eMac Memory (1GB+ works!)

What would be the reason that Apple would state that the the max RAM is 1gb, when it could be 2gb. Let's forget that at the time the iMac could only go to 1gb. I would assume that there are hardware issues of some sort.

 

It could be that there were no 1GB chips available when it was released (Don't know if this was the case). When the original iMac came out, the max was 256MB (2x128MB), but later on when the 256MB chips were availbale some of them were found to work. Not all did though, there was some issue with how they configured the RAM that some did and most did not.

 

The reason is something us old-hands call "marketecture" - the choice not to officially support 1GB dimms is not purely based on technical considerations. Yes, only some 1GB dimms will work in an eMac or iMac (for complex reasons - the number and size of banks/devices on the DIMM). There's no technical reason, though, why apple couldn't sell emacs and imacs with up to 2GB ram.

The reason they don't want to support more than 1GB ram on the consumer models is they fear it will cannibalize sales of their pro models. Guess what - they're right!

I recently bought a refurb 1.25GHz emac for $850, slapped a 1 GB DIMM from transintl in it (giving me 1.5GB ram total), and used the monitor spanning hack from http://macparts.de/ibook to disable another bit of marketecture (consumer macs artificially limited to mirroring on external displays). After attaching a nice 19" FD trinitron monitor I already had, I now have a reasonably powerful dual-monitor G4 system for a little over $1000.

Since Apple is unwilling to face up to the reality that $1000 buys an exceptionally powerful PC (without monitor) these days, you have to save where you can if you don't want to get bent over. (A $1000 pc will still cream my eMac setup, but it'd still be a PC, of course)

-vga4life

 

vga4life, so the only reason not to go with the eMac would be the lack of Core Image support in the upcoming Tiger release, right?

 

Given apple's current product lineup, I agree. Tiger's a year away anyhow.

The $1699 1.33 GHz 15" powerbook refurb that shows up on the Apple "Special Deals" page is not a bad deal, though, and its Mobility Radeon 9700 will support Core Image. Bit more expensive though...

-vga4life

 

Some of us "pros" are cheap

 

1GB DIMMSs were available long before the current eMac came out in April. It only took a few weeks for transintl to find out that 1GB DIMMs were compatible.

Really, I think it's just that advertising the eMac as being capable of driving an external monitor (with spanning) and 2GB of ram would tank low-end powermac sales because the emac is "good enough."

The thing is, the emac *is* good enough. It's frustrating to me that Apple doesn't just slap the eMac motherboard in a pizza box with a pair of DVI ports instead of the crappy internal monitor. They could sell them all day long for $800 and have a healthy profit margin. (no crt, smaller plastics, reduced shipping costs) Who knows, they might even pick up some market share!

Alas, it seems like these days they want to become another workstation vendor like Sun and SGI. Someone needs to remind Apple management that Sun and SGI are both circling the toilet bowl and neither sell an appreciable number of workstations anymore.

-vga4life

 

You have a point. I would be going the Tysons Apple Store tonight for a headless eMac box that supported spanning and DVI (hopefully with at least the 5200 for future compatibility with Core Image). I have a few monitors that i could sue till I can afford a new Apple Display.