You're really lost if you think the eMac is for education first and foremost. It's for people who want CHEAP first and foremost. Schools want cheap. Users on a budget want cheap. That's the target market.
Education is its target market. The "e" stands for "education", not "economy". Remember, it was exclusively available to the education market at launch. The fact that it became the economy Mac was more due to the combination of the iMac G4 being too expensive, and at one point, too hard to find, than it is to Apple desiring to make it their economy line.
I'm hoping that Apple will correct this with the iMac G5 and be able to deliver one for $899 or so. I think Apple forgot what the iMac is for with the iMac G4. The iMac should deliver on the promise of the original Macintosh- simplicity, affordability, ease of use, and decent performance. The iMac should be the economy Mac, and the eMac should be built for schools. I'm hoping that the rumors of an optical drive-less model are for an iMac targeted to colleges, and the eMac will remain their main K-12 offering.
I could be wrong but i think emac is on the way out period. Apple isnt interested in selling anything cheap plus by removing a few things the next imac looks to be targeted at schools. I like Emac and with a decent video system it would be a great economy computer but Jobs dont like crt's or consumers and the whole emac thing was a response to schools. Apple never got behind this model and has treated it like a red headed step child but i counter with advertisement and say a 64 bit video it could be a great seller,make a few colors and sales would even be better. Apple isnt about the consumer and has not been since bondi imacs. sad but true. emac is probably near EOL.
The eMac was originally available exclusively to education customers, and it was only offered to consumers in response to demand. If that doesn't single the eMac out as first and foremost an educational machine, I'm not sure what would.
Precisely because Apple realized consumers outside of the "education" market would be willing to purchase an eMac shows that first and foremost it's an entry level Macintosh TODAY (not when it was first introduced). Apple was smart enough to realize that not only schools want cheap macs. So while the name of the machine reflects it was intended for the education market, it would be most appropriate to point out the target market has since then expanded to include budget conscious consumers.
And I think that will be reflected in the future. If indeed the iMac line will include an "education" model, then the eMac will exist only to serve those consumers who are looking for the cheapest mac available and who don't care to have an LCD.
Education is its target market. The "e" stands for "education", not "economy". Remember, it was exclusively available to the education market at launch. The fact that it became the economy Mac was more due to the combination of the iMac G4 being too expensive, and at one point, too hard to find, than it is to Apple desiring to make it their economy line.
I'm hoping that Apple will correct this with the iMac G5 and be able to deliver one for $899 or so. I think Apple forgot what the iMac is for with the iMac G4. The iMac should deliver on the promise of the original Macintosh- simplicity, affordability, ease of use, and decent performance. The iMac should be the economy Mac, and the eMac should be built for schools. I'm hoping that the rumors of an optical drive-less model are for an iMac targeted to colleges, and the eMac will remain their main K-12 offering.
The problem is the iMac name was stolen from what we now call the eMac. iMac G4, as its G3 counterpart was supposed to "deliver on the promise of the original Macintosh- simplicity, affordability, ease of use, and decent performance" yet it transformed into Apple's showcase of groundbreaking designs, which attracts a lot of recognition, turns heads but in the end betrays the roots of the original concept.
That's why I view the eMac as the real iMac G3 follow-up. Just because they started selling them to educational institutions only it doesn't mean it was intended for them all along. It's just silly not to realize the eMac is the son of the world famous iMac G3 which was loved by schools and consumers alike.
If the Powerbook gets either a speed bump or G5 (unlikey) then all those extra 1.5 GHz G4's could mean an eMac speed bump very soon.
I certainly hope so. No matter how awesome the G5 iMac will be, I'm still not in "the eMac's EOL" camp. Of course, if they introduce a 999 iMac then I might change my mind. Maybe.
i think a considerable speed bump or price drop are unlikely at this point. they just improved the emacs this summer (couple months ago at least... i can't exactly remember), and its still a pretty good deal right now. superdrive, 1.25 ghz processor, 256 mb ram and radeon 9200 for $999? thats a pretty sweet deal, and its even better if you get the education discount. my high school switched from old-school slot-load imacs like i have at home to 800 mhz emacs, and they're very nice. they're fast, they're durable, and they're a great deal. keep in mind that the 2nd generation imacs (sunflower) had a 1.25 ghz processor in it, same as the emac. before the imac g5 update, there was really no distinguishing factor between the emac and imac, and i think they're going to keep it that way for a while. they may bring it up to 1.5 ghz like in the powerbooks, but thats probably it. this week has a lot of potential, so i can't wait to see what they release.
and just for the record, even though this isn't technically the place for it, the sunflower imac is really the 3rd generation, because there was the original tray-loading imac, then the slot-load imac, then the g4, and now the g5 imac. just thought i'd point that out. just a technicality
The only problem with the eMac is the CRT. The edu stuff is carp. Edu = cheap. No doubt about it. If edu were really so interested in CRT based monoliths, then they wouldn't order any notebooks, or truck-loads full of DELL LCD bundled systems.
The eMac exists because Apple must have been developimg a 17" CRT based iMac G4 (for a long time). The G4's never came in enough supply for that shift, once they did, an LCD based machine seemed possible. So they built the sunflower instead. Remember the keynote speech, and walk in the garden talk, at that time? Talked about cutting the back off a machine? As if a CRT based machine had existed for much of the development cycle, then someone greenlighted an LCD system, and the first designs out of the box were still dominated by CRT concepts.
eMac is nothing more than the 17" CRT based G4 iMac that didn't get built 2 years before.
Schools don't give a shit about monoliths, sorry, but they don't. Some trustee somewhere who likes Apple might say so for the record, but it's not what the buying trends reveal.
I know local school boards that are being encouraged to retire CRTs wherever possible.
Would it really cost more to simply put a 15" LCD on the machine and whack off more than half of the shipping weight/volume in the process?
The only reason not to change the eMac over to an LCD is to encourage people to move up to an iMac. But even with the G5, the base iMac is not as functional for the simple, absurd reason that it lacks a superdrive.
The 1499 iMac is he one Apple wants to sell you.
You come in to look at a superdrive eMac, but cringe at the CRT, and to a lesser extent the G4. You look at the iMac, but at 1299 it hasn't got the right bits to make use of iLife -- no superdrive -- so you grit your teeth and look at the 1499 model. But it won't work for long.
Matsu the quality of those flatscreens you buy with garbage Dells and Gateways is well, garbage. Do you want Apple to include a garbage LCD in a flat eMac?
That's totally untrue. The colors are well saturated, contrast is high, viewing angles wide, and the screens are very bright. The only thing that some of the panels suffer from would be slightly slower pixel response, but it's still fast enough for video.
Have you put an Apple display next to a Sony? Have you put an LG, Samsung, NEC display next to an iMac? Dell and HP/Compaq actually spec very good displays. Go take a look. iMac displays are good, but apart from being widescreens, they no longer stand out from the crowd.
Comments
Originally posted by monkeyastronaut
You're really lost if you think the eMac is for education first and foremost. It's for people who want CHEAP first and foremost. Schools want cheap. Users on a budget want cheap. That's the target market.
Education is its target market. The "e" stands for "education", not "economy". Remember, it was exclusively available to the education market at launch. The fact that it became the economy Mac was more due to the combination of the iMac G4 being too expensive, and at one point, too hard to find, than it is to Apple desiring to make it their economy line.
I'm hoping that Apple will correct this with the iMac G5 and be able to deliver one for $899 or so. I think Apple forgot what the iMac is for with the iMac G4. The iMac should deliver on the promise of the original Macintosh- simplicity, affordability, ease of use, and decent performance. The iMac should be the economy Mac, and the eMac should be built for schools. I'm hoping that the rumors of an optical drive-less model are for an iMac targeted to colleges, and the eMac will remain their main K-12 offering.
Originally posted by Amorph
The eMac was originally available exclusively to education customers, and it was only offered to consumers in response to demand. If that doesn't single the eMac out as first and foremost an educational machine, I'm not sure what would.
Precisely because Apple realized consumers outside of the "education" market would be willing to purchase an eMac shows that first and foremost it's an entry level Macintosh TODAY (not when it was first introduced). Apple was smart enough to realize that not only schools want cheap macs. So while the name of the machine reflects it was intended for the education market, it would be most appropriate to point out the target market has since then expanded to include budget conscious consumers.
And I think that will be reflected in the future. If indeed the iMac line will include an "education" model, then the eMac will exist only to serve those consumers who are looking for the cheapest mac available and who don't care to have an LCD.
Originally posted by KeilwerthReborn
Education is its target market. The "e" stands for "education", not "economy". Remember, it was exclusively available to the education market at launch. The fact that it became the economy Mac was more due to the combination of the iMac G4 being too expensive, and at one point, too hard to find, than it is to Apple desiring to make it their economy line.
I'm hoping that Apple will correct this with the iMac G5 and be able to deliver one for $899 or so. I think Apple forgot what the iMac is for with the iMac G4. The iMac should deliver on the promise of the original Macintosh- simplicity, affordability, ease of use, and decent performance. The iMac should be the economy Mac, and the eMac should be built for schools. I'm hoping that the rumors of an optical drive-less model are for an iMac targeted to colleges, and the eMac will remain their main K-12 offering.
The problem is the iMac name was stolen from what we now call the eMac. iMac G4, as its G3 counterpart was supposed to "deliver on the promise of the original Macintosh- simplicity, affordability, ease of use, and decent performance" yet it transformed into Apple's showcase of groundbreaking designs, which attracts a lot of recognition, turns heads but in the end betrays the roots of the original concept.
That's why I view the eMac as the real iMac G3 follow-up. Just because they started selling them to educational institutions only it doesn't mean it was intended for them all along. It's just silly not to realize the eMac is the son of the world famous iMac G3 which was loved by schools and consumers alike.
Originally posted by Maddan
If the Powerbook gets either a speed bump or G5 (unlikey) then all those extra 1.5 GHz G4's could mean an eMac speed bump very soon.
I certainly hope so. No matter how awesome the G5 iMac will be, I'm still not in "the eMac's EOL" camp. Of course, if they introduce a 999 iMac then I might change my mind. Maybe.
and just for the record, even though this isn't technically the place for it, the sunflower imac is really the 3rd generation, because there was the original tray-loading imac, then the slot-load imac, then the g4, and now the g5 imac. just thought i'd point that out. just a technicality
The eMac exists because Apple must have been developimg a 17" CRT based iMac G4 (for a long time). The G4's never came in enough supply for that shift, once they did, an LCD based machine seemed possible. So they built the sunflower instead. Remember the keynote speech, and walk in the garden talk, at that time? Talked about cutting the back off a machine? As if a CRT based machine had existed for much of the development cycle, then someone greenlighted an LCD system, and the first designs out of the box were still dominated by CRT concepts.
eMac is nothing more than the 17" CRT based G4 iMac that didn't get built 2 years before.
Schools don't give a shit about monoliths, sorry, but they don't. Some trustee somewhere who likes Apple might say so for the record, but it's not what the buying trends reveal.
I know local school boards that are being encouraged to retire CRTs wherever possible.
Would it really cost more to simply put a 15" LCD on the machine and whack off more than half of the shipping weight/volume in the process?
The only reason not to change the eMac over to an LCD is to encourage people to move up to an iMac. But even with the G5, the base iMac is not as functional for the simple, absurd reason that it lacks a superdrive.
The 1499 iMac is he one Apple wants to sell you.
You come in to look at a superdrive eMac, but cringe at the CRT, and to a lesser extent the G4. You look at the iMac, but at 1299 it hasn't got the right bits to make use of iLife -- no superdrive -- so you grit your teeth and look at the 1499 model. But it won't work for long.
This week,
This month,
Next 3-4 months,
Never???
Originally posted by imac600mhz
So when do you guys think any updates will happen
This week,
This month,
Next 3-4 months,
Never???
Never would be my bet... (based on more than just guessing)
Have you put an Apple display next to a Sony? Have you put an LG, Samsung, NEC display next to an iMac? Dell and HP/Compaq actually spec very good displays. Go take a look. iMac displays are good, but apart from being widescreens, they no longer stand out from the crowd.