eMac owners....a little feedback please

I'm on the verge of switching to mac from pc.

I would like an iMac(very cool looking) but it's just a bit too expensive for me.

So, I'll go for the next step down the eMac.

Any DUers with eMacs?

What's your experience with them? Pros & Cons?

Suggestions?

you can get huge discounts.

Other than that, I haven't really had any experience using emacs but it's Apple. So the experience should be good. I have a powerbook and I'd recommend it.

I saw on the apple site that you can get a discount if you are a student/educator.

About $100 off. Not bad.

If you're a ADC memeber

http://developer.apple.com/students/sthardware.html

You can get even greater discount especially if you're purchasing the powerbooks and the new G5 machines.

and they have been great.

I think they have an amazing price-performance ratio.

GHz G4, big hard drives, superdirve CD-DVD-R. Built-in modem if you need it.

because I can hardly type, and she's a writer. She loves macs, and I know nothing of computers; I feel lucky I was able to log on to this site! I'm happy with the computer, though...it's got a DVD player. Nice.

Don't really know anything about E-macs. Please! Don't switch to a p.c! One thing I do know is... Mac's are quirky,almost to the point of frustration, (or to the point of almost having a 'personality') but the newer models are FAR more reliable than older power Macs. All my P.C. pals,Gateway,Dell etc. are flabbergasted when they come over and see me running six applications at once!

Buler?

Though they may have improved this in the past 8 months. Try to audition it for yourself in a quiet, small computer shop (like an Apple store) instead of a noisy CompUSA.

Though I do have a Windows PC on the same desk, I'm coming at this from a longtime Mac user's POV, so my opinion will be mostly about eMac vs. other Macs and not so much about eMac vs. PCs.

My choice of the eMac was about cost. I would have loved the iMac, but I was looking for the lowest cost route into a Mac with a drive that could write DVDs. Last fall, that was $1500 for the eMac vs. $2000 for the iMac. Nowadays, both computers are $200 less and with 25% gain in processor speed and 33% larger hard drive.

Since the performance specs are identical, the main difference between eMac and iMac is the screen; here's what to expect:

The eMac's screen is a good-but-not-extraordinary quality CRT, and the software system preferences gives you all the screen-geometry controls you probably expect. In Mac OS X, you can comfortably use the screen at 1152 x 870 pixels, because OS X's user-interface elements are larger than they were in OS 9. (Much like Win XP compared to previous versions.) That's higher resolution than the 15" screen on the lower-end iMac, but lower (esp. horizontally) than the 17" screen (1440 x 900).

The most important tradeoff you need to know about is: FAN NOISE.

Unlike the iMac, which is engineered to cool using convection, the eMac, with its heat generating CRT, has a cooling fan. It's always on when the computer is running (doesn't cycle off), and it's a little distracting. Because it's an all-in-one unit, you can't put the CPU down on the floor to get away from the fan, but if your desk is positioned so the back of the eMac isn't against a wall, the noise doesn't bounce off the wall and back at you, and the noise factor is minimized.

Also: make sure the hard drive capacity it comes with is enough for you, because the internal drive cannot be replaced easily. RAM is extremely easy to upgrade.

In conclusion: I'm generally satisfied with my decision to buy an eMac, but the fan is a little annoying. Easily worth $500 to put up with the differences, though.

On edit: both Macs are now $200 less than last fall, not $500 less. $500 is the price difference between 2 similarly equipped models. Sorry.

I'll do as you suggest and try one out in a quite spot. As for the Harddrive, I understand LaCie has a 500GB firewire drive that is supposed to be just great. In the future if I need the space I may consider one of those.

Thanks for the help

the 1 gig version is faster than the 1gig iMac at less cost. I have a G4 dual and I feel the eMac is an excellent value. She has the old 700, but it is faster than my dual G4/450 The graphics are very good, the monitor is flat and bright.

One plus to the new Macs is the ability to run UNIX programs. That opens the door to scores of free software titles.

Because it is UNIX you don't need to deal with the thousands of virii, worms, and trojans written to exploit MS software. Also you have the fine hardware one would expect from a Mac, and a live and let live attitude you will not find from the Republicans at Microsoft. Gates and Balmer suck up to Bush/Ashcroft whereas Jobs hired Al Gore and is pro Democracy.



http://web.qx.net/therrick/lexbordc/

Granted, I'm stepping up from my old(but lovable) beast, a PowerMac 6100(upgraded to a 230mgz).

A couple of reccomendations. First, get the tilt/swivel stand that is offered with it, otherwise you won't be able to position the viewscreen to a position that is comfortable for you(I'm 6'4" and without stand the screen was waaay to low for me). It is an additional $50.

Secondly, grab a machine that has a split OS X/9. Coming off of the 6100, all of my apps were in the Classic OS, and I really didn't want to/couldn't afford to get all new OS X apps. With a split OS, I protected the investment that I made in apps. If you have PC apps, you might wish to pick up Virtual PC and install it. That way you can run PC apps on your Mac, and the new Macs are fast enough to handle this without a hitch

Third, get Norton Systemworks(I think it is free with rebate when you buy a new computer from some outlets). This will help keep your new computer in tip top shape.

Fourth, ENJOY. As with any Mac, you are going to enjoy a very intuitive operating system. While E-macs aren't the fastest Macs on the block, they are quite zippy and should do you justice on any project except the most industrial strength ones. Remember, this is the generation of Macs that were forbidden to be exported because they got classified as a super computer. I do a lot of work with graphic arts and am still being blown away by the E-mac's rendering times. Plus having a nice 17" flat screen for viewing is nice. You also reap the rewards of having a system that virtually nobody writes viruses for, and don't have the problems that PCs do of having an OS created by somebody who didn't make the computer.

There are two drawbacks to the E-mac. The first is it is limited on the number of ports it has. It has just three UBS ports and only two Firewire ports. This however can be worked around with USB and Firewire hubs. The second drawback is that it is limited in it's upgrade potential. You can upgrade your RAM to 1 Gb, and I think that you can upgrade your video card if you wish(not sure on that), you cannot upgrade your proccessor at a later date. But that may change in the future, Sonnett is a very creative company when it comes to processor upgrades. The insides are easy to get to though, unscrew four bolts and pull everything out the bottom.

Good luck, I'm sure you will enjoy it, I certainly love mine.

Appreciate all the other advice as well. Not too worried about not being able to upgrade as this looks like it will be far better than the PC i have now.
Thanks

I love my PowerBook.

Hands on with the eMac:
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2002/08/08/emac/

New models now.

Something behind the monitor fries easily and fucks up the display. I remember a HUGE percentage of eMacs had this problem.

But that was a long time ago (at least in terms of PCs). So I'd suggest you do a bit of homework, see if that issue still exists.

-C