my main question: is the radeon 7500 a decent gfx card? i know it's not the best card out there (obviously), but does it have enough power to allow me to play rtcw or mohaa at decent frame rates at a decent resolution? my current gfx card is a rage 128 with only 8MB ram, so anything would be a step up. quartz extreme, here i come. also, will the 256K of cache be worse than the 512K currently sitting on my g3/400? the only thing that would prevent me from purchasing the rumored emac would be the lack of a 133Mhz bus and DDR RAM.
I'm not sure about how it would run those games, but the Radeon 7500 is a significant improvement over the current card, a GeForce 2MX. The GeForce 2MX is pretty cruddy and the GeForce 4MX is just a slightly overclocked version, so moving to ATI on the eMac is a good sign.
I'm not sure about how it would run those games, but the Radeon 7500 is a significant improvement over the current card, a GeForce 2MX. The GeForce 2MX is pretty cruddy and the GeForce 4MX is just a slightly overclocked version, so moving to ATI on the eMac is a good sign.
thanks for the reply.
i'm working with a limited budget here and although i'd much rather have a tower, i cannot justify a $500 price difference between the mid-range emac and low end tower. if these emacs are released i'll buy one from my local apple store.
i am wondering about the motherboards though. from what i can tell, the emac follows the imac in motherboard/tech revisions. in this case, the current line of imacs has the lowend with the 100Mhz bus, no ddr, and the Geforce2 card. the topend has the ddr, faster bus and gfx card. if one were to believe that the emac simply uses the current imac mobos to save costs, i am wondering whether the rumors about the 32MB 7500 are really true as the topend imac has the GF4MX with 64MB ram.
meh. rumors, smumors. i'll just wait for the actual release.
That's what I say. You don't know anything until it happens. Look at MWSF this year - nobody predicted it at all, in fact most places had people convinced that there'd be no new hardware and they'd have to pay for the iApps. Best rumor site is www.apple.com but they're always late.
I don't think the eMac and iMac share motherboards simply because of the shape of the motherboard. The iMac uses a custom-built round one, while the eMac can use a more standard one. Probably they're only similar in specs because Apple thought that would be the best way to market them.
I don't think the eMac and iMac share motherboards simply because of the shape of the motherboard.
I was not saying that the eMac and iMac share their motheboards due to size and shape. Rather I meant that the technology encorporated in both motherboards are almost identical. Examine the current base-line iMac. With 800Mhz, a GeForce 2MX GPU, a 100Mhz bus and no DDR RAM, it could almost be mistaken for an eMac just from the specs listed above. What I'm suggesting is that the iMac and eMac share technological components, probably to save costs when producing the eMac. From the specs posted at Think Secret and the current top-end iMac specs (1Ghz, DDR266, 133Mhz bus, Airport Extreme, and GeForce 4MX) it seems that the core hardware is essentially the same. Note: I would much rather have the Radeon 7500 than the GeForce 4MX and hope that Apple includes the Radeon in the next revision of the eMac.
[edit: Also of note is the maximum amount of RAM each motherboard can take. The similarities are too many for the motherboards not to be the same.]
Yeah, that makes sense. The iMacs were just updated recently... but I think they deserve a graphics bump, Radeon 7500 to replace the GF2MX and Radeon 9000 to replace the GF4MX. Just to make up for that huge 13-month wait last year. I don't think it'll happen, but I'm sure we'd all like it if it did.
Well, Apple Refurbished ones (700/CD-ROM) are $699 US. I don't know what that is in Canadian dollars (probably like $20,000 CDN or something ). Would she be willing to buy refurbished as long as she's buying it from Apple and she knows they've checked it out? Or does she want a new one?
EDIT: Actually I just checked and $699 US is equivalent to about $1018 CDN...
You read my mind. I don't think any Mac should ship with the GF4MX as the standard card. It is too weak for the pro-line and lacks many features needed to last in the all-in-one consumer line. The only way I would want a GF4MX (or possibly a Radeon 7500) in the line-up is as the base-line card in the consumer products (eMac, iMac) and as a downgrade option in the towers.
Damn. You could try another online reseller... PowerMax.com has a CD-ROM eMac (no modem, if you need one I suppose you could get a USB one, or a USB-Serial converter to use an old one lying around) for $669US but I don't know if they ship to Canada. SmallDog.com has them for $699US as well, but again I have no idea if they ship to Canada. I've dealt with PowerMax before, they are fine, and I've heard lots of good stuff about SmallDog.
Comments
Originally posted by job
my main question: is the radeon 7500 a decent gfx card? i know it's not the best card out there (obviously), but does it have enough power to allow me to play rtcw or mohaa at decent frame rates at a decent resolution? my current gfx card is a rage 128 with only 8MB ram, so anything would be a step up. quartz extreme, here i come. also, will the 256K of cache be worse than the 512K currently sitting on my g3/400? the only thing that would prevent me from purchasing the rumored emac would be the lack of a 133Mhz bus and DDR RAM.
*bump*
anyone want to answer these questions?
bah. i hate quoting myself.
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno
I'm not sure about how it would run those games, but the Radeon 7500 is a significant improvement over the current card, a GeForce 2MX. The GeForce 2MX is pretty cruddy and the GeForce 4MX is just a slightly overclocked version, so moving to ATI on the eMac is a good sign.
thanks for the reply.
i'm working with a limited budget here and although i'd much rather have a tower, i cannot justify a $500 price difference between the mid-range emac and low end tower. if these emacs are released i'll buy one from my local apple store.
i am wondering about the motherboards though. from what i can tell, the emac follows the imac in motherboard/tech revisions. in this case, the current line of imacs has the lowend with the 100Mhz bus, no ddr, and the Geforce2 card. the topend has the ddr, faster bus and gfx card. if one were to believe that the emac simply uses the current imac mobos to save costs, i am wondering whether the rumors about the 32MB 7500 are really true as the topend imac has the GF4MX with 64MB ram.
meh. rumors, smumors. i'll just wait for the actual release.
I don't think the eMac and iMac share motherboards simply because of the shape of the motherboard. The iMac uses a custom-built round one, while the eMac can use a more standard one. Probably they're only similar in specs because Apple thought that would be the best way to market them.
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno
I don't think the eMac and iMac share motherboards simply because of the shape of the motherboard.
I was not saying that the eMac and iMac share their motheboards due to size and shape. Rather I meant that the technology encorporated in both motherboards are almost identical. Examine the current base-line iMac. With 800Mhz, a GeForce 2MX GPU, a 100Mhz bus and no DDR RAM, it could almost be mistaken for an eMac just from the specs listed above. What I'm suggesting is that the iMac and eMac share technological components, probably to save costs when producing the eMac. From the specs posted at Think Secret and the current top-end iMac specs (1Ghz, DDR266, 133Mhz bus, Airport Extreme, and GeForce 4MX) it seems that the core hardware is essentially the same. Note: I would much rather have the Radeon 7500 than the GeForce 4MX and hope that Apple includes the Radeon in the next revision of the eMac.
[edit: Also of note is the maximum amount of RAM each motherboard can take. The similarities are too many for the motherboards not to be the same.]
She said if the eMac is priced (no matter if it's only CD-ROM) around $1050 CDN she would get one in a heart beat.
EDIT: Actually I just checked and $699 US is equivalent to about $1018 CDN...
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno
<snip>Radeon 9000 to replace the GF4MX<snip>
You read my mind. I don't think any Mac should ship with the GF4MX as the standard card. It is too weak for the pro-line and lacks many features needed to last in the all-in-one consumer line. The only way I would want a GF4MX (or possibly a Radeon 7500) in the line-up is as the base-line card in the consumer products (eMac, iMac) and as a downgrade option in the towers.
Originally posted by Leonis
My youngest aunt is thinking about getting a Mac.
Similarly, my grandmother is looking for a new computer as well.
If a new eMac running at 800Mhz were to become available in the $699-$799 price range, my grandmother would ditch her Dell in a heatbeat.
Not that it's a neccesary technological advance, but asthetically, it would make the eMac a lot more pleasing.
Originally posted by job
I wonder if the new eMacs will encorporate a slot-loading optical drive.
Not that it's a neccesary technological advance, but asthetically, it would make the eMac a lot more pleasing.
If you only knew the can of worms you just opened........
Originally posted by Amorph
Remember, this [i.e., the eMac] is the machine that was introduced for sale outside the educational market by popular demand.
It sells pretty well.
Even if it didn't, the educational market is large enough and important enough for Apple to justify the eMac's existence.
You're right. Comparatively, it seems to sell quite well -- about 60% of that of flat-panel iMacs according to today's conference call.
From MacCentral : "256,000 iMacs shipped. 41,000 CRT, 86,000 eMacs, 129,000 flat panels."
Originally posted by Flounder
If you only knew the can of worms you just opened........
meh.
Either way, as long as I get a 1Ghz, Combo Drive eMac with a Radeon for $999 in the coming months, I'll be a very happy student.
And my bank account will thank me.
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno
Well, Apple Refurbished ones (700/CD-ROM) are $699 US.
Sad truth:
There's no refurbished Apple products available in Canada
Also. Shipping + Custom are very high even they do
Originally posted by Leonis
Apple US doesn't allow any US reseller exporting new or refurbished Apple products to other countries
Well I should have expected that... Apple has always treated their resellers like dirt
Originally posted by Leonis
There's no refurbished Apple products available in Canada
That's bizzare.
I wonder why....