with many features not available for the PC version). You also get 30 days free of Earthlink's online service. There are some trade-offs for this machine. Apple does not supply enough RAM for it. Get a minimum of another 256 megs (though 512 more would be better) and as of yet, there are no upgrade paths available. Some enterprising company will eventually come up with something (they always do!). If movies are one of the reasons you buy this machine, another piece of hardware may be needed. If you have a digital camcorder with iLink/firewire, then you're good to go! If you have an older camcorder or lots of footage on VHS, you may need (again depending on your digital camcorder as some allow analog pass though)an analog to digital converter. Sony makes a good one as does Dazzle. I personally use the Dazzle DV bridge and have been very happy with it. Also spend a little more at the altar of Apple and download QuickTime Pro for ... It's a great companion piece to iMovie. For iMovie tricks, get the excellent book by Erica Sadun called iMovie 2 Solutions (Her new book, "iMovie solutions 3" is now out as well) also available at Amazon. I would recommend the eMac over the near feature for feature identical iMac for a couple of reasons. Number one with a bullet is that the eMac is roughly 200-400 dollars cheaper. Also, MacWorld recently tested the two machines side by side and the eMac was slightly faster in most functions even though they both use the same processor. Both machines take up about the same amount of desk space, so don't think the iMac is going to help you there. Unless you absolutely must have an LCD monitor and a computer that looks more like a desklamp, take the cash savings and choose the eMac. If more power is needed, choose the dual G4 tower or wait a while and grab one of the drool worthy G5 towers when they come out. Be prepared to spend a lot more than this all-in-one eMac solution though.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome bang for the buck
Review: Needing another Mac for a small space, we purchased this eMac and I expected very little performance wise. To my surprise the new eMac can definitely compete with the more expensive Macs available. I have been quite pleased and we have never had a problem.
Rating:
Summary: Great Little Machine
Review: Needing another Mac for a small space, we purchased this eMac and I expected very little performance wise. To my surprise the new eMac can definitely compete with the more expensive Macs available. I have been quite pleased and we have never had a problem.
Rating:
Summary: Power, Beauty and Quality
Review: The first Macintosh that I bought was the Mac SE. I have continued to buy the all-in-one type of macs ever since. My last mac was a Power Mac 5400/180 which I updated with a Sonnet G3 card, a FireWire card, etc. After reaching the limits of that box (it wouldn't operate broadband cable properly) I decided to bite the bullet and move into the OS X world. Am I glad I did!
When Apple announced the upgraded eMacs with 1 GHz G4 chip, I waited on and considered the G5 but decided those were too pricey, so I ordered an eMac from Amazon.
The eMac is truly a work of art to behold. Setup was pure simplicity. The eMac, coupled with OS X 10.2.6 exudes a feeling of power and elegance. The 21st century Aqua appearance and graphics processed through Quartz Extreme and the ATI Radeon 7500 video card are fast and make the dated OS 9 desktop look cartoonish in comparison. The large 17 inch, flat screen is a vast improvement from my old powermac and I don't regret not getting an iMac with the LCD panel.
I've been running the computer for over a month and while several programs have crashed during that time, I have yet to experience a single system crash. OS X truly is a rock-solid operating system. Freezes are a thing of the past, thank goodness. The fact that most of my old OS 9 programs worked just fine (and faster!) in Classic mode meant I didn't have to shell out a lot of money right away on software upgrades. Certain older games didn't seem to be as compatible, though that is no big loss.
iTunes 4.0.1 gives me access to the Apple Music Store and I have already bought many tracks to play on my iPod at a reasonable price. Watching DVDs through the SuperDrive is a joy because of the beautiful high-resolution screen and wonderful sound, especially when listening through headphones. The iDVD application has simple and straightforward controls.
Surfing the internet is no longer the world-wide-wait. Coupled with broadband cable running at 2.5 mbit/sec and the Safari browser, using the internet is a pleasure. Moving from page to page is practically instantaneous. I found Microsoft IE to be buggy under OS X. Safari 1.0, while not yet fully featured, is a promising browser - it's snappier, has great features, and the smooth, beautifully rendered page display is easy on the eyes.
Some enhancements I would request from Apple are: a 120GB hard drive, USB 2.0 ports, one more FireWire port, and make the SuperDrive able to read 3-inch CD media.
I could go on and on singing the praises of this eMac. Apple has truly outdone itself with a fine piece of technology that has been meticulously crafted in every detail. I am quite pleased with this purchase.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome bang for the buck
Review: This computer is an outstanding value compared to other macs and compared to computers in general. Processor speed, bus speed, video capabilities, bundled software, practically everything about the computer screams value and quality. The components are not cutting edge fast, but are very capable for practically every possible use for the computer.
I opted for the CD-RW/DVD-ROM instead of the Superdrive model. The Superdrive model does not run System 9.2.2 natively, which is a must for older games that are not System 10 native. Additionally, I don't think its worth the extra $300 for the Superdrive model. Other than the Superdrive and a little extra memory and hard drive space, both systems are equal in performance. The extra hard drive space and memory is negligible, especially since you will want to upgrade your eMac to 1 gig RAM immediately, which will require that you abandon the factory-installed RAM.
I'm sure burning DVDs is great, but I chose to burn VCDs in my CD burner with Toast instead, for inexpensive, VHS quality disks. However, if you imagine yourself ever needing to burn home movies to DVD, get the Superdrive model because iMovie won't work with third-party DVD burners.
I would NOT recommend the CD-ROM model, since you would get a slower CPU and will also buy a CD burner separately at some point, since CD burning is so essential to modern home computing.
Note that none of the internal components other than memory and Airport card are easily upgradeable. Processor and videocard are soldered onto the motherboard, so don't expect to ever be able to upgrade those. This is fine for now, since, for example, all games released today are within the eMac's specs. But this may change in the near future. I doubt this machine will be able to handle, for example, DOOM III very well. But then neither will comparably priced Windows boxes either.
The only other home mac I would consider if you can't afford a G5 is one of the new flat-panel iMacs. You will get more up-to-date components, such as DDR RAM and a faster video card and CPU, but those machines also cost a LOT more. Comparing price to performance, you can't go wrong with this machine!! I love mine.
Rating:
Summary: lovely!
Review: This computer is fabulous! The images are clear and everything loads faster than our now out-dated boxy imac. Coupled with the sound sticks the sound is quite clear.
I don't see why so many people constantly compare macs to PCs, they are completely different products. My family has always had macs and PCs together but I've favored the macs so this review is probably quite biased.
Only one program so far in this 3 month run has crashed but other than that all of the programs run beautifully.
Rating: 
Summary: wonderful hardware, software has some nuances
Review: This review is for the emac with OS X Jauguar (10.2.6). The hardware of has the feel of elegance. I really like the acrylic-like look of the all-in-one type system. The 17" flat screen CRT is superb -- in fact, this was the main reason I opted for the emac over the flat LCD imac. The Aqua inferace if beautiful -- as nice or even nicer than the ads show. However, if one expects the computer to be trouble free, then this is not the case. The major situation which happens on my machine is that applications (primarily Safari, and Mail) unexpectedly quit. There are ways to recover -- like quitting (trashing the app's preferences file, or zapping the PRAM or running a utility like Diskwarrior 3.0 beforehand on a regular basis). However, these nuances make the system not as rock solid as one may think. Additionally, Mac OS X doesn't have a System Restore feature to rollback changes. For example, in the event of doing a bad System Update, one can't simply do a goback to revert any changes. A rollback feature for Mac OS X would be such an improvement in stability.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful hardware, software has some nuances
Review: This review is for the emac with OS X Jauguar (10.2.6). The hardware of has the feel of elegance. I really like the acrylic like look of the all-in-one type system. The 17" flat screen CRT is superb -- in fact, this was the main reason I opted for the emac over the flat LCD imac. The Aqua inferace if beautiful -- as nice or even nicer than the ads show. OS X usually works fine. However, if one expects the computer to be trouble free, then this is not the case. The major situation which happens on my machine is that applications (primarily Safari, and Mail) unexpectedly quit. There are ways to recover from and prevent the quitting (trashing the app's preferences file, or apping the PRAM or running a utility like Diskwarrior 3.0 beforehand on a regular basis). However, these nuances make the system not as rock solid as one may think. That is the reason I rated the emac under Jaguar 4 stars instead of 5. I have not tried OS X 10.3 Panther. Perhaps Panther remedies some of the nuances.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful hardware, software has some nuances
Review: This review is for the emac with OS X Jauguar (10.2.6). The hardware of has the feel of elegance. I really like the acrylic like look of the all-in-one type system. The 17" flat screen CRT is superb -- in fact, this was the main reason I opted for the emac over the flat LCD imac. The Aqua inferace if beautiful -- as nice or even nicer than the ads show. OS X usually works fine. However, if one expects the computer to be trouble free, then this is not the case. The major situation which happens on my machine is that applications (primarily Safari, and Mail) unexpectedly quit. There are ways to recover from and prevent the quitting (trashing the app's preferences file, or apping the PRAM or running a utility like Diskwarrior 3.0 beforehand on a regular basis). However, these nuances make the system not as rock solid as one may think. That is the reason I rated the emac under Jaguar 4 stars instead of 5. I have not tried OS X 10.3 Panther. Perhaps Panther remedies some of the nuances.
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