Considering an Emac-Worth it or not.

[nyprospect]

Hi.Well im considering purchasing an emac.Im a windows xp user and i saw a preview of Windows vista.That being said I want an emac.I wont be doing heavy editing or serious numbers crunching.Is the emac a good investment?

[AstrosFan]

Hi.Well im considering purchasing an emac.Im a windows xp user and i saw a preview of Windows vista.That being said I want an emac.I wont be doing heavy editing or serious numbers crunching.Is the emac a good investment?

Depends on what you mean by "investment."
I think the eMac is a decent entry-level Mac but personally, I would choose a MacMini + separate display instead of the all-in-one eMac.
Part of that is that I would prefer a flat-screen LCD to the eMac's CRT.
However, the eMac does have the most important feature you are looking for - Mac OS X!
You will really enjoy the stability/ease of use of the Mac OS.
Good luck!

[Le Big Mac]

Depends on what you mean by "investment."


Yeah, no computer is an investment. They all lose value.

That said, it's a good, affordable way to get into the Mac operating system. I set one up for my inlaws over the weekend, and I was favorably impressed. Even with dialup, surfing wasn't bad (and that's before the cache was filling in). The screen wasn't as crisp as an iMac's, but was certainly bright enough and clear enough.

If you're on a budget, I think it's a very good, simple way to go (no worries about memory, later upgrades, what monitor, etc). People will say step up to the iMac, and probably the $500 extra is money well spent. But if you don't have that money in the first place, I'd be plenty happy with the emac.

[e.m.]

I have an eMac. Mine's 800mhz, so not as fast as the ones that are on the market now. However, it does everything I need to do fine (internet stuff, some music applications and video encoding). The screen's crisp (and big and heavy). My only gripe with it is that its fans are pretty loud. I have mine in my bedroom, so sometimes the loudness bothers me.

[BlizzardBomb]

The eMac would be a fine choice for any budget buyers. It's quite powerful (even more than a mini) and should run fine as long as you got at least 512MB in it. My complaints are the noise from the fans (and the heat it generates) and how bulky it is. If you don't have the money to bridge the price gap between eMac and iMac, the eMac is still a great choice.

[AP_piano295]

question: What do you mean by serious number cruntching... Stuff likes graphic desighn and movies are not great fo an emac but almost any computer these days can handle serious data processing it really just image that takes a ton of power.

[yellow]

I would say "not", and that's only because as a Mac professional I could never see myself using one of those and being happy. That being said, if it gets you into a Mac and gets you away from the hellish experience of Windows, go for it. Though, IMO a Mac Mini might be a much better choice.

[jmufellow]

I would definitely recommend the eMac. If you don't own any other hardware, it's definitely the most affordable mac. I got my emac a year ago and it still works like a charm. 1GB RAM and 160GB hard drive. The hard drive space is a bit overkill i will admit. I use it for the regular stuff to listen to music, internet, and every now and then for messing around on iMovie, photoshop and other fun stuff :) . The bottom line: mine is still great a year later.

[Jay42]

Hi.Well im considering purchasing an emac.Im a windows xp user and i saw a preview of Windows vista.That being said I want an emac.I wont be doing heavy editing or serious numbers crunching.Is the emac a good investment?

One thing to consider on the "investment" side of things is to think about a mac mini. That way you could save money by hooking up to your old monitor/keyboard/mouse, or buy a new monitor to use with the mini, and then be able to keep it once you want to upgrade to a new mini or a PowerMac!

[MacSA]

I think the eMac has quite a few advantages - Much better hard drive (faster RPM) good graphics card (ATI Radeon 9600 64MB) More USB and Firewire ports, Audio in port. Easier to add memory/wireless. 56k modem. Includes good Keyboard and Mouse.

[gekko513]

The eMac is very good value if you are OK with it being a CRT all-in-one design. Since you're already considering it, you're probably OK with it, so I'll say, go for it.

[nyprospect]

Thanks for the input. :)

[Freg3000]

I am a big fan of the eMac. Many people dispise it (like they do 14" iBook) but it is a great machine.

[geese]

I've got an eMac 1.25 Ghz. With 512mb ram.

apart from the fan noise, and its absurd weight, its a delight. I run Flash mx 04 and Photoshop on it and its a boon. I dont feel wanting for more speed to be honest. If you're OK with the CRT screen (which is of fairly decent quality) then its a great introduction into the world of Mac.

Its very good value for money. I like mine a bit too much.

[bodeh6]

I use eMacs at school and find that they are very good. The screen is nice and I like the all in one design. It is faster then the mini and the graphics card is much better. The harddrive spins 3000RPMs faster and the harddrive is bigger on the $999 model.

[japasneezemonk]

i use an eMac at my school and i find the eMac's CRT as an advantage over an entry level LCD. The colors are very nice and it beats my Trinitron CRT, which looks pale in comparasion to the eMac. I consider the eMac a very good value.

[CorvusCamenarum]

I had one for a year and a bit. It was a nice machine that got me through all but my final semester of college (no problems, I just took advantage of my last chance for student pricing to upgrade). I also managed to get roughly half of my money back out of it when I sold it on eBay. The only gripe, and I use that term loosely, I had was the weight. I think they're in the neighboorhood of sixty pounds, so if you get one, make sure you have a very sturdy desk. Other than that, it's a fairly decent machine you should be pleased with having.

[dmw007]

The eMac should work fine for you.

[FFTT]

An eMac is fantastic if you have gloppy fingered kiddles!

They are actually better equipped than the mini if you don't mind the
difference in desk real estate. As mentioned above, the eMac is actually a more versitile machine.

You can also put together a very nice set-up with a top of the line mini, but with a good LCD you're into $1100 or so.

Either one would be a great way to get rolling running Mac OSX

[eXan]

Mac mini only seems to be cheap, but once you add a super drive, RAM, HD space, KB/Mouse the price becomes even more than eMac, which has a much better graphics card, display, more ports, faster and bigger HD.

Get eMac! :)

[.Andy]

I'll put my hand up for the eMac as well. I've got a Tibook and a 12" Albook for personal use but I have an eMac at work. I was a bit sceptical when i found out what I was getting but after setting it up I was suitably impressed. The screen is a lovely size for just about everything - surfing, mail, photoshop, illustrator, web-design,keynote (powerpoint), word etc. I wrote my PhD thesis on it no problems at all.

Overall I'm very happy with it and for me I don't feel the OSX experience is that dissimilar from using any other mac.

One bit of advice though - if you decide on one do yourself a favour and get that tilt-and-swivel stand. Money well spent :).