Writing for the Boston Globe , John P. Mello Jr. writes that the eMac may appeal to consumers who otherwise balk at Apple’s prices, in a new review called Power without the premium.
Mello noted that Apple “always appears on the crest of the latest wave,” although PC users have been able to defend their purchases by citing Windows’ market share and the premium pricing on Mac hardware.
“With the rollout of the new eMac models, though, that premium has been largely diminished, and the price of entry into the Apple fraternity vastly reduced,” said Mello. That drop in price doesn’t mean a drop in capability, he added.
He called the CRT’s maximum 1280 x 960 resolution “spacious,” and said that the issue of CRTs versus LCDs is one of “taste … not performance.” He noted that the CRT delivers rich colors and reduces distortion because of its flat surface. Mello also called the iLife applications bundled with the eMac “outstanding.”
Mello admits that the all-in-one eMac may have limited expansion options, but listed the options that users do have — memory, internal AirPort Extreme wireless networking, USB and FireWire — and added “expanding a computer by tinkering with its guts is less of an issue these days than it used to be.”
“For computer buyers enticed by what Apple calls the digital lifestyle but have balked at the price of a lifestyle change, the eMac offers a opportunity to catch the view from the top of the wave without wiping out the savings account,” Mello concluded.
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