[SeSawaya]

1 ghz and 80 gig HD & Super Drive, $1300. $150 less through the education store.

$500 diffrence for the same thing in the iMac.



eMac is looking pretty good to me. (unfortunately!!!)

[Eug]

Originally posted by SeSawaya:
1 ghz and 80 gig HD & Super Drive, $1300. $150 less through the education store.

$500 diffrence for the same thing in the iMac.

Yep, For $1150, a SuperDrive 1 GHz machine is sweet.

[slider]

An over due update. Too bad the price couldn't come down a little bit more just to be more attractive to switchers, but I think it's a fair deal.

[Commodus]

At least Apple now has a $799 US machine with a G4 in it - that's a big step.

My main beef here is the memory. Why is it still the case that you only get 128 MB of memory on the two base-model eMacs? At the least, I would hope for 256 MB on the 1 GHz combo drive model. Ah well, you can always spend an extra $50 and get 256 MB straight from the factory if you want.

[SeSawaya]

4 x DVD burner too. Only 32 megs video ram to be expected though. 1 gig of Ram is $300 at apple

Now can I run OS9 on this machine? I have 1 FREAKIN program that isnt ported yet for OSX and its my main program I use (FInale)

[murbot]

The CD-ROM and Combo Drive models will boot into OS9, but the SuperDrive model is OSX only.

There is also a new keyboard with these.



Find it by selecting the eMac at the Apple Store, and clicking Photo Gallery at the bottom of that page.

New USB port placement... hmm.

[AssassyN]

Whoa!!! A new keyboard silently included!

The crazy thing is you can't even purchase one seperately in the Accessories section of the Apple Store. And I'm not too sure the new USB placement was very good, escp. with those that have desks with pull-out keyboard silders. This means you'd hafta reach all in behind your keyboard to connect your digicam and such...ah well, the design is swank, I'll be happy to see some early adopters pics!

[bradoesch]

Originally posted by SeSawaya:
4 x DVD burner too. Only 32 megs video ram to be expected though. 1 gig of Ram is $300 at apple

I bought 1 GB of the same type of RAM for $200 CAD. That's like $142 USD.

[Simon]

Yeah, nice update there. Especially since it will shut those up always whining about Apple not offering a Mac below a $999.

There's just something I don't understand. When the new iBooks came out and didn't have AP Extreme I thought, OK, in that case Apple doesn't think APX is a feature for its cheapo model lines. But now these eMacs come out and have APX. So what is the logic here? A desktop computer which is going to be cabled anyway needs APX while a portable computer that will surely sometimes rely on wireless networking doesn't get it? Sounds FUBAR to me...

Anybody care to explain what went on Steve's head when they came up with that one?

[Anand]

What kills me is that the low end eMac has a 133 bus and the low end iMac has a 100 buss. Why?

[Simon]

Originally posted by Anand:
What kills me is that the low end eMac has a 133 bus and the low end iMac has a 100 buss. Why?

Good question. I missed that one.

What were they thinking...?

[bradoesch]

Originally posted by Anand:
What kills me is that the low end eMac has a 133 bus and the low end iMac has a 100 buss. Why?

When Apple updated the iMac, they left the low end machine alone, and it still has the old motherboard. It doesn't support AirPort extreme, etc. because it's still running the older motherboard.

[bradoesch]

Originally posted by Simon:
Yeah, nice update there. Especially since it will shut those up always whining about Apple not offering a Mac below a $999.

There's just something I don't understand. When the new iBooks came out and didn't have AP Extreme I thought, OK, in that case Apple doesn't think APX is a feature for its cheapo model lines. But now these eMacs come out and have APX. So what is the logic here? A desktop computer which is going to be cabled anyway needs APX while a portable computer that will surely sometimes rely on wireless networking doesn't get it? Sounds FUBAR to me...

Anybody care to explain what went on Steve's head when they came up with that one?

The new iBooks don't have AirPort Extreme because Apple didn't want to do any motherboard modifications, just stick the faster processor in there, or perhaps just clock it higher. Perhaps a sign of a big iBook update to come?

[Kenneth]

Originally posted by Simon:
Good question. I missed that one.

What were they thinking...?

I think today's eMac has the new mobo vs the old mobo on the 15" iMac.

This makes me thinking of the sales of the 15" iMac goes way down and Apple has many old mobo left.

133Mhz bus should be the min. on computers these days...nice to see Apple made it.

[Jerman]

Radeon 7500.. Hmm... Wonder if the "iBook Hack" (monitor spanning) would work on this....

[allap]

What app is that shown on the emac screen ??

[Kenneth]

Originally posted by allap:
What app is that shown on the emac screen ??

I would say..iDVD3

[asmack]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the middle eMac is the first 1 GHz PowerPC G4 OS9-bootable Mac (with 133 MHz system bus, no less) for under $1000.

This is great because I would still like to get a cheap OS9-bootable box, and this seems ideal for it. OSX is great, and this is probably where I'll be spending most of my time, but sometimes it's nice to boot into OS9 for troubleshooting and/or using old OS9 software that cannot be used in Classic mode for some reason. In other words, the best of both worlds...

[Superchicken]

Sadly I think that this whole include APE on the eMac but not on the iBooks might actually mean I'm gona go for a 12 inch power book, they're not terribly bad price wise for edu buyers... and I really don't like the idea of plunking down my cash for an iBook that will be out dated in just a couple of months... i mean I know you get that with every moddel.. but this is likey the last version of this case and they'll be adding new features and all that...

[Simon]

Originally posted by bradoesch:
When Apple updated the iMac, they left the low end machine alone, and it still has the old motherboard. It doesn't support AirPort extreme, etc. because it's still running the older motherboard.

Originally posted by bradoesch:
The new iBooks don't have AirPort Extreme because Apple didn't want to do any motherboard modifications, just stick the faster processor in there, or perhaps just clock it higher. Perhaps a sign of a big iBook update to come?

Originally posted by Kenneth:
I think today's eMac has the new mobo vs the old mobo on the 15" iMac.

Guys, it's absolutely clear that these drawbacks/cripplings have to do with old vs. new motherboard versions. But that's not the issue.

Tthe real question here is why Apple chose to use new boards on the el-cheapo machine, but gave much more expensive models the old junk boards.

This will simply push potential buyers to the cheaper models and thus Apple makes less profit because of lower margins. Bad policy IMHO. It's nice that Apple now has a $799 Mac, but it shouldn't offer more features than the $1299 models...

[Simon]

Originally posted by Superchic[k]en:
Sadly I think that this whole include APE on the eMac but not on the iBooks might actually mean I'm gona go for a 12 inch power book, they're not terribly bad price wise for edu buyers... and I really don't like the idea of plunking down my cash for an iBook that will be out dated in just a couple of months... i mean I know you get that with every moddel.. but this is likey the last version of this case and they'll be adding new features and all that...

I perfectly understand. I think it's a shame that the $1299 iBook gets less wireless capabilities than the $799 eMac.

But what you now are doing is of course exactly what Steve wanted you to do. The 12" PowerBook is too close to the iBook, so they are artificially crippling the iBook to get you to buy the PowerBook. I hate that strategy.

[Simon]

BTW, does anybody understand what Apple is doing in terms of their GPUs?

First we had all ATI. Then they pissed Steve off and he started to use nVidia.

It looked as if the mobiles were going ATI and the desktops nVidia (or ATI in case of the PowerMac video card selection). This seemed to make sense, because ATI used less juice (which made them perfect for the portables) but nVidia delivered more power for the money (which made them perfect for the iMac).

Then the new Al PowerBooks came out and suddenly they had nVidia too. What goes? OK, maybe Apple is switching to nVidia for good...

Now, the new eMacs come out and looky here, ATI. Mind you, a crappy 7500, but hey it's a budget Mac so who cares.

But what is the startegy behind all this? Is there any logic to what model lines get which CPUs? Can anybody tell me where Apple is going here?

[retroneo]

Apple is trying to share their GPU supply between the two makers. Otherwise we would only have support for one brand or the other one the Mac. i.e. The non-OEM brand would likely seriously neglect the Mac platform (or leave) if all it were to produce were aftermarket cards.

[yellowdog]

If memory serves me correctly, wasn't the prior eMac model plagued with a high per cent of CRT failures/problems? Anyone know if they have corrected that problem/switched to a different CRT?

[murbot]

It now does 1280x960 at 75 Hz, as opposed to 72 Hz previously. They've changed the CRT in there, or at least modified it somehow.

[yellowdog]

Originally posted by murbot:
It now does 1280x960 at 75 Hz, as opposed to 72 Hz previously. They've changed the CRT in there, or at least modified it somehow.

Is that a function of the newer video card?

[Gamoe]

Guys, it's absolutely clear that these drawbacks/cripplings have to do with old vs. new motherboard versions. But that's not the issue.

Tthe real question here is why Apple chose to use new boards on the el-cheapo machine, but gave much more expensive models the old junk boards.

The eMac is simply the first to receive these updates. Maybe Apple chose to update the eMac first to push the edu market, or because it was the easiest to update.

It's just that the rest of the Mac family hasn't been updated yet, and for a short time the least expensive machines have a bit of an edge on the rest, on a few features.

I think the eMac updates foreshadow bigger updates to all the other lines very soon.

This will simply push potential buyers to the cheaper models and thus Apple makes less profit because of lower margins. Bad policy IMHO. It's nice that Apple now has a $799 Mac, but it shouldn't offer more features than the $1299 models...

I disagree. I think power users or most people looking at the iMac will not go for the eMac unless they want a less expensive machine, the eMac's customer target. Others discontent with current iMac offerings will simply wait for the other machines to get updated.

[Simon]

Originally posted by Gabriel Morales:
I disagree. I think power users or most people looking at the iMac will not go for the eMac unless they want a less expensive machine, the eMac's customer target. Others discontent with current iMac offerings will simply wait for the other machines to get updated.

Just imagine Joe Sixpack looking at a 15" iMac and a new eMac. No salesman and no ad is going to convince him to buy the $1299 iMac over a superior $999 eMac. And that's exactly where Apple will lose money. Profit on the eMac is even worse than on the iMac - and it's not that big anyhow.

I think it's also more than just naive if you believe that Apple will update iMacs and iBooks within the next weeks just because they introduced a superior eMac. The iMacs are not due for an update until about August and the iBooks have just been updated.

If Apple has got a problem pushing their models then for sure they should let the eMacs (as those machines with the least profit) suck the longest. It's stupid to push your no-money-earning-machine as hard as they are. You push the cash-cows not your teaser.

[asmack]

I'm pretty sure that this is what the new keyboard and mouse look like:



USB ports in the back; no flip-up riser; matches the profile posted earlier...

[Simon]

Originally posted by asmack:
I'm pretty sure that this is what the new keyboard and mouse look like:

Did they just increase the size of Esc and F12 or are those other keys? Why make F12 larger than the other F-keys? Does that make production any cheaper?

[Kenneth]

Originally posted by Simon:
Did they just increase the size of Esc and F12 or are those other keys? Why make F12 larger than the other F-keys? Does that make production any cheaper?

Well.. there are now 13 keys in between the larger "Esc" and "the other larger key"... I gotta see this in-person this weekend. There are no spaces between Esc and F1, F4 and F5, etc which found on the Pro keyboard.

[Simon]

Originally posted by Kenneth:
Well.. there are now 13 keys in between the larger "Esc" and "the other larger key"... I gotta see this in-person this weekend. There are no spaces between Esc and F1, F4 and F5, etc which found on the Pro keyboard.

OMG, right! Does that mean we get the power key back (since there is one more key up there now)?

There used to be an old Performa keyboard which had its power key also at the top and right in the middle...

[Gamoe]

Just imagine Joe Sixpack looking at a 15" iMac and a new eMac. No salesman and no ad is going to convince him to buy the $1299 iMac over a superior $999 eMac. And that's exactly where Apple will lose money. Profit on the eMac is even worse than on the iMac - and it's not that big anyhow.

Well, the iMac's still got an LCD screen, a better graphics card and comes with Apple Pro speakers...

I think it's also more than just naive if you believe that Apple will update iMacs and iBooks within the next weeks just because they introduced a superior eMac. The iMacs are not due for an update until about August and the iBooks have just been updated.

If Apple has got a problem pushing their models then for sure they should let the eMacs (as those machines with the least profit) suck the longest. It's stupid to push your no-money-earning-machine as hard as they are. You push the cash-cows not your teaser.

Well, that "teaser" is what I can afford right now. But, you bet that if I had the budget to right now, I'd be buying a Power Mac, rather than an eMac or an iMac. Similarly, no pro user is going to say "Gee, this eMac is a better deal. I'm going to buy one of these instead".

And, I think many Mac users will still prefer an iMac instead of an eMac just because it has an LCD screen and it has more "cool appeal".

The point I'm trying to make is that each model has its own customer base, which will stick to a particular model even if they can get a better deal buying a lower-end model. I don't think any LCD iMac user will want to go back to a CRT.

But, you're right also- It will also detract many users from buying an iMac. But I could not afford $1,750 for a superdrive iMac, versus $1,150 for a superdrive eMac right now, so I'm happy.

Hopefully the iMac and iBooks will be updated sooner than we think, though.

[gto47]

We just picked up the 1ghz/superdrive/256 model for $1299. It is enormously faster than I had expected. We put UT 2k3 on it and with default settings its doing at least 60fps. The keyboard and mouse are nice. The keyboard is kind of boxy but shorter than the pro keyboard, a convenience considering the pro keyboard was difficult to fit in many keybaord trays. The mouse is nearly identical except it does not have the pressure adjustment wheel. I still can't believe how fast it is. I think this is one of the best deals apple has ever offered.

[Krusty]

Originally posted by gto47:
We just picked up the 1ghz/superdrive/256 model for $1299. It is enormously faster than I had expected. We put UT 2k3 on it and with default settings its doing at least 60fps. The keyboard and mouse are nice. The keyboard is kind of boxy but shorter than the pro keyboard, a convenience considering the pro keyboard was difficult to fit in many keybaord trays. The mouse is nearly identical except it does not have the pressure adjustment wheel. I still can't believe how fast it is. I think this is one of the best deals apple has ever offered.

Sounds great .. with the 25% cpu bump + 33% bus bump, a BIG jump is not so surprising. Hey ... when are you gonna post X-bench numbers ? Also .. any word on the HD ? Is is still 5400 rpm or is it a 7200rpm model as is in the iMac now ??

Also .. this is definitely good news for what we may see in the next upgrades for the other lines. Fast eMac will mean HELLA fast PMs/iMacs/PBs ... I hope

[oivindi]

So, any words on how noisey, or silent, this machine is?

The previous eMacs had a bad, bad rep with regards to noise (or NOISE), so I´m hoping the new ones are quiet enough to stand on a desk without driving me nuts.

Or...?

/Ø/

[gto47]

My xbench results may be found here

The fan does make some noise. Its not silent by any means, but I do not find it annoying. It hums quietly and does not whine. A friend of mine has a flat panel iMac and it generates a nearly identical amount of noise.

The thing came with an 7200RPM 80GB barracuda V. Wow, didn't expect that one... An unexpected feature.