New eMacs Arrive

[QCassidy352]

Originally posted by Abercrombieboy
Why is everyone so negative about this update? Why do you all expect the eMac to have the same specs as a PowerMac for $999? I am saving up and buying the $999 1Ghz combo drive model, call me dumb, but I think it is a good deal, and I think it might be a little snappier running Jag then my old iMac DV.

I totally agree with you. I was looking at that combo drive model, and thinking, "d*** that's a sweet deal." A 1 Ghz G4, combo, 60 gigs, and AE ready for 1k?? Very nice, apple, very nice indeed. It's nice to have a low end model at only $800, but the combo is really a great deal. My only complaint is, as others have said, 128 RAM is a joke. But that's quite easy and cheap to upgrade, especially if you don't pay apple's sky-high prices.
p.s. it's sweet that they got a 133 bus.

 

[gunb0y]

Whats the difference between an apple mouse and an apple pro mouse?

 

[PumaCode]

What do you think?

Originally posted by gunb0y
Whats the difference between an apple mouse and an apple pro mouse?

They are two different products

PumaCode

 

[woodsey]

Originally posted by LimeiBook86
These eMacs won't boot to 9, ha...

Actually, it looks like they do, unless they are super drive equiped.

From the apple.com website:
Startup in Mac OS 9 is available only with CD-ROM and Combo drive configurations. All configurations can run Mac OS 9 applications in Mac OS X Classic mode.

Why no OS 9 on superdrive eMacs?

 

[Bozola]

What I think if funny... is the excitement of the new eMac.
But didn't Steve Jobs predict the end of the CRT when
they introduced the new Imac?

OS9 and CRTS... they just won't die

Bozola.

 

[Apple][Forever]

Originally posted by gunb0y
Whats the difference between an apple mouse and an apple pro mouse?

from the pics, it looks like it has an opaque bottom and non-adjustable click (no wheel underneath to set click pressure).

Looks to me like they did this so schools could get more durable keyboards and mice.

 

[davy the bunny]

I just don't see a good reason to buy an iMac now, unless you really really just want something pretty. Not to say that the eMac isn't pretty considering I am more than in love with mine. And just like everyone says, buy some 3rd party RAM and you're flying. . .

P.S. If you're looking for the pictures of the new keyboard, choose the eMac from the main Apple Store page and then scroll all the way to the bottom and look to the left, click on the graphic that says "Photo Gallery take a closer look."

 

[Ambrose Chapel]

Originally posted by Davy the Bunny

P.S. If you're looking for the pictures of the new keyboard, choose the eMac from the main Apple Store page and then scroll all the way to the bottom and look to the left, click on the graphic that says "Photo Gallery take a closer look."

Ahhh there it is. Thanks.

As for the e vs i argument, the 17" iMac has more going for it than just aesthetics. Bigger, widescreen, movable display, better graphics card, DDR Ram. Everything else is a wash, right? Except price, of course.

 

[Flickta]

I can't believe it. Seems we'll have a first Apple Branded Computer at a price less than $1000!!! (I mean, first in countries other than the US. Like Russia, for example.)

And the keyboard and mouse... Well... At least they should work... (will they be sold separately?)

 

[davy the bunny]

Originally posted by Ambrose Chapel
Ahhh there it is. Thanks.

As for the e vs i argument, the 17" iMac has more going for it than just aesthetics. Bigger, widescreen, movable display, better graphics card, DDR Ram. Everything else is a wash, right? Except price, of course.

heh, I'm so poor, the price just becomes a big issue for me. The graphics card I could definitely use and maybe a little bit more screen real estate, but the DDR doesn't entice me much and the moveable screen isn't as good as a good moveable chair. It's just strange that my xBench score on a 700mHz eMac is still competitive with most iMacs at 800mHz with the DDR and whatnot. I guess most don't tweak though so nevermind. . .

 

[Jerry Spoon]

Originally posted by Sun Baked

Looks like OS 9 booting may still be quite important to the education crowd...

I work in a district that is almost entirely mac. Many are very aprehensive about moving to osX b/c there is a lot of educational software that is only for os9. I know there's classic, but they're afraid it won't run as well. Also, the stuff that does run in osX costs a lot considering the hundreds (maybe thousands) of computers in the district and the loss of funding I'm sure many districts are feeling across the country. In addition, you're not just talking about training (for us) about 750 teachers, but also thousands of students. That adds up to a lot of time and money that my disctrict is a little scared to committ to when os9 is still working so well for most.
We do have a few rogue teachers using osX, but I'd say it is less than 20.

 

[copperpipe]

what's important

I think it's really important for Apple to have a good entry computer for people who want to get in on the Apple experience but don't have the cash. $799 does that job nicely, but I think it should come with a cd burner and then it would be seriously competing with the low end PCs.

 

[vitrector]

new eMacs = storefront for iTunes Music Store

I think it is not coincidence that the eMac has been updated in the midst of the iTunes Music Store buzz. The music store has been giving Apple a lot of press, and I imagine that there are many more consumers for whom a Mac is now on the radar screen compared to before the store.

And the 970's great, but for Apple's new business the eMacs will go a long way to opening a lot of stores all over the world's dwellings

Hope this all adds up to much more business for Apple.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Originally posted by Abercrombieboy
Did anyone else notice this...the 800Mhz machine is listed as having a 133Mhz system bus like the 1Ghz has...doesn't the iMac 15" only have a 100Mhz bus? This really makes the iMac look like a ripoff, of course the extra 33Mhz of bus speed might not do much performance wise. But still it is there at a great price.

Good point.
So, the slowest deksktop Mac is now an iMac, not an eMac. Even considering the grfx card...

 

[jholzner]

I think Apple is only hurting themselves by including only 128ram in ANY machine they sell. Have any of you used a mac os x machine with only 128? It's dooooog slow. New users (switchers) may not realize it just needs more ram and it will be FAST...they'll just think macs are slow...you shouldn't have to upgrade the RAM of a brand new computer just to get decent performance!!

 

[Gus]

Originally posted by Ambrose Chapel
from the eMac tech specs page:
"Startup in Mac OS 9 is available only with CD-ROM and Combo drive configurations. All configurations can run Mac OS 9 applications in Mac OS X Classic mode."

Why is this? There doesn't seem to be anything different in the SuperDrive model that makes its mobo different from the other 2 models. No FW 800 and they all have AE.




edit - yay, my 100th post!
also, where is that pic of the new keyboard? I don't see it anywhere on the eMac page.

The Apple comments seem to infer that iDVD is the reason that the top model is OSX only. Maybe something about the Logic Board and encoding speeds, or maybe just the fact that iDVD now only works in X (the newest version, 3).

Regards,
Gus

 

[DakotaGuy]

Originally posted by Apple][Forever
from the pics, it looks like it has an opaque bottom and non-adjustable click (no wheel underneath to set click pressure).

Looks to me like they did this so schools could get more durable keyboards and mice.

Actually I don't think the change had much to do with schools. If you can save a dollar or two on every mouse and keyboard you bundle with a computer profits are better. Along with that, as the bottom line production costs become lower, so does the price the consumer pays. The keyboard and mouse look real nice and should be easy to use and functional. I think some money was saved by taking the adjusting features off of the keyboard and mouse and moving the USB ports.

 

[Mr. MacPhisto]

Originally posted by punter
waaaait a minute. When the power macs came out with DDR ram every one said it wasn't a true implementation of DDR anyway. This gave me the impression DDR just cost more but had very little speed advantage.

Could someone inform me, would the emac be better with DDR like MacPhisto says?

While it is not a full implementation of DDR, the memory would run faster than SDRAM PC133 memory - at least that is how I understand it.

This is where Motorola has really screwed Apple. Apples would be faster if they had a 200MHZ bus+ and full implementation of DDR memory. The FSB has really bottlenecked the Mac. Can't wait for a 400MHZ bus when IBM comes to town.

 

[davy the bunny]

Originally posted by jholzner
I think Apple is only hurting themselves by including only 128ram in ANY machine they sell. Have any of you used a mac os x machine with only 128? It's dooooog slow. New users (switchers) may not realize it just needs more ram and it will be FAST...they'll just think macs are slow...you shouldn't have to upgrade the RAM of a brand new computer just to get decent performance!!

Heh, yeah my eMac came with 128 MB of RAM and it was death, Apple really should up the RAM to at least 256 MB (which is still not enough yet what I have). But you are totally right, Apple may be hurting themselves because while 800mHz isn't blazingly fast nowadays, with a big stick of RAM 800MHz is fast enough for anyone that purchasing their first Mac or doesn't need to do serious number crunching.

P.S. You think 128 MB is hell, my friend was trying to run OS X on her PowerMac Sawtooth with only 64 MB of RAM. Now that was death, hell, ressurection, death and hell again, I've never seen so many page outs. . .

 

[bikertwin]

Originally posted by jholzner
I think Apple is only hurting themselves by including only 128ram in ANY machine they sell. Have any of you used a mac os x machine with only 128? It's dooooog slow. New users (switchers) may not realize it just needs more ram and it will be FAST...they'll just think macs are slow...you shouldn't have to upgrade the RAM of a brand new computer just to get decent performance!!

Yes, but buy your eMac from anywhere other than Apple (MacConnection etc.) and you'll get free memory. So it really doesn't cost anything.

 

[negrito]

new keyboard

check out the new keyboard design of the emac at apple in the emac gallery:

http://www.apple.com/r/store/gallery/emac2003/5.html

so the new keyboard rumor is confirmed.

apple has a quick and efficient organistation between productdesign and promotiondesign.

 

[vitrector]

Originally posted by bikertwin
Yes, but buy your eMac from anywhere other than Apple (MacConnection etc.) and you'll get free memory. So it really doesn't cost anything.

Retailers usually charge installation fee. e.g. Macwarehouse charges apporx. $39 installation fee, and at Macsolutions you can get a 256MB memory stick for $37.00. So it is really not free. Just looks that way.
Agree with everyone that Apple should have more memory, at least 128MB more per computer, probably 256 more would be more like it!

 

[bokdol]

Originally posted by vitrector
Retailers usually charge installation fee. e.g. Macwarehouse charges apporx. $39 installation fee, and at Macsolutions you can get a 256MB memory stick for $37.00. So it is really not free. Just looks that way.
Agree with everyone that Apple should have more memory, at least 128MB more per computer, probably 256 more would be more like it!

you can always ask them not to install it.

 

[Snowy_River]

Re: Pricing error

Originally posted by Steamboatwillie
....
I snapped a screen cap of it and it's posted here:

http://www.spymac.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=28225&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500

Hey, Steamboat,
This is a little off topic, but how did you end up with a metal Camino that still has the three buttons at the upper left-hand corner? When I metalifized my Camino (or any other app that can be metalifized, for that matter) those buttons aren't visible anymore. (They're still there, you can click them, they just aren't visible.)

 

[funkywhat2]

To those who mention that the SuperDrive model doesn't boot to 9, it's a 4x SuperDrive (I think). All of the 4x models do not boot into 9. I don't believe it's because of iDVD 3, since if you have a machine that boots into 9, you can use iTunes 3 and up in OS X and iTunes 2 in OS 9. If you install iDVD 3, it shouldn't replace iDVD 2 in OS 9.