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New Mac User - Just bought 2 eMac's...now what?

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xray328

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
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0
Hi all, total Mac noob here. We loved every apple product we've played with so far (limited to ipods and playing at the apple store) and plan on getting a mac mini within the next 6 months or so to make our conversion from PC official. Anyway...

Our kids school was selling eMacs for $75 tonight so we bought one for each of our kids. I don't have them yet (supposed to pick up next week), but I as wondering what kind of things I should start upgrading them with since I assume they could probably use it. From what I understand, memory is about the only performance upgrade you can do to them, is that right? What memory do they use and how much can the support?

Can they handle leopard? Is there any advantage to using leopard?

Here's what I got from the school's handout:

Processor: Ranges from 1.0 - 1.25 GHz PPC
Memory: Ranges from 256 - 512 Mb
Hard Drive - Ranges 40 - 80 Gb
Optical Drive - DVD Read & CD Read/Write

What's the best option for wireless internet? I saw something about an Airport card, but then I also saw USB adapters that look like memory sticks?

Can these handle iTunes ok?

Off topic here, but what's the Mac version of Microsoft Office?

Thanks in advance!
 
Ice-Cube

Ice-Cube

macrumors 6502a
Jul 27, 2006
750
323
Somewhere over the rainbow
Whao those are very old Macs. I doubt they can handle Leopard, much less the latest OS, Snow Leopard.

Judging from the specs, I see they are just good for light surfing, or writing notes and stuff.
 
VanneDC

VanneDC

macrumors 6502a
Jun 5, 2010
860
92
Dubai, UAE
There actually very good boxes. Will run leopard just fine and dandy if you up the ram to at least a gig.

Grab a airport extreme card ( slips in behind, just under the cd drive cover that flips open when you eject that drive) or a simple wifi USB stick will work great. ( make sure you get obe that's compatible with osx and has drivers)

Also being a CRT, it'll do different Rez much better than any LCD. For example star craft or diablo ( for the kids of course ;)

75 bucks is fine, you'll get good use out of those 2 emacs. ESP for the kids cos it won't be costly if they stuff it up ;)

Good luck.

V.
Tiger will also be fine, depending on the features you want, I'd properly stick with tiger on that box, but leopard will also run just fine.
 
mgartner0622

mgartner0622

macrumors 65816
Jun 6, 2010
1,018
0
Colorado, USA
Ice-Cube said:
Whao those are very old Macs. I doubt they can handle Leopard, much less the latest OS, Snow Leopard.

Judging from the specs, I see they are just good for light surfing, or writing notes and stuff.
Click to expand...

They will be great for doing homework and the like, word and light internet browsing.
The Minimum requirements for leopard are an 867MHz G4 (1000Mhz=1GHz) and 512MB of RAM. As long as the hard drives are not too small, I would install Leopard on the eMacs, it has a lot of features that I like that do not come with Tiger. Snow Leopard is Intel only.

My School still uses eMacs to this day as the main computers in most of the labs, however they are 1.42GHz with 512MB of ram, and OS X 10.4 Tiger.
As long as you had the ram around 768MB-1GB, I'd say it would be plenty capable of day to day activity.

There is Office:Mac 2004 (Probably the best for your PPC Machines, very cheap too)
Office:Mac '08 (Personally, I hate it, it is very slow, although it works with PPC and is $109.99 on Amazon.com)
Office Mac '11 (Coming out in the next month, Intel only)

Ideally, I would have Leopard installed with 1GB of RAM, and just Office on the hard drive and those computers should be pretty snappy!
Install an Apple Airport Extreme Card. They are anywhere from $10-$40 on ebay, and free up one of your USB ports. :)
 
X

xray328

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
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Yeah, but that's all I need them for. The kids are just going to surf with them and play online games. As long as they can do that, run iTunes, and some kind of mac version of Office, they'll be fine. I was hoping they're can support 2GB of ram....but 1GB would be fine too.
 
mgartner0622

mgartner0622

macrumors 65816
Jun 6, 2010
1,018
0
Colorado, USA
xray328 said:
Yeah, but that's all I need them for. The kids are just going to surf with them and play online games. As long as they can do that, run iTunes, and some kind of mac version of Office, they'll be fine. I was hoping they're can support 2GB of ram....but 1GB would be fine too.
Click to expand...

When you know the processor speed just look up the max ram and everything else you might want to know here:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/emac/index-emac.html

If it's the 1.25Ghz, you're in luck:

Standard RAM: 256 MB Maximum RAM: 2.0 GB*
Details: *Officially, Apple supports up to 1 GB of RAM in this model, but third-parties have determined it actually supports 2 GB of RAM.
 
X

xray328

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
89
0
mgartner0622 said:
When you know the processor speed just look up the max ram and everything else you might want to know here:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/emac/index-emac.html

If it's the 1.25Ghz, you're in luck:

Standard RAM: 256 MB Maximum RAM: 2.0 GB*
Details: *Officially, Apple supports up to 1 GB of RAM in this model, but third-parties have determined it actually supports 2 GB of RAM.
Click to expand...

Nice link...I'm crossing my fingers for the 1.25Ghz...of course all they say is the processor ranges from 1.0-1.25GHz....USB 2.0 would be nice with that 1.25GHz.

Thanks everyone!
 
MacHamster68

MacHamster68

macrumors 68040
Sep 17, 2009
3,251
5
the eMac's had been and still are great computers

here the spec for the 1ghz education model and the 1.25 ghz model both take airport express (wireless G ) and have usb 2.0 and take 2gb ram max
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/emac/stats/emac_1.25.html

if its the earlier 1ghz consumer model (they also sold to schools )
then the spec are a bit different airport (wireless B) and usb 1.1 and can take 1gb ram max
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/emac/stats/emac_1.0.html

but all are perfect for itunes and some surfing and emailing and homework for the kids , and even can be used for photoshop and video editing with final cut (not the newest version ) and if you install leopard (10.5)on them they can sync your ipod and iphone too , but they run better(snappier) with osx panther(10.3) and tiger (10.4)
ok they dont do HD video on youtube , but i think thats not a problem at all

i love my eMac's(have 3 of them ) they are great Mac's and very underrated by people who think a computer has to play 1080p youtube videos to be useful as if youtube HD would be the sole purpose why the computer was invented :rolleyes:
 
X

xray328

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
89
0
Thanks again for all the help with this. I called to arrange for pick up and I was told I can't get them until next Thursday...:(

I did find out the have Tiger OS though. Is there an cheap "upgrade" version of Leopard out there? I would like them to be able to sync their iPods.
 
raysfan81

raysfan81

macrumors 6502a
Oct 6, 2009
598
2
The eMac is one of my favorite Apple computers of all time! Just be sure to add some ram and get the G4 optimized version of Camino browser (not the normal version) it seems to work better for me at least. Also, don't bother wasting money on a tiger -> leopard upgrade disk you are better off looking around Craislist for one from $40-$70 so you can actually reinstall the OS if need be. Good luck!
 
B

bizzle

macrumors 6502a
Jun 29, 2008
940
40
If it's not too late, don't buy them.

Seriously. Or at least bring a phillips screw driver and pull the RAM cover and check for any leaking/bulging capacitors.
 
raysfan81

raysfan81

macrumors 6502a
Oct 6, 2009
598
2
bizzle said:
If it's not too late, don't buy them.

Seriously. Or at least bring a phillips screw driver and pull the RAM cover and check for any leaking/bulging capacitors.
Click to expand...

Might be a good idea to check but generally most of the cap problems have happened if the computers have been used a lot over the years, but it can't hurt.
 
green86

green86

macrumors 6502a
Sep 27, 2007
535
270
North Carolina
raysfan81 said:
The eMac is one of my favorite Apple computers of all time! Just be sure to add some ram and get the G4 optimized version of Camino browser (not the normal version) it seems to work better for me at least. Also, don't bother wasting money on a tiger -> leopard upgrade disk you are better off looking around Craislist for one from $40-$70 so you can actually reinstall the OS if need be. Good luck!
Click to expand...


Uhh... what are you talking about? There is no such thing as a OS X upgrade disc. Every version is the full version.
 
raysfan81

raysfan81

macrumors 6502a
Oct 6, 2009
598
2
green86 said:
Uhh... what are you talking about? There is no such thing as a OS X upgrade disc. Every version is the full version.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of the drop in disks they included with macs preloaded with tiger that were Leopard upgrade disks.
 
MacHamster68

MacHamster68

macrumors 68040
Sep 17, 2009
3,251
5
MacHamster68

MacHamster68

macrumors 68040
Sep 17, 2009
3,251
5
i only know about my panther disc it will not install if i do not install jaguar first its even asking for it

but i can reinstall with it and disc repair and the like, but on a empty drive its just asking for jaguar
 
MacHamster68

MacHamster68

macrumors 68040
Sep 17, 2009
3,251
5
so careful if you buy at ebay as some just list like
" tiger install disc "
with a small picture (so you cant read the little word upgrade disc as they look identical )
original tiger disc

no returns accepted
(no wrong description there as you can install but only if you got a previous version of osx already installed )

and then you can look where you get the panther disc from first

so always buy listed as RETAIL DISCS (because the no returns is useless ,because wrong listing if someone tries it with a wrong description )
 
11colmil

11colmil

macrumors member
Mar 15, 2009
72
0
Under your bed 0_o
I had an eMac for years. It was a great machine until it wouldn't boot and I went Intel. The best thing you can do for it is to put Tiger on it. (OS X 10.4) For wifi, pick up an Airlink wireless mini usb. They are very cheap (like 12-15 bucks)and so small that it barely sticks out. For microsoft office, I would recommend Office:Mac 2004 or 2008. Don't bother with the new one coming out, 2008 is still a bit slow.
 
X

xray328

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
89
0
Thanks again everyone for all the input.

Can anyone confirm that I do in fact need Leopard to sync the iPods?

If it wasn't for that I would just keep Tiger.

Thanks again!
 
11colmil

11colmil

macrumors member
Mar 15, 2009
72
0
Under your bed 0_o
Depending on the iPod, yes. When i had my eMac running with Tiger, I had iTunes 9 when it first came out. I was able to sync an iPod Touch with OS 3.0.

This thread made me want to get my eMac working again and I Finally got it working with Jaguar (10.2) :D Hows that for classic OS X.
 
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