eMac
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| eMac | |
|---|---|
 The Apple eMac |
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| Type: | Desktop |
| Developer: | Apple Computer |
| Released: | April 29, 2002 |
| Discontinued: | July 5, 2006 |
| Processor(s): | PowerPC G4, 700 MHz - 1.42 GHz |
The eMac, short for "education Mac", was a Macintosh desktop computer made by Apple Inc. It was originally aimed at the education market, then available as a cheaper mass market option over Apple's second generation iMac. The eMac is a white all-in-one design closely resembling that of first-generation iMacs. It sports a PowerPC G4 processor significantly faster than the older iMac's G3 processor, and a larger, 17" display.
The eMac was discontinued by Apple on July 5, 2006 and replaced with a cheaper, low-end iMac that, like the eMac, was originally sold exclusively to educational institutions, but later released to the general public in September 2006.
The eMac was the last of Apple's computers to be sold with a PowerPC processor. When the eMac was discontinued, the transition to Intel was complete.
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[edit] Overview
Apple introduced the eMac in April 2002 as a low-cost alternative to the new LCD iMac. It was originally intended exclusively for education buyers, but the demand for it was great enough that it was made available to the general public one month later.
The eMac featured a 17-inch (430 mm) flat CRT monitor, a Freescale PowerPC G4 processor running at 700 or 800 MHz, Nvidia GeForce2 MX graphics, and built-in 18-watt stereo speakers. The public models were priced at US$1,099 and US$1,499, filling the price gap between the US$799 old iMac G3 and the US$1499 new LCD iMac G4. Apple discontinued the old iMac line in March 2003 but did not fill the "cheap" price point until May 2003, when the eMac line was updated and its price brought down to old iMac levels. That revision brought the processor speed to 800 MHz and 1 GHz and replaced the GeForce2 with an ATI Technologies Radeon 7500 graphics system.
The eMac was further improved in October 2003, when the 800 MHz model was eliminated and the 1 GHz model was brought down to its price. A more expensive 1 GHz model that included a SuperDrive was also made cheaper. This model was notable for being one of the least expensive brand-name computers at the time that could burn DVDs. It was both the last revision of the eMac able to run Apple's OS 9 operating system natively and the last Macintosh model sold that retained this capability.
The next revision to the eMac line came in April 2004, with DDR SDRAM, a faster processor running at 1.25 GHz, and a better ATI Radeon 9200 video card. The most recent revision came in May 2005, with an even faster CPU running at 1.42 GHz, improved graphics and larger standard hard disks. To Apple's detriment, a number of eMac machines have suffered from what was known as "Raster Shift", a strange phenomenon where the bottom third or half of the screen goes black, with the rest of image shifting upward and out of the top boundary of the display. Serious static also accompanies the problem, rendering the viewable part of the screen virtually useless. In response to the problem, Apple offered a solution which involved the replacement of a video cable inside the eMac's case.
On October 12, 2005, Apple once again restricted sales of the eMac to educational institutions and returned to its "E is for Education" marketing scheme that had been attached to the product from the original restriction to education buyers. The company re-implemented this restrictive measure for unspecified reasons. Some analysts believe Apple wanted to force the general public to purchase the more costly Mac mini or iMac. However, the eMac was still available for sale to the general public through some third-party retailer websites.
In early 2006, some users started to experience system freezes in their second revision eMacs - by now around 18 months old. The fault was found to lay with a bad batch of capacitors which had also caused faults with the iMac G5, manufactured in a similar time frame. In June 2006 Apple introduced the eMac Repair Program. However, despite relating directly to the capacitor problem, the symptoms listed under the Repair Program do not include "freezing". Apple agreed to extend the warranty for this failure only on any affected eMacs up to 3 years old. However, some users have reported that Apple is accepting eMacs for repair even older than the 3 years stated.
On July 5, 2006, an "educational configuration" of the iMac Core Duo was introduced, discontinuing and replacing the entire eMac line. The new iMac has a Combo drive rather than a SuperDrive and a smaller hard disk of 80 GB.
[edit] Specifications
| Component | eMac [1] | eMac (ATI Graphics)[2] | eMac (USB 2.0) [3] | eMac (2005) [4] |
| Display | 17-inch (16-inch viewable) flat CRT | |||
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce2 MX with 32MB of DDR SDRAM | ATI Radeon 7500 with AGP 4x support; 32MB dedicated DDR SDRAM video memory | ATI Radeon 9200; 32MB dedicated DDR SDRAM video memory | ATI Radeon 9600 with AGP 4x support; 64MB dedicated DDR SDRAM video memory |
| Hard drive | 40 GB | 40 GB, 60 GB, 80 GB | 40 GB, 80 GB | 40 GB, 80 GB, 120GB, 160 GB |
| Processor | 700 MHz or 800 MHz PowerPC G4 | 800 MHz or 1 GHz PowerPC G4 | 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4 | 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4 |
| Memory | 128 MB of PC133 SDRAM Expandable up to 1 GB |
128 MB of PC133 SDRAM (256 MB on superdrive model) Expandable up to 1 GB |
256MB of PC2700 (333MHz) DDR SDRAM Expandable up to 2 GB (officially only 1 GB is supported) |
256MB of PC2700 (333MHz) DDR SDRAM (512 MB on superdrive model) Expandable up to 2 GB (officially only 1 GB is supported) |
| AirPort | Built-in antennas and card slot for optional 11 Mbit/s AirPort Card; IEEE 802.11b compliant | Built-in antennas and expansion slot for optional 54 Mbit/s AirPort Extreme Card | ||
| Optical drive | 32x CD-ROM, 8x12x32x Combo drive, SuperDrive | 32x CD-ROM, 8x10x32x Combo drive, 4x SuperDrive | Combo drive reads DVDs at up to 12x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 32x, writes CD-RW discs at up to 10x, reads CDs at up to 32x. SuperDrive writes DVD-R discs at up to 8x speed, reads DVDs at up to 10x, writes CD-R discs at up to 24x, writes CD-RW discs at up to 10x, reads CDs at up to 32x. | Combo drive reads DVDs at up to 12x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 32x, writes CD-RW discs at up to 10x, reads CDs at up to 32x. SuperDrive writes DVD±R discs at up to 8x speed, DVD±RW at up to 4x, reads DVDs at up to 10x, writes CD-R discs at up to 24x, writes CD-RW discs at up to 10x, reads CDs at up to 32x. |
| Standard Features | Built-in USB 1.0 and 2 Firewire ports, Built-in 18-watt stereo speakers, Built-in microphone, Built-in modem | 3 Built-in USB 2.0 and 2 Firewire ports, Built-in 16-watt stereo speakers, Built-in microphone | Built-in USB 2.0 and 2 Firewire ports, Built-in 18-watt stereo speakers, Built-in microphone, External VGA port, Bluetooth | |
| Weight | 50 pounds (22.7 kg) | |||
| Introduced | 29 April 2002 | 6 May 2003 | 13 April 2004 | 3 May 2005 |
Timeline of iMac models
- See also: Timeline of Macintosh models
[edit] External links
- eMac Specifications
- eMac Developer Note
- Everymac Specs Archive
- Designed in California specs and timeline
- Apple Introduces low cost Education Configuration for 17-inch iMac
- eMac Upgrade Guide
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