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Should I buy an eMac?

XboxEvolved

XboxEvolved

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 22, 2004
807
1,001
I bought a PowerMac G4 used for $300 at the beginning of the year and was very happy with it. I also bought a NEC 15' monitor.

I am going to college soon and would like a new comp because while my comp works fine I think I found its limits. I was thinking G5--to expensive, then G5iMac, doesn't sound much better, then eMac.

Anything is better then what I have, and an eMac at $800 (1.2 GHz, Combodrive, 80 gb, 512 ram) is at least 2x better then what I have now. The only thing is, the gfx isnt great but I dont really play games on computers. Even so Mac Addict claims the eMac runs better in nearly all realworld tests than the iMac G4. WIth a mini monitor adapter + the hack to allow for 2 screens to work rather then just mirror it sounds even better.

I am a heavy Photoshop CS user, and use many other CS programs, Word, iTunes, Safari, run a website and so on. I was also interested in dabbling in 3D, not a whole lot just to try. I am a art major btw if that means anything. Also income is a factor and while I would have loans, job, etc I also need to have money for a California trip to a gaming trade show next year.

Also I had a question about iPod--can iPods be taken from Mac to Mac without it erasing everything on the iPod? Including music, files, backups and so on?
 
Sun Baked

Sun Baked

macrumors G5
May 19, 2002
14,937
157
You could always wait two weeks to see about the iMac G5 announcement, there should still be eMacs left on store shelves at that time.

If they do offer a new machine to the education market there is the slight possibility of a drop in price on the old machines.

All depends on Apple's education strategy for the next year.
 
M

Miner Willy

macrumors regular
Apr 30, 2004
107
0
Bradford, UK
eMac Rocks...honest..

Yep!! Buy one. I have access to 75 G5s and and 150 G4s of various specs, powerbooks etc and I still come home from work on a night and sit in front of my lovely eMac. Not the fastest machine on earth granted... but it works, it's very stable, fast enough to do photoshoppy stuff on edit video (recently finished a 2 hour showreel on it) and author DVDs on. It's just not quite as fast a G5. While your waiting enjoy a coffee or beer of something, surf the web, afterall it's a multitasking machine. :)
 
XboxEvolved

XboxEvolved

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 22, 2004
807
1,001
I plan on at least doing the hack for the dual screens, I really dont know if it would be a good idea to try and bump the processor up like that and I wont attempt it.
 
Macmaniac

Macmaniac

macrumors 68040
Jan 6, 2001
3,341
1
A tiny spec in the "Garden State", 1 square mile i
XboxEvolved said:
I plan on at least doing the hack for the dual screens, I really dont know if it would be a good idea to try and bump the processor up like that and I wont attempt it.
Click to expand...
Don't bother trying to hack the processor unless you are really good at soldering, and you have an eMac that is even capable for the hack since eMacs vary model by model. My best advice try and get a gig of RAM that does a lot for photoshop!
 
M

Miner Willy

macrumors regular
Apr 30, 2004
107
0
Bradford, UK
Buying eMac

Macmaniac said:
...My best advice try and get a gig of RAM that does a lot for photoshop!
Click to expand...

Totally agree with above, I have a gig in mine and it's fine. Apparently it will take 1gig sticks of RAM, so you could go to 2gig of RAM if you felt you needed to but it will cost you a bit of dosh.
 
solvs

solvs

macrumors 603
Jun 25, 2002
5,684
1
LaLaLand, CA
You could alway upgrade your G4. Not sure what model you have, but if it's working well you could put in a ton of RAM, bigger (and faster) hard drive, 128 MB Radeon 9600, and CPU upgrade if you can afford it. Dual CPUs even. I'm still hoping for a cheaper headless model, but the eMac isn't bad. Just wouldn't be good for gaming, especially with dual displays.
 
vraxtus

vraxtus

macrumors 65816
Aug 4, 2004
1,044
30
San Francisco, CA
Miner Willy said:
Yep!! Buy one. I have access to 75 G5s and and 150 G4s of various specs, powerbooks etc and I still come home from work on a night and sit in front of my lovely eMac. Not the fastest machine on earth granted... but it works, it's very stable, fast enough to do photoshoppy stuff on edit video (recently finished a 2 hour showreel on it) and author DVDs on. It's just not quite as fast a G5. While your waiting enjoy a coffee or beer of something, surf the web, afterall it's a multitasking machine. :)
Click to expand...


My G5 is "very stable" and faster at doing Photoshop etc than an eMac...

Personally I've never thought eMacs to be the best machines... in particular at retaining value... but then again no computer really is :rolleyes:

Honestly, I'd recommend that you pick up a refurb 1.6 G5. Seeing as how you already have a monitor, you could conceivably sell the G4 system and put that towards a much better system than an eMac, and still make use of your monitor. Plus you'd be getting a faster computer that will invariably last you longer than an eMac.

Just my opinion but it also may be worth the wait to see what new iMacs come out to see if they replace the eMac and subsequently lower the prices as well.
 
M

mikeyredk

macrumors 65816
Mar 13, 2003
1,267
1
don't upgrade that PoC get a new one. it will be much faster with a faster bus and graphics card slot
 
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