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Apple Revises eMac

Posted by timothy on from the flatscreen-would-rule dept.

RadRafe writes "Today Apple revised the eMac. It now sports a 1.25 GHz G4 processor, DDR RAM, and Radeon 9200 graphics. The Combo Drive model has twice as much RAM as before, and the SuperDrive model now costs just a grand. This is the first consumer Mac update in five months."

22 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Worth buying? by psyconaut · · Score: 4, Interesting

    At a grand with a Superdrive, seems like a nice little system for me to use when at home rather than setting up my Powerbook G4 when I get home...any comments on how usable it is? I'd definitely bump the RAM up from 256mbytes ;-)

    -psy

    1. Re:Worth buying? by Visigothe · · Score: 4, Informative

      The eMac is a good machine. the proc is fast enough to do most things [web, mail, WP, digital camera editing, mp3 ripping, etc.]. A few things to be aware of. The eMac is much larger than you think it is. Unlike the original iMac, the eMac doesn't have a handle, and the 17" monitor makes it rather awkward to pick up and move around.

      And yes, you'll want to up the RAM to as much as you can afford [OSX likes to use RAM as cache].

      Enjoy!

      --
      Blocklevel: Practical Information Architecture
    2. Re:Worth buying? by Johnny+Mnemonic · · Score: 4, Informative


      Get the stand for the eMac, if you do buy one; I think they're about $60, and it really makes re-positioning the eMac a lot easier. W/o, the eMac is just so much of a 70# boat anchor.

      --

      --
      $tar -xvf .sig.tar
    3. Re:Worth buying? by somethinghollow · · Score: 4, Interesting

      At risk of getting my chops busted, here is my input:

      It is a flat CRT, not a regular CRT. I'm staring at mine now, and to the left of it is a standard CRT I got from Gateway. It's running dual display (not mirroring). Compared to my old Gateway CRT, the eMac FLAT CRT is incredible.

      My graphic design professor said flat CRTs are better for design work than LCD or regular CRTs. Having worked with all three, I can attest to that.

      As far as the "too bad it isn't just a box," I guess that is personal opinion. I don't need the extra PCI slots, since everything I interface with is USB / firewire. The monitor is great, and the only thing I'd ever want to upgrade is the internal HDD (difficult) and RAM (easy). But I look at it this way: My eMac is roughly the same dimensions as just the older Apple CRTs for PowerMacs, and I don't have to find a place to store the box. But, hey, to each his own.

    4. Re:Worth buying? by crackshoe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      At the moment, i would go with a CRT over an LCD. why? I don't particularly value my desktop space ( i currently have 2 19" displays and a 21". i have the room), and LCD's are tiny per cost. I've used the apple 17" display, and its gorgeous, but overpriced. I do haev a few smaller (15") LCD's i use in a 'server closer' or for portable systems, but i wouldn't want to use one everyday. But as far as attatched displays go, I agree with the exception of the iMac. We bought one for my mum, and its a great box (unless you want to get all fiddly in it). The eMac is really designed for educational entry level enterprise use. after i graduated, my highschool upgraded to eMacs, with individuals logging in and having a floating profile. they were, i believe, designed to be cost efficent (as far as apple goes - theres also a CD-ROm only version thats only available for educational accounts) all in 1 systems. while i think it is currently the cheapest available apple boxen, i would think that the affordable iBOok would be a better draw for those on the edge of switching - but for mass deployed education, you want a relatively sturdy all-in-one box. LCD's get damaged really easily (hey, ir member the joys of making permanent squiggles in the school owned laptops).

      --
      Don't worry - its just stigmata. Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother.
    5. Re:Worth buying? by merdark · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's really just the CRT. I can't stand CRTs anymore. I don't really do much graphic design so that's not too much of an issue for me. I find LCDs to be much much easier on my eyes, and also much sharper (pixels really looks square). Not to mention subpixel antialiasing for fonts is AWSOME. I spend my entire day looking at text, so for me an LCD is top priority.

      Oh, not to mention an LCD takes up much less space on my desk and produces far less heat. Both properties are also very very important to me.

      But as you said, to each his own. Perhaps a CRT suits your needs better if you are a hardcore designer. CRTs do have better colour contrast than LCDs, but the average person would not be able to notice I doubt. :)

    6. Re:Worth buying? by Huge+Pi+Removal · · Score: 4, Informative

      FYI, the eMac is slightly shorter front-to-back than a CRT iMac :)

      It is, however, wider, higher, heavier, and a pain to move around. Good machines though, and the CRT is flat which makes it pleasant to work at.

      Oliver.

      --
      - Oliver

      The right to bear arms is only slightly less stupid than the right to arm bears...
    7. Re:Worth buying? by Graymalkin · · Score: 4, Informative

      The eMac uses about as much power (ie produces as much heat) as a similarly sized CRT monitor. So for the heat output of a nice size monitor you get a whole computer. Even if you've got a flat panel display it is going to be driven by a little space heater under the desk. While an LCD is definitely going to be smaller than an eMac the overall power savings aren't too impressive. If you want a system that won't heat up a room or take up a bunch of space get a Powerbook. My 12" PB uses as much power as a small light bulb and has a really crisp screen.

      --
      I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
  2. We really need eMacs... by Reorax · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...because asking people about Emacs isn't confusing enough already.

    --
    This sig is only here so people stop skipping the last lines of my posts.
  3. The first ever "bargain" Mac by amichalo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For under $800 this Mac is a bargain for potential "switchers". It is a Jaguar system for those who don't want to invest in a $2,000+ G5 setup to give the Mac a try.

    When I wanted to try out OS X, I did so with a $1800 Powerbook Ti G4 at 400Mhz, 256k RAM, 20GB HD, and a CD/DVD reader. I found that system well equiped to flex the power of then OS 10.1. Panther and Jaguar are both responsive on my 400Mhz PB and I can only imagine that on the $800 eMac, especially if the 256k is upgraded, it would be a great low cost Mac.

    This eMac system is well equiped for experimenting with iMovie, iPhoto, iTunesMusicStore, and GarageBand - all which come with it. For just $200 more you get a DVD burning SuperDrive and twice the drive space.

    But like I say, for $800, this is a great system for those who don't want to make the investment in a G5 inorder to give OS X a try.

    --
    I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
    1. Re:The first ever "bargain" Mac by Lebooge · · Score: 4, Informative

      Another thing for people to keep in mind is that this is the 'e'Mac.... as in educational. This box is not designed for power users or even 'prosumer' high-end home users. It's designed to be a relatively cheap computer that Apple can sell in bulk to school districts.

  4. iPod killer by amichalo · · Score: 5, Funny

    What a rip off Apple, no one is ever gonna buy the 40 GB iPod now - not when for just $300 more they can get a 40 GB music player with a combo drive, airport extreme & bluetooth support, and a 17" CRT for viewing cover art and playlists.

    Plus it comes with Garageband and iTMS BUILT IN!!!

    --
    I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
  5. Re:Still way outdated, Apple fanatics please read. by amichalo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dell Dimension 2400...sixhundred seventy-nine dollars....

    Dell Dimension 4600...nine hundred ninty eight dollars....

    Saving a buck of two for an inferrior user experience....priceless

    There are somethings money can't buy....for everything else, there's Microsoft.

    --
    I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
  6. Re:So I'm stupid... by amichalo · · Score: 4, Informative

    'e' stands for 'education'.

    Apple released the eMac as a more durable, less expensive alternative to the LCD iMac. Schools wanted it.

    --
    I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
  7. Re:Really how fast is this 1.25GHz machine by fm6 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Note that cross-system/OS comparisons must always be taken with a large dose of salt!
    And are irrelevent to anybody who'd consider buying an eMac. These are people who just want to run basic Mac stuff and don't care about performance -- if they did, they'd look at something fancier.

    The Mac-versus-PC performance debate has always been kind of pointless. People buy Macs because they like them, or because they think they're more usable, not because they care about the architectural superiority of the PowerPC chip. People buy PCs because they're cheaper, or because they need low-level compatibility, not because they have a misguided love of Intel technology.

    The issue is particularly irrelevent for people who aren't performance conscious. A 1Ghz PC may have a lot less computing power than a 1Ghz Mac, but it still has a lot more than most people need.

  8. The cache of owning an Apple? by GrahamCox · · Score: 4, Informative

    Cache = store, etc. I think you might mean cachet. That's pronounced "kash-ay" for you Americans that don't speak foreign.

  9. Nice little system by hattig · · Score: 5, Informative

    At last a reasonably priced Apple computer. And the international prices don't have the standard 50% Apple International tax, they are reasonably close to the US prices after currency conversion!

    For a laugh earlier I configured a system on Dells site with similar features. This was a 2.6GHz Celeron 2400C system. It came out higher priced than the eMac (eMac 549, Dell 580) for as close a match of specification as possible (and I made sure that warranties, etc, were minimal on the Dell, I'm not an Apple owner so I won't cheat like that!). Certainly not a bad deal in my opinion, especially with iLife and Panther included (after a year of using XP, I realise how much I loathe it). The Dell looked like a turd as well, if that matters to you! :)

  10. Fast DVD burner, too! by jimlau · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From the "Tech Specs" page:

    SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW); writes DVD-R discs at up to 8x speed, reads DVDs at up to 10x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 10x speed, reads CDs at up to 32x speed

    8X DVD-R speed, that's twice what they're putting in the G5s! Bonus points for that. It's nice that it's not a bare-bones low end model.

    1. Re:Fast DVD burner, too! by Anonymous+Freak · · Score: 5, Interesting

      To me, this is an iron-clad sign that the entire lineup of desktop Macs is about to receive an update.

      I mean, making the second-cheapest computer have a faster drive than the top of the line PowerMac? And making this new eMac better or equal to the iMac in every way at a significantly cheaper price? This can't stand for long. Either LCDs are so expensive that they're not making much of a profit off the iMacs, or the iMac is about to be updated.

      Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if everything else but the iBook gets an update within two weeks. (This also signals to me that the iMac will either receive a noticeable speed bump, or go G5.)

      --
      Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
      The purpose of that site was not known.
  11. Re:Still way outdated, Apple fanatics please read. by logicat2001 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Windows XP? I prefer Windows 2000 myself
    If you continue to base your opinions on a copy of Windows 3.1 you once used ten years ago - OS 9 was arguably even worse

    I didn't post above, but I currently use both XP and 2000 daily. Make your own decisions but I also use OS X daily and it's far and away the most pleasant working environment I've encountered to date. That doesn't mean it's perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but that's not the point now, is it.

    As for "OS 9," um, who's talking about OS 9?

    If you want Unix, install Linux... FreeBSD... SuSE... Debian... Lycoris... Lindows... There are choices in the Windows world.

    Well, by the time I've finished clicking through the (Continue) buttons in an OS X install I've managed to install both the entire GUI environment and the entire Unix OS. I can also install other Unix systems on Mac hardware, but frankly I've got everything I need right here.

    I don't need to install anything else except Logic Pro 6, Ableton Live, MetaSynth, ArtMatic Pro, MetaTrack, Voyager, VTrack, Absynth, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, OmniDiskSweeper, Studiometry, FileMakerPro, Adobe Creative Suite, LaunchBar, MySQL, Perl 5.8.3, Fink, Plone, Keynote, BBEdit, FastTrack Schedule Pro, Sonasphere, Toast 6, ZBrush, and a few more but I'll get to those tomorrow.

    I run all these (plus my email, internet, contacts management, calendaring, etc) in the same operating environment; not an emulation shell, not after dual-booting, but in the very same operating system and simultaneously.

    To top it all off OS X comes with a full set of developer tools, documentation and optimization utilities, plus Cocoa+Obj-C is a match made in heaven.

    There's no need to pay Apple for a decent Unix experience.

    Well, I believe there is. I enjoy the ability to support quality whether it's a film, a restaurant, a music venue, a book, clothing, my neighborhood, an artist, etc. every single day.

    The hardware is just a hunk of material until you've discovered/designed an interface with which to use it. Solely on a base consumer level, I'm very happy to pay Apple for what is, in daily practice, a superior computer operating system. From the level of both a technology consultant and a media creator, the solution is very simple.

    OS X is a very impressive "Holy Grail" for all my current activities. Strap me in because I'm ready to get to work.

  12. Not quite. by RadRafe · · Score: 5, Informative
    If Apple had used Linux for the base system, they would have been forced to be part of the community and give full value in return instead of getting away with dropping a bone here and there.
    Sigh. In the process of turning OPENSTEP into Mac OS X, why in the name of salted peanuts should Avie and his team have ripped everything out and started again with Linux? Or do you not even know the history of NextSTEP?

    Besides, what source doesn't Apple share already, that a GNU license would force them to? Darwin is totally open. You can download the source here.

  13. Re:Too long a wait? by milkman_matt · · Score: 4, Funny

    What are they up to? Where is my dual G5 PowerBook anyway?

    It's scheduled to be released immediately after your purchase of a G4 powerbook.

    -matt