eMac (2002)
eMac (2002): an all-in-one with a 17″ flat CRT and PowerPC G4; born for education only, it ended up as the entry-level Mac from 2003 to 2005.
Specs
| Reference | eMac (M8655) |
| Launch / discontinued | 2002-04-29 / 2006-07-05 |
| CPU | PowerPC 7450 (G4e) 700 MHz–1.42 GHz |
| Memory | 128 MB PC133 (up to 1 GB) |
| Storage | 40 GB Ultra ATA/66; 32x CD-ROM |
| Display / graphics | 17″ flat CRT 1280×960 |
| Expansion / ports | 3× USB 1.1, 2× FireWire 400, Ethernet, 56k modem, mini-VGA |
| US launch price | USD 1,099 |
Launch
Apple announced it on April 29, 2002 at USD 1,099 for the education market only; demand brought it to retail that June. It went back to education-only in October 2005 and was discontinued on July 5, 2006, replaced by a low-cost Intel iMac.
Marketing
The 'e' stood for education: a cheap, rugged CRT instead of the iMac G4's floating LCD, the serial number behind the optical drive door for school tracking, and RAM upgradeable through a bottom hatch. Education customers were nearly a quarter of Apple's sales.
Flaws and fixes
Early units suffered 'Raster Shift' (the image shifted and part of the screen went black), which Apple fixed by replacing the internal video cable, and some batches were hit by capacitor plague, with a warranty extension program. The base 128 MB was short for Mac OS X, and it weighed 50 pounds.
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Updated: October 24, 2026 · Sources: Wikipedia · Compare this product