- home
- reviews
- news
- downloads
- cnet tv
On ZDNet: Top 10 affordable gadgets
- log in
- join CNET
- welcome,
- my profile
- log out

Apple eMac (Combo Drive)

More on this product: preview; user reviews; specifications; compare; shop

Print
E-mail
Share

Average user rating:
3.5
stars out of 4 reviews
See all user reviews

Product summary

Apple brings Tiger, a faster G4 processor, larger hard drives, and better graphics to the budget eMac.

Specifications: Processor: Motorola PowerPC G4 (1.42 GHz) ; RAM installed: 256 MB DDR SDRAM ; Hard drive: 80 GB Standard ; See full specs

CNET editors' take

Reviewed by:
Matthew Elliott
Reviewed on: 05/12/2005
Released on: 05/03/2005

Not to be left out, along with the Power Mac G5 and iMac G5, the plucky eMac now ships with Mac OS 10.4 Tiger and updated hardware. The eMac's two baseline price points remain the same at $799 and $999, but each machine offers more for the money.

Upside: The Apple eMac's PowerPC G4 processor gets a modest speed bump, going from 1.25GHz to 1.42GHz. Compared to its predecessor, the low-end $799 model supplies double the hard drive capacity at 80GB and double the graphics memory with ATI's midrange 64MB Radeon 9600 video card. The $999 version received more goodies; it now ships with 512MB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and an 8X SuperDrive.

Downside: We were hoping that we could call Apple's entry-level, all-in-one PC the eMac G5, but, sadly, it's still running on the PowerPC G4. The eMac's memory is still the slow 333MHz variety. And unlike with the current iMac G5, wireless AirPort Express and Bluetooth remain added-cost options on the eMac.

Outlook: The eMac's biggest hardware upgrade is the addition of the 64MB ATI Radeon 9600 graphics card. The midrange 9600 should offer better performance and helps give the eMac a leg up over its in-house budget competitor, the Mac Mini, which still uses the 32MB Radeon 9200. The eMac remains a smart choice for Mac fans on a budget looking for a complete system.

See more CNET content tagged:: IBM PowerPC G4,; Apple iMac G5,; IBM PowerPC,; Apple Computer,; Apple iMac

User reviews

Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 4 reviews
My rating: 0 stars Write review

Showing 3 of 4 user reviewsSee all 4 user reviews
3.5 stars

6 out of 6 people found this review helpful

"Overall great machine, but..."

by scooterKS on May 17, 2005

read more
5.0 stars

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

"I LOVE my emac (512 MB, 160 GB Hard Drive, 9600 Radeon, Airport Card, and of course, DVD Burner)"

by ebodge on August 31, 2005

read more
4.5 stars

"Lovely machine"

by jpht64 on July 31, 2005

read more
See all 4 user reviews Write review

Submit your review

Apple eMac (Combo Drive)

ORLog in with your Facebook account

1. Rate this product:: (Mouse over the stars to rate this product and click to set your rating.)
2. One-line summary:(Summarize your review in one line. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 55 characters
3. Pros:(Tell us what you like about this product. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 250 characters
4. Cons:(Tell us what you don't like about this product. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 250 characters
Bottom-line summary:(Explain to us in detail why you like or dislike the product, focusing your comments on the product's features and functionality, and your experience using the product. This field is optional.): 0 of 5000 characters; Submit

Reviews from around the WebPowered by alaTest

alaTest.com

Editors' rating: 84

Summary: alaTest has collected and analyzed 714 reviews of Apple eMac from international magazines and websites. Experts rate this product 74/100 and users 89/100. Comparing these reviews to 58606 other Desktops reviews gives this product an overall alaScore™ 84/100 = Very Good.
techradar.com

Editors' rating: 100

Summary: And if you buy a new display, keyboard and mouse, the price of the mini climbs even higher. Factor in the hard drive differences and the eMac starts looking like a good deal

Read full review
newbie.org

Editors' rating: 50

Read full review
macworld.com

Editors' rating: 80

Read full review
Computeract!ve

Editors' rating: 80

Summary: Apple does it again with a cheap and cheerful alternative to the popular iMac.

Read full review
pcmag.com

Editors' rating: 90

Summary: If you have a Mac-heavy or mixed computing environment, the Xserve G5 and Xserve RAID might be the right solution for your company. The overall package presents an elegant alternative to Windows or Linux setups, although you will give up the diversity ...

Read full review