eMaculate Perceptions
Written: Dec 12 '02
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Pros: Macs are no longer computers - they're appliances for the digital lifestyle.
Cons: OS 10.2 still has a few minor issues
The Bottom Line: Get it while the getting's good. There is no better deal for the home user.
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| erikjdais's Full Review: Apple eMac 17 in. (M8892LL/A) Mac Desktop |
SPECS
Complete specs at http://www.apple.com/ca/emac/specs.html. But here's the dirt from my perspective:
- 800 MHz G4: nice and peppy - roughly equiv to a 1.2 GHz Pentium
- 256M RAM: not enough, but RAM's cheap these days...I went for the full 1G, which added a whopping $240 to the price.
- 17" Monitor: it's CRT, not LCD like the new iMacs, but that wasn't an issue for me...CRT's been fine for years, and as this is one of many areas where size does matter, I was more focused on the 17" part. Plus, a nice benefit of mature technology is that it's less problem prone.
- 60GB HD: I thought this was going to be more than enough. I mean, it's stupid big, right? But the best thing about Macs these days is how digital media friendly they are (see below). And 60GB is only about 6 hours of high def video. So I'm already wanting more drive space, but LaCie has just come out with 500GB firewire drives, and xmas is just around the corner... Bottom line is, it's more than enough space unless you get heavy into home video editing, at which point you can never have enough space.
- Super Drive: Burning DVDs was the real reason I went with this one over the 700 MHz model. The original logic was borne of convenience: it takes 100 CDs to back up a 60GB drive, but only 13 DVDs. However, because of the great digital media software that comes with OS 10.2, I'm finding more of a use for burning video DVDs than data DVDs. (For example, my xmas present to my mom is a nicely cut video of her new granddaughter).
- Connectivity: like all Macs, it comes with built in 56K modem and Ethernet port for broadband/network connectivity. Also comes with 2 firewire ports & and 5 USB ports for peripherals. Of course I've already filled them and am sharing one USB port between my digital camera and my palm cradle. But you can hot swap both firewire and USB, and since you're never using all of your peripherals at once, it's not an issue. And hubs are cheap if you really want one.
- Audio: speakers are not bad - much better than the old iMacs - but if you're a real audiophile and do a lot of MP3 playback on the computer, you'll probably want to pick up a set of better ones. I haven't, and don't plan to.
OS X JAGUAR
It may not be popular to say this in hardcore Mac crowds, but I think the smartest thing Apple ever did was scrap the old MacOS and rearchitect it on a Unix core. Why? Because the Mac doesn't crash anymore. Individual programs may, but the system stays up and running, along with all other open apps. It's great. Yes, there are some pretty big changes to how it all works, but it's still extremely intuitive. And if, very occasionally, you need to go to the Apple support site to find out how to do something unix-y that is not well supported by the Mac GUI, you'll find that their knowledgebase is very comprehensive and provides step by step instructions for the non-computer savvy.
The other major benefit of an open-source unix core is that Apple has just enabled a pretty sizable development community not only to make Mac apps, but also to make modifications to the core functionality. This hasn't played itself out yet, but I fully expect it to lead to more system stability and functionality over the long haul.
APPLICATIONS
Biggest drawback to a Mac has traditionally been application availability. Yes, there are more programs available on a PC. But here's why that doesn't matter:
- Microsoft: the Mac version of Office is OSX native and as good if not better than the Windows version. And all the documents created by either version are completely transferrable between the two platforms.
- Adobe, Macromedia & Avid: all of the major publishing, design and video programs have native OSX version and strong support for Apple
- Apple: has done an amazing job of creating simple, intuitive software that drives the digital lifestyle. Read on...
DIGITAL LIFESTYLE
The Mac is no longer a computer - it's an appliance for the digital lifestyle. And all it took was 4 smart (and free) programs...
iTunes is the best music management software on the market, period. Put in a CD, it opens in iTunes, and you can drag tracks into your library (ie hard drive) with all of the metadata intact. Drag tracks into a new playlist and hit the burn button to create a standard audio CD.
Ditto for iPhoto. Plug in the digital camera, press a button, and everything's imported. Create photo albums just like playlists on iTunes.
And don't get me started on iMovie. It took me a total of 5 minutes to master this surprisingly functional video editing suite. It's no Avid, but if you're cutting home movies from your digicam, it's amazing. Plug in the cam, press import, and it sucks in all the video, automatically cutting it into separate clips when the scene changes. Drag clips onto the timeline, make your cuts, throw away what you don't want, add an audio track from a CD or iTunes, and you've got yourself a movie. Then export it to Web (low res) or iDVD (MPEG-2 quality).
iDVD is the necessary companion piece . Drag on the video you created in iMovie, set your backgrounds and menus, and hit burn. Send it to grandma for xmas.
There was a quote I read somewhere that read something like: what does it matter if there are 10,000 programs available for Windows when the 4 you really want are only available on the Mac. If you haven't guessed, I agree.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1700
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor speed: 801-900
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: SuperDisk
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
erikjdais
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