
$1,149.00
1GHz PowerPC G4
256MB SDRAM
80GB Ultra ATA drive
SuperDrive
Discounted from $1,299 retail price
$1,528.00
Image
1GHz PowerPC G4
1GB SDRAM
80GB Ultra ATA drive
SuperDrive
AirPort Extreme built-in
Discounted from $1,698 retail price
Even better deals can be had at Apple B&M stores in universities.
You have to be a valid student to get these prices.
There are also refurbished products that you can buy with Applecare over here.
Adi Gadwale.
Price/Performance is only one factor in the TCO calculation. I prefer to look at Price/Work_Output. I know I'll start a war with these comments, but consider this:
.. I'm ready for the flames now :)
First, the "Windows" part of "wintel":
How much down time is caused by rebooting Windows?
How much down time is caused by patching Windows?
Is the cost of the Apple solution outweighed by the cost of downtime experienced by Windows users?
Second, there are other Intel-based OSs, like Linux and *BSD. These are excellent, top-notch OSs, however, it can be tough to convince management that they can rely on a vendorless OS. (Yeah, blah blah RedHat blah blah).
If I could convince my management to give up Exchange, then OS X would be a great solution for the default desktop config.
If we were all on the same STABLE OS, with a single vendor supporting our Hardware and OS, with the large selection of vendor-backed applications, our work output would go through the roof.
Ok
10b||~10b -- aah, what a question!
see here
I hope you die painfully and alone.
Oddly, I find the low RAM configurations something where it looks like Apple is trying to give me a break, since they sell RAM at INSANE prices, and you can buy it much more cheaply from someone like Crucial.
This seems like a bargain too good to pass up. But I wonder about the quality of the monitor. If I were to get a Mac, it would be for photo and video editing. Is the integrated monitor on the eMac of good quality?
No USB 2.0 ports! Why not?
The market apple is strong in is the graphics market, and 128MB is like undermining themselves. They need firewire, USB2, 256MB starting RAM (possibly with 400FSB) and a good useable mouse, not a hockey puck. Both the radeon and 17" monitor are good choices there, but 128MB ram just doesnt go with it. DVD authoring would also be preferrable, but maybe not on the base model. I wonder if they should release a lower end than the basic eMac, with a 2d graphics card (or a Rive tnt2, or ati rage) 128MB ram, ~10GB harddisk, 500MHz CPU, 15" monitor and sell it at about $400. That would be a good way to get more people to use the Mac, especially during these recession times when everyones going for cheaper cars etc.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
*IF* Apple has fixed the huge early-failure defect problem they were having with eMacs, then these look like nice econo-G4 systems. Base price is about where the much weaker G3/15" CRT iMac was until recently.
They're really short on memory for most uses, but good 3rd party memory is so cheap that it's often thrown in free when you buy the system.
Size & weight are what you pay for the eMac being a G4 at G3 prices - look, lift it, & measure your desk before you buy.
It's easy to make up & spread cool- and credible-sounding stuff. Finding & checking hard facts is hard work.
"They need firewire,"
Got it. 2 Firewire ports.
"USB2"
Why? They have Firewire.
"256MB starting RAM"
http://macseek.com
Or you can just add it in their online store.
"and a good useable mouse, not a hockey puck."
Um, the Apple Mouse that comes with it ain't a hockey puck.
" DVD authoring would also be preferrable, but maybe not on the base model."
It is. Just not on the base model.
Of course, if we are upgrading for the base model, the one that is automatically equipped with a Superdrive has 256MB of RAM.
Integrate Keynote and LaTeX
Is that already available? I heard that was coming down the pipe, but if it's ready, I desparately need it. (it did not function last time I tried with Entourage.)
If there's an available update, patch, or procedure, please advise!
Thanx
And you, madam, are very ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober.
Rejoyce.
More info from MacMinute.
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.
It's not an LCD display (which I think is what you're thinking), its just a 17" flat CRT.
It was always my understanding that Apple shipped with low quantities of RAM as a bone thrown to their retail distributors. If you buy from MacMall or MacWarehouse you get "free" RAM with your purchase. If customers thought they had enough then this offer wouldnn't have the apeal it now has.
Hmm way to go modding me down as a troll and flaimbait. You've proven once again that Apple users are the most zealous. And not a single reply explaining why anybody thinks I'm trolling or baiting, how about that? Grow up, if you think I'm wrong and you want a debate, bring it. If you mod me down just because you disagree with me, and you don't even have the balls to say why, you're a pussy. And my karma is so high I don't give a damn.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
Just for the record, I do own two PowerMacs. I used to be an Apple fanatic. But I honestly couldn't justify spending any more money on their products.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
What are you talking about? New mice and keyboards are not here. They have not been seen within 300 miles of here. That's assuming that they even exist, which they do not!!
The patch is not out yet, it's due this summer. If Exchange has IMAP and LDAP enabled, Entourage v.X is a great client for email and Global Contacts. It's the group calendaring which is still a big missing piece.
Unfortunately they say it will require Exchange 2000 (or newer) which screws us since it'll probably be another year before our organization has Active Directory going (required for Exchange 2000).
I've heard apple sells refurb stuff, but every link i've seen goes to a page that says session timed out and i can't find the link to refurb on the store. Does anyone know how t get to the refurb apple products.
Requiring Ex 2000 is fine, when they come across with it. I was just dreading having to purchase Office 2004 just to get going. Still using Outlook under classic, but it's such a lame client. no graphics or html. How could anyone live like that?
And you, madam, are very ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober.
AC, incorectness != trolling. Furthermore I'm stating my opinions, I never claimed them to be facts, therefor they cannot be incorrect.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
What you're saying is a price/performance comparison is a measure of the unit's price vs. its SPEC benchmark scores. Performance is not measured in CPU processing power alone.
I'd put a Mac up against a Windows PC any day if you measure performance in terms of productivity. When orienting a new hire who may or may not know anything about computers, I've found Macs are FAR easier for them to learn to use than a Windows PC. Style and function guidelines are much more strictly followed as well as intelligent interface concepts. Shortcut keys are also used with much greater effectiveness. Getting a new user to use the Mac interface speedily is a relatively simple task.
If you're talking about interoperability as performance, OSX easily beats out Windows. Out of the box OSX supports NFS, CIFS/SMB, and AFS both as a client and server. You can stick an OSX system on a network with Windows, Linux, Solaris (or any other Unix), and Macintosh file servers and not need any third party software to browse or mount shares. On the file server end using OSX clients means no more third party software to provide a share protocol not natively supported by the file server's OS or vendor. Being able to interoperate with an existing infrastructure is a major advantage to using OSX.
If you measure performance in the form of longevity the Mac is a winner again. You may pay more up front for the Macintosh than you would an equivilent Windows PC but you end up with a much longer lasting machine. Ask anybody still doing serious work on their 8500s. Look to any school still doing quite well with Netscape 4.7 running on their Rev A iMacs.
If price is the lifetime price as opposed to the initial price a Mac is going to cost you a great deal less. Licensing Microsoft software for a large number of users is extremely expensive. A site running OSX over several years, and OS releases, is going to be paying far less than a Windows site. Because of the previously mentioned server compatibility the Mac site can replace their expensive proprietary servers with house supported open source server systems. Even if instead a site went with vendor supported server options they'd still be paying far less than the Windows site. A 10-user license for Windows Server 2003 Standard costs as a small cluster computers running open source programs providing the same functionality.
You may measure performance in terms of processor speed but when you run a business performance takes on many different meanings. Don't buy a Mac if you don't think the processor is fast enough. However don't be ignorant and make broad statements about price/performance comparisons if processor speed is the only metric you can think of.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.