eMac named Worst Desktop PC

[rdowns]

http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/general/2004/12/20/generalmacobserver_2004_12_20_eng-macobserver_eng-macobserver_121548_107023336812008987.html?partner=yahoo&referrer=

The end of the year inevitably brings with it scores of "Best of" lists from a variety of sources. Such lists from this year frequently have Apple's iPod at or near the top, but Apple also made another kind of list this year: PC Magazine's "Worst Products of the Year" list, where the eMac was named worst Desktop PC.

"For Apple, the entry-level eMac really does represent Think Different," wrote Jim Louderbeck. "That's because for a company that prides itself on quality, this computer is different. As in bad."

Noting that it is stylish, he called it slow, underpowered, and pathetic. He specifically criticized the 40 Gigabyte hard drive the entry-level unit comes with, and said it was impossible to download data from the unit because it does not have a DVD burner. To that end he did not also note that it comes with FireWire, USB, Ethernet, and a CD burner, all of which can be used, and are used by Mac users, to transfer data.

The last technical issue he listed as a problem is the ATI Radeon 9200 graphics card, which he said "won't even run this fall's hot Mac games."

Mr. Louderbeck concludes: "If you're considering a home Apple, think different. Buy a Dell. Or be prepared to spend a lot more for an acceptable Apple computer."


more at link....

[jeremy.king]

For a second there, I thought it was named worst desktop PC, because it didn't hold up to the standard of all other PCs which include security exploits, spyware, and viruses.

While I agree with some of the points there, but I would defend with the fact that the eMac is an educational product turned consumer because of demand for CRT all-in-ones. Was never really designed for the public.

[QCassidy352]

I think he's missing the point of what and who the emac is for. And the "transfering data" thing is just an ignorant statement.

[brap]

more at link....
Original article (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1735287,00.asp).

He basically slated it because he couldn't play Halo with shaders.

Makes or breaks the deal for me...

[miloblithe]

Until the most recent G5 iMacs, the emac was pretty comparable to the iMac, just with a CRT instead of flat screen. In fact, at certain points it has been more powerful than the iMac, and it's so much cheaper. If rumors prove to be true and a G5 eMac is due in the next few months, I will once again argue that the eMac is a much better computer for the money than an iMac (depending on how price/specs shake out).

However, the current eMac is pretty weak, but even a boost to a 1.5Ghz G4 (or more) would make it OK again.

[superfunkomatic]

the only thing he could have added to make himself sound like a complete twat was "this thing doesn't have a floppy drive".

doesn't surprise me, given the source of the article.

it's a great computer for business, small business, or home use. and for crying out loud - does every computer have to be a super gaming machine?

[timnosenzo]

Yeah, I'll go buy a Dell instead...

http://homepage.mac.com/timothynosenzo/.Public/megarolleyessm.gif

I think that guy really misses the point of the eMac.

[combatcolin]

Apparantly you need a DVD burner to copy information that other people need on there computers.

Hmmm.

Reviewer didn't metion that an emac will still be soldiering on in years to come when most PC's motherboards will have died...

Hmmm.

Oh well, silly articles like this won't affect the buying public.

[yippy]

Umm... for the low end eMac. And am I behind the times or don't most people use CDs to get info off of their computer still?

[rdowns]

Apparantly you need a DVD burner to copy information that other people need on there computers.

Hmmm.

Reviewer didn't metion that an emac will still be soldiering on in years to come when most PC's motherboards will have died...

Hmmm.

Oh well, silly articles like this won't affect the buying public.

You must be kidding. Articles such as these are the bane of Apple. The original article was in PC Magazine.

[Dont Hurt Me]

Hey rdowns, the author makes a lot of hit and miss statements. Heck the iMac doesnt have a gaming card in it let alone a 9200 in a emac. Still as long as you only like those oldergaming or arcade titles the emac is a very nice entry machine and can do almost everything else. But it is true its a old G4 and a old 9200 mated to a what is now dirt cheap crt. it needs bumping, you know what i mean. :D

[Eric_Z]

The end of the year inevitably brings with it scores of "Best of" lists from a variety of sources. Such lists from this year frequently have Apple's iPod at or near the top, but Apple also made another kind of list this year: PC Magazine's "Worst Products of the Year" list, where the eMac was named worst Desktop PC.

Meh... there are far "worse" desktops out there, just take a look at the SUN Blade 150 (http://www.sun.com/desktop/workstation/sunblade150/) for example. Yeah I know that they claim that it's a "workstation", but come on... [and I actually like SUNs] For $1,395.00 you get:

UltraSPARC-IIi Processor: ____1 @ 550 MHz
On-Chip L2 Cache: __________512 KB
Graphics Accelerator:_______Sun PGX64
Memory: _________________256 MB (1 @ 256-MB DIMM)
7200 RPM EIDE Disk Drive:___ 1 @ 80 GB
Ethernet Port: _____ _______ 1 @ 10/100BASE-T
USB Port: _________________4
IEEE 1394 Port: ____________2
Parallel Port: _____________ 1
Serial Port: _______________1
32-Bit PCI Slot:_____________3 @ 33 MHz
Floppy Drive: ______________1
16X DVD-ROM Drive :________1
Smart Card Reader: _________1
Office Productivity Suite:_____StarOffice 6.0 Pre-Installed
Operating System:___________Solaris 8 & 9 Pre-Installed

[noel4r]

I have an eMac and I love that machine. This guy's insane. I have a superdrive and I've never used it. I use a flash drive to get data off my machine or use a cd. A cd is less expensive than a dvd-r. It isn't underpowered at all. I constantly have iTunes, iPhoto, Mail, Safari running at the same time and it runs smoothly and I never turn that machine off. How can the eMac be worse than a low-end Compaq? I repeat, this guy's insane!

[mrgreen4242]

A review of Dell's entry level PC:

This comes with a 40gb HD, quite inadiquate.
It lacks a DVD burner AND A CD BURNER. It doesn't even have a DVD READER!?
The integrated Intel GPU won't play even last years hottest PC games.
It completely lacks in firewire support, limited to jusr USB for transfering data off the computer.
If it wasn't for the holiday sale, you would get a 17" CRT standard with it, same as the eMac.
The CPU is definately faster than the eMacs, at a P4 2.8 ghz, but it is massive crippled by the inclusion of Windows XP Home. <ack>

Ya, that was a pretty lame article, especially the end when he suggests buying a Dell... like thier computers are that much better than an eMac.

[rdowns]

Hey rdowns, the author makes a lot of hit and miss statements. Heck the iMac doesnt have a gaming card in it let alone a 9200 in a emac. Still as long as you only like those oldergaming or arcade titles the emac is a very nice entry machine and can do almost everything else. But it is true its a old G4 and a old 9200 mated to a what is now dirt cheap crt. it needs bumping, you know what i mean. :D

It doesn't rally matter if his statements are hit or miss. The general buying public is not as knowledgable as the furum posters here. They will read the article and not dig down deeper.

Perhaps we should all write letters to PC Magazine with polite, intelligent rebuttals.

[BornAgainMac]

eMacs are the worst Macs but not the worst desktops.

eMacs are very durable machines. They are best used in an office or school rather than a primary home machine. They also are good for people that have a high-end PC but want to try a Mac without spending a fortune. iBook is probaby a better choice compared to a eMac in that situation.

Celerons (even at 2.8 Ghz) should be considered worst desktops. Those run so slow even compared to old Pentium 3 machines.

[maya]

I have an eMac and I love that machine. This guy's insane. I have a superdrive and I've never used it. I use a flash drive to get data off my machine or use a cd. A cd is less expensive than a dvd-r. It isn't underpowered at all. I constantly have iTunes, iPhoto, Mail, Safari running at the same time and it runs smoothly and I never turn that machine off. How can the eMac be worse than a low-end Compaq? I repeat, this guy's insane!

Dell must have paid him off ;). besides its in PC mag, not Mac mag what do you expect the guy to say buy an eMac. He might get the boot the following day and have a truck load of angry PC users, maybe no Christmas bonus either. People are always paid in the media to take sides if you get my drift. :)

[Sun Baked]

And how well do the $499 PCs compare to his goal of the perfect computer, or the $199 PCs without Windows.

The $625 eMac is there as a complete education solution/alternative to the $499 Dell in the education market, not as a hugely efficient and most up-to-date desktop around.

Plus with the eMacs sealed construction, there are less apt to be opened by students and gutted/downgraded -- which eats into a schools budget.

With decent memory, the machine was one of the best bargains in the line-up -- now that the G5s are out the little eMac is still a great little machine.

[Chip NoVaMac]

Yeah, I'll go buy a Dell instead...

http://homepage.mac.com/timothynosenzo/.Public/megarolleyessm.gif

I think that guy really misses the point of the eMac.

It also sounds like this guy has never tried to call Dell for help either. My recent 2001FP purchase is most likely the last one from Dell, if my before and after sale support issues are any indication.

[iindigo]

Interestingly, the same magazine rated the iMac G5 four and a half out five stars.

[spaceballl]

I think his article was harsh, but he made some pretty good points. At close to $1k, a comparable PC is a much better deal. This one lacks a DVD burner, lacks memory, lacks a new graphics card, lacks a big hard drive, etc etc. In fact, this thing doesn't really offer too much at all. I do appreciate that he goes out of his way to say that they reccommend other macs (iMac, iBook, etc) in their product guide, showing that its not that he hates macs, but for the price, the eMac is trash.

[Timelessblur]

it sounds bad until you start thinking about it. when you figure in how much you payed for the emac then compared it to what you get out it pretty crappy. Dell 500 buck computer has a much better ratio in for the amont of money you put in to what you get out. that is what he is hitting on. it the fact of how poor the promeces to dollar ratio plays out and it is well pretty poor.

[cmvsm]

This guy also has no mention of the space savings the eMacs are known for in terms of elementary school use, a primary target market. The eMac is just about indestructable to my wife's first graders who use it for reading skills an computer introduction. It has no tower, no crazy wires all over the place, and is very simply set up so that anyone can use it.

The article is typical of the PC world where every computer must be to gaming standards. God forbid if you tier your computer offering to a wide range of customer base.

[sigamy]

I think Jim Louderbeck used to be on TechTV, back when it was ZDTV. Didn't like him then...still don't.

As much as I want more people to buy Macs...anyone who reads this and doesn't know any better deserves a Dell and WinXP and spyware and viruses and popups and spam and crashes and headaches.

The eMac is a fine value for its intended audience. That being said, I believe it should stay G4 and that Apple should keep one config at low specs (1ghz/256/40/combo/ethernet) and offer it at $549-$599. Never gonna happen, but I'll dream.

[AmigoMac]

I won't even read the article, they always compare apples to bananas...

[Daveway]

How many times has an ignorant PC using goober bashed a Mac because it was different? A LOT! Remember the guy who called us satanic? (i'm Catholic to) I thought that we had started to shy away from these ignorant articles. I hope this doesnt get over 2 pages!

[Sun Baked]

I won't even read the article, they always compare apples to bananas...What do you expect from a bunch of PC using monkies. http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=12555&stc=1

[Timelessblur]

I won't even read the article, they always compare apples to bananas...


well then you have no right to comment on it because if you had read the artical you would of noticed that he only complains about the emac. He says the imac ibook and above are all good computers but for the price the emac is pretty crappy in today standards. when it came out yeah it was good but now it is over price.

[jadam]

]Remember the guy who called us satanic? (i'm Catholic to)



.... That was a prank...

[AmigoMac]

well then you have no right to comment on it because if you had read the artical you would of noticed that he only complains about the emac. He says the imac ibook and above are all good computers but for the price the emac is pretty crappy in today standards. when it came out yeah it was good but now it is over price.

Now, including the iBook and iMac, you are going apple to apples ;) ... Bute PCs in the mixture... :roleyes: yeah, pretty crappy, fugly design, what the H*ll is OS X ? ohh, wait, never mind, I have a lot of dells at work and I'm so pleased to be back at home with my eMac.

[AdamR01]

Meh... there are far "worse" desktops out there, just take a look at the SUN Blade 150 (http://www.sun.com/desktop/workstation/sunblade150/) for example. Yeah I know that they claim that it's a "workstation", but come on... [and I actually like SUNs] For $1,395.00 you get:

UltraSPARC-IIi Processor: ____1 @ 550 MHz
On-Chip L2 Cache: __________512 KB
Graphics Accelerator:_______Sun PGX64
Memory: _________________256 MB (1 @ 256-MB DIMM)
7200 RPM EIDE Disk Drive:___ 1 @ 80 GB
Ethernet Port: _____ _______ 1 @ 10/100BASE-T
USB Port: _________________4
IEEE 1394 Port: ____________2
Parallel Port: _____________ 1
Serial Port: _______________1
32-Bit PCI Slot:_____________3 @ 33 MHz
Floppy Drive: ______________1
16X DVD-ROM Drive :________1
Smart Card Reader: _________1
Office Productivity Suite:_____StarOffice 6.0 Pre-Installed
Operating System:___________Solaris 8 & 9 Pre-Installed

How is it not a workstation?? I know of no one that uses a Sun machine for a desktop. And what is so bad about it for that price? The chip speed?

[Chip NoVaMac]

Maybe it is me, but I question why any computer buyer (except the truly hardcore game player) would buy a computer to play games on. It is far cheaper to buy the latest game box and software, than to try to keep up with computer hardware to do the same.

[jimjiminyjim]

Those articles always hit hardest to the owners. I think I'll return my eMac. Apparently it's the crappiest computer around. You know what, I'll just through it out the window. I have the consolation of having extra RAM and a DVD burner... but then, I've only used the DVD burner twice, so, well, I may as well throw it out the window. Ya, and OS X.3? What's with that useless program? It never crashes... is it actually an OS, or just some weird hardware fakeout? And it came with all the free software that an iMac has... I think I'll just delete it. Oh, and it looks good. Yes. I think it looks good. It's not a flat panel. Well, anyway, have a nice day. I won't be talking with you for a while, as I'm throwing my eMac out the window (as I've mentioned). I'll find out an old PC or dig out my iMac 233, though they are utter junk too.

[Eric_Z]

How is it not a workstation?? I know of no one that uses a Sun machine for a desktop. And what is so bad about it for that price? The chip speed?

The defenition that I use for a workstation, and the one that Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workstation) uses, is:

A computer workstation, often colloquially referred to as workstation, is a hign-end general-purpose microcomputer designed to be used by one person at a time and which offers higher performance than normally found in a personal computer, especially with respect to graphics, processing power and the ability to carry out several tasks at the same time.

Now I've used a SUN 150 at uni, and it's nothing of the above.

[puckhead193]

For less then a grand, look at the computer your getting......Its a great computer for education and basic users, Not everyone can afford a $5,000 dual 2.5 GHZ G5 with 2 gigs of ram... :rolleyes:

[Timelessblur]

under the current price the artical is making it the emac is pretty crap for it price end of story. 6 months ago it was a good price for it.

Comuputer loose there value extermly quitcly for example my computer I built this summer I spent around 1500 for it including the OS. in less than 6 month the computer was worth around 750 bucks. mind you that the computer is still stonger than any imac you can buy or even upgraded mind you that price is or tower only. that is the point it trying to make the emac now is aworth around 500 maybe 600 tops but it price at around 800 apple does not upgrade it offen enough to keep up with tech. if you jsut bought you emac in the past 2 months or so I am sorry but you got rip off. nhow if you got it over the summer stop your complaining the emac was a good deal then.

[Abstract]

Until the most recent G5 iMacs, the emac was pretty comparable to the iMac, just with a CRT instead of flat screen. In fact, at certain points it has been more powerful than the iMac, and it's so much cheaper. If rumors prove to be true and a G5 eMac is due in the next few months, I will once again argue that the eMac is a much better computer for the money than an iMac (depending on how price/specs shake out).



I agree 100% with the above.

However, seeing as how the current eMac truly IS a p.o.s., I think we should cut the writer some slack. The eMac isn't a modern computer, not even compared to other low price computers. As a desktop, it should at least beat out a low end iBook. Too bad the iBook is a much better deal, and I wonder why anyone would buy an eMac over an iBook if they're interested in a low cost Apple computer for the home.

But yeah, usually the eMac is the best deal Apple gives it's customers, especially compared to the iMac, which is usually just a stylized eMac, essentially.

[AdamR01]

Now I've used a SUN 150 at uni, and it's nothing of the above.

Well that definitely is one of Sun's cheapest workstations. Im sure it has its uses. You can't really run Solaris on anything other than their machines (yes I know there is an x86 version but it's quite picky about hardware). We'll just have to agree to disagree.

[Jo-Kun]

yes maybe the eMac is the worst mac (now) but if you need a cheap entry level mac for surfing office and stuff like that (not everyone is a gamer :p) its perfect, you get a combo drive, USB2 & FireWire you can BTO a bigger harddisk and ram BT Airport and get it with Superdrive... so maybe the cheapest eMac is crap because Apple puts not enoug standard ram in the machines...(this counts for allmost every mac I think, just the minimum for OSX...)

but one thing in favor of mac to pc: no virusses, it just works, maybe that should be the new slogan for '2005 Apple, it just works ;)'
last weekend I had to setup Wireless lan at a friend and he was complaining about his PC getting slower and slower even without istalling new stuuf and virusses and so on, I told him: I never have virusses, my mac doesn't slow itself down, I don't reinstall it every 6months like I did with my pc... his eyes opened, and I think he'll be getting a mac as next computer :p

[Les Kern]

For a second there, I thought it was named worst desktop PC, because it didn't hold up to the standard of all other PCs which include security exploits, spyware, and viruses.

While I agree with some of the points there, but I would defend with the fact that the eMac is an educational product turned consumer because of demand for CRT all-in-ones. Was never really designed for the public.

Indeed.
I have over 100 of them new this year, and I think they are astounding. 1GB ram, DVD-RW all for about $1,200.00, which includes Final Cut Express and Keynote. GB NIC cards make them pretty potent machines too.
It might be APPLE'S worst desktop, but look what your comparing it to. It's like saying the Maserati E3B model is the worst Maserati! Now, on to an eMachine......

[Les Kern]

For less then a grand, look at the computer your getting......Its a great computer for education and basic users, Not everyone can afford a $5,000 dual 2.5 GHZ G5 with 2 gigs of ram... :rolleyes:

True there. They recently had an educational deal for the 1Ghz models in packs of 5 for just over $600.00.

[cr2sh]

However, seeing as how the current eMac truly IS a p.o.s., I think we should cut the writer some slack. .


Finally, some common sense in this thread. I saw the review in this month's issue and I realized.. this guy is right on the money. The eMac sucks it, hard.
I can't believe anyone in this forum would defend that machine... a year ago, yeh.. but come on - it is so outdated now.

[Solafaa]

As a home desktop for normal use he is right the eMac is not that good, but if Grandma and the kids want soemthing to learn on, web browse, email and forums then the eMac will do the job. Like someone said this is ment for education and people who dont need the extra CPU power.

Its liek saying my $15,000 car is teh worst because i cant take it to the racing trake.

[wrldwzrd89]

Meh... there are far "worse" desktops out there, just take a look at the SUN Blade 150 (http://www.sun.com/desktop/workstation/sunblade150/) for example. Yeah I know that they claim that it's a "workstation", but come on... [and I actually like SUNs] For $1,395.00 you get:

UltraSPARC-IIi Processor: ____1 @ 550 MHz
On-Chip L2 Cache: __________512 KB
Graphics Accelerator:_______Sun PGX64
Memory: _________________256 MB (1 @ 256-MB DIMM)
7200 RPM EIDE Disk Drive:___ 1 @ 80 GB
Ethernet Port: _____ _______ 1 @ 10/100BASE-T
USB Port: _________________4
IEEE 1394 Port: ____________2
Parallel Port: _____________ 1
Serial Port: _______________1
32-Bit PCI Slot:_____________3 @ 33 MHz
Floppy Drive: ______________1
16X DVD-ROM Drive :________1
Smart Card Reader: _________1
Office Productivity Suite:_____StarOffice 6.0 Pre-Installed
Operating System:___________Solaris 8 & 9 Pre-Installed
To me, what weighs this system down the most are the slow PCI slots. Everything else appears to be typical for a low-end Sun system. Keep in mind that Sun CPUs perform just as well as other CPUs that run at about 3 to 4 times the clock speed.

EDIT: The part underlined is NOT true - disregard it.

[WinterMute]

The eMac... Note the "e" in that.

As posted in the thread it's primarliy designed for education, it wasn't even available to the public originally.

The educational discout offsets some of the price/power ratio comments, we can pick up a base model for £480 GBP, for that money it's still a nice little machine for those users who need WP, web-access, mail, etc.

Plus it'll run Reason and Logic Express pretty handily for learning applications, and it'll even get a decent run at ProTools LE and Final Cut (if you don't mind the render times).

On top of all that, it runs OSX.... which makes it better than ANY Winblows machine ever built. ;) :D

(Nods to Linux users in a friendly manner)

Not everyone needs ultimate gaming performance, not everyone plays games. My sister has been making DVD's on her eMac for a year now and won't ever buy another PC. She wanted to play games, she bought an PS2.

NO computer is the be-all-and-end-all, I can't fit a DP G5 and 30" Cinema Display into my backpack, therefore it's a crap machine, give me a Sony Viao sub-notebook anyday... :D