20 Years Ago Today, Apple Unveiled the eMac

[opeter]

Never really liked these. We had 2 of them in the computer room in the academy. Really much heavier than it looks. The only good thing in them was the flat CRT monitor. The older iMacs in that time had curved CRTs.

The eMac was introduced in the same year as the lamp iMac G4. For the late, maybe the Pixars logo was an inspiration...

 

[DTphonehome]

There’s one still sitting in my kid’s pediatrician’s office. Doesn’t work, been a brick for years. I remember using them in the grad school library… no one else would touch the macs!

 

[MysticCow]

If you're still lucky enough to have a 1.25 GHz or 1.42 GHz model, you can run a modern OS that isn't Linux! Check out MorphOS, the single fastest OS for your PowerPC Mac.

MorphOS - Hardware

 

[topgunn]

The very last Mac I ever overclocked...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/emac-800mhz-1-33ghz-conversion.53733/

 

[matthew12]

I remember we had those when I was in middle/junior high school. They were slow and PowerPC models, but hey, it was a computer in some classrooms. Most of the time though, went to the computer labs instead. But the Macs had some fun games on them like Marble Blast Gold that many of us played during lunch.

They were around in 2007-early 2009 or so, but after that, they were gone by the time I was out of that system in mid-2010. They're all lying in a dump somewhere, or scavenged for parts. But it's definitely a unique and very "early-mid 2000's" design.

 

[sorgo †]

Such a special little (huge) computer—I remember when these started propagating and replacing the iMacs at school. Time is a funny thing indeed

 

[JM]

They do, but that doesn't mean much to school districts and families strapped for cash.

You're certainly correct as to Google's economy, but Apple competed on price when the eMac was released (albeit against different competitors) and could make much more of an effort to do that now. Also, while Apple isn't in the data-mining business, it certainly has a long-term interest in building Apple loyalty/familiarity, and it has a services revenue stream that could pay for a lot of hardware, particularly if it were to expand its focus on education-related services.

I know I know. Cash strapped families and schools are going to take whatever free tech is provided. It’s just very insidious to provide these free services with no regard or explanation of what people are giving up (personal information/data) in exchange for those “free” services and tech.

I have much more respect for Apple’s interest in creating life long Apple fans and their business goal of expanding by creating better products to attract customers. (As opposed to Google, where their business goal of expanding is “hey look! We give you free things! Use us!” While slurping up terrible amounts of user data for their profit and exploitation.)

I mean, talk about taking advantage of the disadvantaged. Surely there is a better way to provide tech to schools that doesn’t involve secretly data mining and signing away user data and collection.

 

[jakey rolling]

The eMac was really cool - nice form factor which actually looks better in person than in pictures.

However, I still remember the amusement this was met with when it was launched, as Steve had told us the CRT was dead when he launched the lamp-style iMac just a couple of months earlier!

Yep, the eMac was a quickly-built reaction to a major "Oh, crap" moment.

Steve: "CRT is dead - here is the new iMac!"

Schools: "Uh, we're not buying that thing. It costs a fortune and the students are going to wreck the screen"

Steve: "Uh, Jony, can you come into my office please?"

 

[jakey rolling]

I can remember wanting to buy one of these. At the time, a lot of us in the design field still preferred CRTs over LCD monitors, believing they had more accurate colors. Not sure if it was actually true back then, but LCD monitors were really new at the time.

I sold a lot of LaCie CRT monitors along with G4 towers during the early 00's. LaCie had an amazing 21" CRT for doing photo work.

 

[jakey rolling]

The only good thing they did in the 1990s was to fire Jobs and license the hardware to 3rd party vendors who immediately started turning out much better Macs than Apple, and at lower prices. I waited until the Intel Macs came around before I returned to buying Macs.

Go lie down, Mr. Scully. You're drunk.

 

[4jasontv]

Not only do I weep for the children’s future where Google owns every bit of data about them and their parents, but I doubt that Apple could compete seeing that Google practically gives the chromebooks and software away for “free” (probably cost or less than). Google ain’t doing **** out of care for children: they just want the data.

The issue isn't so much that a company owns their data, but rather the message it says about the value of their data. Chromebook's only work because people undervalue what they have.

 

[DMG35]

Still have one, works perfectly. Just heavy as hell.

 

[smith4925]

What a piece of garbage! I bought one when it came out and 13 months later the monitor died.

 

[gbc204]

My god, I have TERRIBLE memories of going to some far-off FedEx center in Queens to pick this up after we missed delivery. This was before Uber/Lyft, and we had to lug this all the way to the subway since there were no cabs around. This thing was so GODDAM HEAVY. I remember being particularly furious when I found out later that this was made intentionally heavy because it was supposed to be used in schools and the weight was apparently an anti-theft measure?

 

[coolfactor]

After they opened these up for consumer purchase, I bought one. I miss that machine.

 

[44267547]

What a piece of garbage! I bought one when it came out and 13 months later the monitor died.

All these positive comments and then I read yours. I’m not taking away from your experience, but not every piece of tech is perfect unfortunately. It was faulty and if you had an operable unit, I’m sure your opinion would be in line with most others in this thread.

 

[HMI]

I still have one in storage. Pretty powerful computer at the time for a nice price. The computer was really heavy, but that didn't really matter. I remember the great speakers (at that time).

Do you remember if the stand for it was an separate optional Item, or if It cost anything?

 

[ikramerica]

I remember removing 60 of those things from computer labs... what a workout that was... they are heavier than they look.

Flat screen CRTs were very heavy due to the amount of glass needed for strength to create the vacuum. iMacs weren’t as heavy as the screen was more curved.

I remember flat crt TV I had once. Crazy heavy monster.

 

[ikramerica]

I’m pretty sure every eMac purchase came with 2 free bricks ? inside. That’s the only explanation I could come up with for how heavy they were compared to the CRT iMacs. ? Neat machines though!

Like others have mentioned, I won’t forget the workout lugging classrooms of them around was back in the day!

Flat CRTs are super heavy.

 

[jakey rolling]

Flat screen CRTs were very heavy due to the amount of glass needed for strength to create the vacuum. iMacs weren’t as heavy as the screen was more curved.

I remember flat crt TV I had once. Crazy heavy monster.

iMacs were also 15" CRTs, the eMac was 17". Even with just regular monitors, the weight difference between those two sizes was very, very noticeable.

 

[jakey rolling]

Do you remember if the stand for it was an separate optional Item, or if It cost anything?

I recall that the stand was separate, but was produced by Apple at the time.

 

[progx]

Felt like the base of it was lined with lead. It was SO FRIGGIN' HEAVY. My college IT department had me carry one across campus since the cart was busted. Wish someone would have grabbed a picture on their digital camera of me chilling on the bench with it. Believe it was the first or second one, it was pre-USB 2.0. It took a couple of days for those grate lines to disappear from my hands. Haha.

My parents had one... dare to say, it lasted them awhile, but they had quite a few problems with it. Unlike their previous iMac (1999 DV SE model) that had been passed down to me (and still have... and it works, just needs a new PRAM battery). It was still a decent computer, then it eventually had complete hardware failure in 2008, Apple surprisingly repaired it for my parent free of charge (which would have been a $1500 fix).

I never liked it and was glad when the iMac G5 came out it was eventually discontinue.

 

[derekamoss]

I bought one from Micro Center in 2003, it was the cheapest way to get a g4 processor at the time with the g4 iMac being like 500 dollars more expensive.

 

[MacLawyer]

The eMac was really cool - nice form factor which actually looks better in person than in pictures.

However, I still remember the amusement this was met with when it was launched, as Steve had told us the CRT was dead when he launched the lamp-style iMac just a couple of months earlier!

The CRT wasn’t dead. It was just pining for the fjords.

 

[bigheaddoug]

My wife is an educator and had one of these. It was fun to use and helped me make the decision to switch back to the Mac.