eMac Makes PC Magazine's "10 Worst Products of the Year"

T he end of the year inevitably brings with it scores of "Best of" lists from a variety of sources. Such lists from this year frequently have Appleis iPod at or near the top, but Apple also made another kind of list this year: PC Magazineis "Worst Products of the Year" list, where the eMac was named worst Desktop PC.

"For Apple, the entry-level eMac really does represent Think Different," wrote Jim Louderbeck. "Thatis because for a company that prides itself on quality, this computer is different. As in bad."

Noting that it is stylish, he called it slow, underpowered, and pathetic. He specifically criticized the 40 Gigabyte hard drive the entry-level unit comes with, and said it was impossible to download data from the unit because it does not have a DVD burner. To that end he did not also note that it comes with FireWire, USB, Ethernet, and a CD burner, all of which can be used, and are used by Mac users, to transfer data.

The last technical issue he listed as a problem is the ATI Radeon 9200 graphics card, which he said "wonit even run this fallis hot Mac games."

Mr. Louderbeck concludes: "If youire considering a home Apple, think different. Buy a Dell. Or be prepared to spend a lot more for an acceptable Apple computer."

Other items to make Mr. Louderbeckis list include the Concord 5062AF digital camera, HPis iPAQ PDA, the VoodooPC Envy m:380 Windows gaming notebook, TDKis Mojo 1 headphone MP3 player, and a few more.

You can find the full article at PC Magazineis Web site.