“High though the praise is for Apple’s skilful artistry and impeccable taste in industrial design, one is forced to concede that the eMac is not its most beautiful machine. Rather, it is functional, much in the manner of a sumo wrestler – big, muscular, finely tuned, fast but bulky (one resists the temptation to call a sumo wrestler fat in case he sits on one’s head),” reports Garry Barker for The Sydney Morning Herald.
Barker continues, “In a design sense, eMac is the fat son of the original all-in-one “jelly bean” iMac family and is the last Macintosh to be built with a cathode ray tube (CRT) display. All other Macs, desktop and portable, have flat-panel LCD screens. The eMac was always good value. Prices were low, given the features and software included in the deal, and have just been reduced again.”
“As CRTs go, the eMac’s screen is good – flat, sharp and flicker-free to most eyes – and though it does not rival the LCDs fitted to the iMacs and other machines, it is one of the best monitors of its type available. Five screen resolutions are available, up to 1280 by 960 pixels in 24-bit colour, and, despite the acreage of the 17-inch screen (40 per cent bigger area than the 15-inch display typically seen on Wintel boxes), the whole machine is less deep than the original iMac,” writes Barker.
“But perhaps the best thing going for the eMac is the massive array of software that comes free in the box. Most importantly, this includes the iLife integrated suite of iTunes (the digital jukebox), iPhoto for organising and sharing digital photos, iMovie for digital video editing, and iDVD on SuperDrive-equipped systems for creating and burning movies to discs that can then be played into your TV from any commercial DVD player. You also get the latest version of AppleWorks, a “productivity suite” of word processor (MS Word-compatible) spreadsheet, database and drawing program and the 2003 edition of the World Book Encyclopedia,” Barker writes.
Full article here.
I agree–this is a GREAT value. You can buy the bottom model ($749 educational) and then later add some more RAM and an external CD-R and you’ll have a system with a nice long usable life. The swivel stand is good to add as well. And actually, the outer dimensions of the eMac are BARELY larger than the G3 iMac–even though the 17″ flat CRT is in there. And I think it is THE best-looking desktop moniot ever, far and away–I love mine, and it gets many compliments. Of course, the fact that there is no tower needed with it isn’t bad either! I will concede it i s heavey but well… it’s a CRT. Nice sounding speakers too, in fact. I’m running iTunes through them now, with some bass boost.
I agree with Nagromme. The eMac is the most underrated Mac ever – everyone who comes into my home comments on how nice it looks, and especially how good the quality of the screen is (still better than any LCD I’ve seen, although I still prefer LCDs for working with text). And as I have one of the original SuperDrive models, it can do anything you can do on a tower too, including booting into OS 9 (essential for me).