I've got a chance to buy a virtually brand new eMac, with all its accessories. Its got the 1 ghz G4 processor, 80 gig hd, a dvdrw burner, 768 mb of ram, and (I'm told) leopard. I'm getting it for $50, out the door. I know the system is pretty outdated, but I'm just a Windows guy looking for a Mac to use as a dedicated media computer for burning and organizing my music and video libraries for smooth syncing with an iphone. And I just kind of like the idea of getting a new toy to play with. So, worth the price for my purpose?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Practically new eMac: worth it?
- Thread starter t56camaro
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
it's worth the price, but i'd think you'd want something more if it's going to be a dedicated media computer. a used mac mini would suit you better. good price, you should just buy it to play around with anyways
$50 is an absolute steal. May as well buy it anyway - it's got pretty much the same specs as my main computer (12" PB G4 1GHz) so will be absolutely fine.
Just check it works first
Just check it works first
Do It!
The eMac was a decent machine. It just could never impress as much as the sunflower iMac at the time or a PowerBook.
Who doesn't like a new toy?? It will run ok and will let you sync an iPhone with ease.... make sure it works then go for it!!!
In case you haven't noticed... Leopard out of the box is $129 so you are getting a whole machine and Leopard at %40 Cheaper!! No Brainer
The eMac was a decent machine. It just could never impress as much as the sunflower iMac at the time or a PowerBook.
Who doesn't like a new toy?? It will run ok and will let you sync an iPhone with ease.... make sure it works then go for it!!!
In case you haven't noticed... Leopard out of the box is $129 so you are getting a whole machine and Leopard at %40 Cheaper!! No Brainer
Grab with both hands and run but if you want to spend anything on it after purchase, upping it to a gig of RAM would oil the wheels perceptibly, especially with Leopard.
Posting this from my new eMac. New to me anyway, the "pristine" condition of it was played up a little, and its definitely been used. But other than the speakers not working, its pretty solid. And it came with Leopard and the increased amount of memory as promised, so I'd say worth my $50.
100% Right on. The USB2 interface did happen till the 1.25Ghz model.
http://support.apple.com/specs/emac/eMac_USB_2.0.html
http://support.apple.com/specs/emac/eMac_ATI_Graphics.html
It also sported a faster bus speed and better Video card.
That being said for $50.00 that emac is a steal. Buy it and enjoy it. Just keep in mind that the syncing via usb will be slow. Also, you might want to keep Tiger 10.4 on that machine. My experience with 1.0GHz G4 are pretty laggy with Leopard 10.5.
... Though I wouldn't be discouraged by this (clearly you have the Mac already so it's a moot point but...). Though 1.1 is slow, remember in general that there's usually just the first large sync that occurs when you first connect the phone and Mac, after that, generally you're just adding/ erasing much smaller numbers of files (though if you're trading movies around it will still take awhile). Plug it in in the morning, get an idea of how long it will take, go to work, done. Speed also depends on your phone; a 4GB one will fill faster than a 16GB phone (assuming you have +4GB of media).
Don't let the slower USB connection bug you. I still sync my iPod on a 1.1 connection (older iMac). Yeah it's slower than on my MBP, but it gets the job done.
A good machine for a great price. Congratulations on your find!
A good machine for a great price. Congratulations on your find!
Yeah, I knew it was just going to be usb 1.1 when I bought it. After thinking more about it I'll probably just stick with syncing on my windows machine (that's where all my files are anyway), and just keep the mac to see where it goes. As for leopard on the 1 ghz, it seems to be running pretty smooth, the loading delay for opening programs isn't more than a few seconds.
Congratulations!!! That's a steal! You could turn around and sell it for at least $200-$250. I have similar eMac, 1.25 Ghz, USB 2.0 still going strong, almost 4 years old. But paid roughly $1300!!! I'm happy for you, but crying inside....
The 1.1 could be a little slow but once it's done it's initial Sync it should be just fine. Enjoy your new mac.
Leopard isn't to bad on the 1ghz emacs. My dad has one upstairs.
I am starting to think it depends on system config. My PB G4 1GHz is slow as molasses in leopard. However my wife's ibook G4 1.42GHz is very snappy. Difference other than processor is iBook has "core image accelerated". (See Sig)