New eMac, AirPort Extreme, Up To 1 GHz, Starts At US$799 (With Pics)

by , 12:00 PM EDT, May 6th, 2003

Apple announced a new eMac line today, and the company has definitely kicked up the stats on the machine in the process. Apple has boosted the processor to a 1 GHz G4, the same as in the 17" iMac, a 32 MB ATI Radeon 7500 video card, larger hard drives, AirPort Extreme support, and perhaps most importantly, a new, lower price.

The eMac line now starts at US$799, US$200 less than it used to. The entry level model is limited to a CD-ROM drive, 128 MB of RAM, a 40 GB hard drive, and an 800 MHz G4. The high-end eMac is priced at US$1299, also less than the previous generation, that includes a 1 GHz G4, an 80 GB hard drive, and 256 MB of RAM.

Apple's press release:

Boosting performance while lowering the price of its popular desktop for home and school, Apple today announced an entirely new eMac line offering up to a 1 GHz PowerPC G4 processor, a faster 4x SuperDrive, high performance ATI Radeon 7500 graphics, up to 80GB hard drives and internal support for AirPort Extreme wireless networking. Featuring a stunning 17-inch flat CRT and a remarkably compact all-in-one design that is even less deep than the original iMac, the most affordable PowerPC G4 system now starts at just $799 (US.)

eMac, with a 17-inch flat CRT display, supports screen resolutions of up to 1280-by-960 pixels in 24-bit color and offers 40 percent more viewing area than a typical 15-inch CRT display. Available in three standard configurations, eMac comes with either a CD-ROM drive; a Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) optical drive for watching DVD movies and burning CDs that can record CD-R discs twice as fast as with previous models; or Apple's revolutionary SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW), which records DVD, CD-R and CD-RW discs twice as fast as previous models.

Offering the latest in wireless communications, eMac includes a built-in antenna and card slot to support AirPort Extreme 802.11g wireless networking. AirPort Extreme can transmit data at up to 54 Mbps, almost five times the data rate of previous wireless technologies, yet is fully compatible with the millions of 802.11b Wi-Fi devices currently used around the world. eMac also includes built-in 10/100BASE-T Ethernet and 56K V.92 modem allowing customers to stay connected any way they like.

Perfect for today's digital lifestyle, every eMac comes standard with Apple's iLife integrated suite of award-winning software including iTunes for managing digital music, iPhoto for organizing and sharing digital photos, iMovie for digital movie-making and iDVD on SuperDrive-equipped systems for creating and burning Hollywood-style DVD movies. With five USB ports and two FireWire ports conveniently located on the side of the system, eMac desktops offer easy plug-and-play connections to popular peripherals such as digital video camcorders, digital still cameras, printers and scanners. In addition to Mac OS X version 10.2 ?Jaguar,? each eMac also includes AppleWorks, Internet Explorer, Quicken 2003 Deluxe and WorldBook Encyclopedia 2003 Edition.

Pricing & Availability
The new eMac line is available immediately through the Apple Store, at Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The 17-inch flat CRT eMac, for a suggested retail price of US$799 includes:

• 800 MHz PowerPC G4 processor;
• CD-ROM optical drive;
• ATI Radeon 7500 with 32MB video memory;
• 128MB of system memory; and
• 40GB ATA hard drive.

The 17-inch flat CRT eMac, for a suggested retail price of US$999 includes:

• 1 GHz PowerPC G4 processor;
• 32x Combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW optical drive;
• ATI Radeon 7500 with 32MB video memory;
• 128MB of system memory; and
• 60GB ATA hard drive.

The 17-inch flat CRT eMac, for a suggested retail price of US$1,299 includes:

1 GHz PowerPC G4 processor;

4x SuperDrive DVD-R/CD-RW optical drive;

ATI Radeon 7500 with 32MB video memory;

256MB of system memory; and

80GB ATA hard drive.

You can find more information on the eMac at Apple's eMac Web page. Individual Educational pricing for the new models is US$50 less on the low-end models (US$749 and US$949 respectively), and US$150 less on the high-end SuperDrive model (US$1149). Institutional pricing starts at US$699 for Education.

The Mac Observer Spin:

There are those who will complain that the new eMac has an anemic RAM allocation, which is true, but those are the same people who were complaining that Apple needed to make the eMac cheaper. We like the entry-level model's pricing, and if that gets people in the door, then so much the better. US$799 is an attractive price, and Apple has done a very nice job of trying to make the new models more attractive to consumers in general. The beefier options are much more appealing, and the new eMac stands on its own as a consumer machine. We never felt that way about previous eMacs.

What are your thoughts?