Mmahon84

Q: Just won an e-mac on ebay for £4.99 ...worth it?

Hi all,

 

First time poster on these forums!

 

I managed to find a good looking mac on ebay and won it for £4.99. (I don't think the guy was too happy about it)

Its all white and is an all in one but looks like a CRT monitor...i think its a late e-mac?

 

I've no idea about macs so its gonna be a learning curve for me, I gather the machine I have got is probably about 6 years old if not perhaps abit older and according to wikipedia will run OSX leopard. I'm normally a windows 7 user and have a few machines about the house (buzzing about windows 8 too) but I've always fancied a mac - its something different and a new computing experience for me.

 

I remember the old mac adverts on telly about what you can do on a mac that makes them so good, but I cant remember what those things are. Can anyone give me an insight? Also how have people adapted from windows to OSX.

 

Finally, I'm intreigued as to whether I got a good deal...£4.99?!

 

Any views or advice would be very mch appriciated.

 

 

Regards

 

Matt

e-mac

Posted on Sep 11, 2012 12:32 PM

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Q: Just won an e-mac on ebay for £4.99 ...worth it?

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  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Sep 13, 2012 10:18 AM in response to MichelPM
    Level 9 (53,643 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 13, 2012 10:18 AM in response to MichelPM

    MichelPM - Not to drift too far OT but I have a dual processor 1GHz, although it does have the very base video card 64 MB GeForce2 TwinView.  Still, if I have h.264 even at moderately high resolution I can play it back smoothly.  It's only if I get something that is so large it won't fit onto my 17" CRT monitor at 100% that video playback slows down.  I should note I do limited online video (e.g. YouTube) but I download it to the computer.  If I try to play it in a browser window it is slow but fine if played outside the browser with something like VLC.  I'm surprised my G4 can do h264 so easily, especially with such a low video card, but if may be the dual processors.

     

    mmahon84 - The earlier comments about using an old Mac as your first Mac are very valid.  Even a Mac enthusiast has to have patience and usually a specific motive (need, no money) to work with old hardware.  Apple is particularly unsupportive of old Mac users (except by tolerating us on this web site).  It's a bit like owning a 50 year old car.  You have to be patient and also have an interest in keeping it running and all that entails.  Test driving a 1965 VW Beetle is not the same as test driving a 2012 Beetle.

  • by MichelPM,

    MichelPM MichelPM Sep 13, 2012 10:40 AM in response to Limnos
    Level 6 (13,653 points)
    iPad
    Sep 13, 2012 10:40 AM in response to Limnos

    Yeah,

    That's how I handled most video. If I could download it to watch it, I did this.

    I use MacTubes to download YouTube video content.

    My G4 MDD is a single CPU 1.25 Ghz MDD with 2 GBs of PC133 RAM with a Flashed Radeon X800XT 256 VRAM video card.

    I was running Leopard.

    Even with these specs, not all 720p videos are created equal. Some I could play fine. Others would still skip frames from time to time. Some were mildly to a lot  choppy on the video side. Some 720p content wouldn't play at all.

    I figured it might have something to do with a variations in the 720p codec. Not sure.

    Can't play any 1080p video at all on my G4. Not even audio from a 1080p video.

    It just got to be so frustrating. I could barely stream Hulu from my G4. I don't have cable, so I was streaming video content from both my iPad connected to my old Sony 36 inch TV and my Mac. Some network content is only available through the desktop and not mobile devices so my Mac could barely steam video content delivered over Flash using old, no longer updated Flash Plugin.

    I hope with my new iMac, I put those days behind me, now!

    I had 10 years with my old Mac, I got to know well inside and out, though.

  • by MKE123,

    MKE123 MKE123 Oct 2, 2012 2:04 AM in response to Mmahon84
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2012 2:04 AM in response to Mmahon84

    Hello, and, I'd like you to know, I have, two, 1.42 GHz, and, two, 1.25 GHz eMacs, and, find them, to be, easy to, use and, (like the ebay info states, most time, "fully functional") I bought all four of these on ebay. I have, upgraded the memory to 2GB each, and soon, will be droppiing, A, 400GB HD in each of them, and using, A RAID, to, link them. I am running, the Leopard, operating, system, which, is the, highest, these machines, can handle. It, seems to me that about half think it is too much for an eMac, but, I, like it better than Tiger. It works better on the web. If, your going to run Leopard, I think the 2GB memory upgrade is the way to go. (make sure you get low density 400MHz)  I think, you got A good deal as long as the shipping wasn't too costly. Enjoy, your eMac.

  • by MichelPM,

    MichelPM MichelPM Oct 2, 2012 11:42 AM in response to MKE123
    Level 6 (13,653 points)
    iPad
    Oct 2, 2012 11:42 AM in response to MKE123

    MKE123,

     

    We still do not know what the original poster bought for an eMac.

    So far, the OP hasn't returned to tell us.

    Your are correct. The two models of eMac you have are certainly very capable PowerMac G4s and probably run OS X 10.5 Leopard fine.

    The eMacs you have have the faster 133 and/or 166 MHz system buses as well as larger 2 GBs RAM capacities and larger hard drives.

    I used to run a 1.25 Ghz CPU PowerMac G4 MDD desktop with 2 GBs of RAM and it ran OS X 10.5 Leopard fine, also.

     

    Lesser eMacs like some of the 1 Ghz CPU models and the 700 and 800 MHz models that only take 1 GB of RAM are really not up to the challenge and do not run OS X 10.5 Leopard well. These eMacs run much better and faster on OS X 10.4.11 Tiger. I know this because I updated my family's eMac to 10.5 Leopard. With only a 1 GB of RAM only a 100 MHz system bus, Leopard is much slower than Tiger.

  • by MKE123,

    MKE123 MKE123 Oct 2, 2012 3:08 PM in response to MichelPM
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2012 3:08 PM in response to MichelPM

    I, have, two, 1GHz, May 2004, models, and they, are also, fine, running, Leopard. It must, be, the slower, bus speed, on the earlier 1GHz, models, that, is, the, difference. I'm, considering, experimenting, with instaling, 2GB's of memory, just for kicks. I've read, all over, that, this, is A no-no. But, also that, most of the, components, (between, 1, 1.25, and 1.42, GHz, models, are virtually the same.

  • by 123pest,

    123pest 123pest Nov 16, 2012 4:53 AM in response to Mmahon84
    Level 1 (35 points)
    Nov 16, 2012 4:53 AM in response to Mmahon84

    old but worth it, you can allways resell it for £40 at least

  • by krissyball,

    krissyball krissyball Nov 16, 2012 7:20 PM in response to Mmahon84
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2012 7:20 PM in response to Mmahon84

    hi there...  i acquired MY emac from my sister YEARS ago.  She got my treadmill and i got her emac.   the Shift key works on occasion.  Anyway, i dropped it on my left foot and fractured a few bones.  But it still works!  But works is an  understatement.  This is a dinosaur of a computer.  i hate to say it.  it's only good for playing CDs and surfing the internet.  maybe typing some documents.  Don't bother trying to watch videos or netflix.  Streaming won't work.  Can't upgrade Safari or iTunes or anything unless you JUMP THROUGH HOOPS and waste HOURS for nothing.  just make it your CD player and occasional 'surfing the internet' computer.  That's just my opinion. 

  • by OldmanM,

    OldmanM OldmanM Jun 26, 2013 9:52 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 26, 2013 9:52 PM in response to Limnos

    No its more like driving an 1970 Ford Pinto backwards towards a light poll and you are praying the car does explode on impact. I am running G4 Mac mini and a G5 tower, both are struggling to stay online. Anytime Flash player is used heavyly Safari crashes and more websites are slowly becoming inaccessable. Firefox 3.6.21 became corrupt and I can't find my back up copy and wouldn't matter Firefox 3.6.x became useless before the corruption occured. I no longer have a choice but to pop for a newer Intel based Mac in the near near future and internet is only part of my issues. My old PPC's are slowly dying and are NOT worth the money or time to keep them going.

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Jun 27, 2013 10:46 AM in response to OldmanM
    Level 10 (123,501 points)
    Jun 27, 2013 10:46 AM in response to OldmanM

    TenFourFox is the most up to date browser for our PPCs, they even have G4 & G5 optimized versions...

     

    http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/

  • by philip.o,

    philip.o philip.o Sep 5, 2013 7:51 PM in response to OldmanM
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 5, 2013 7:51 PM in response to OldmanM

    Try erase and installing Mac Os X again.

  • by OldmanM,

    OldmanM OldmanM Sep 7, 2013 12:00 AM in response to philip.o
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 7, 2013 12:00 AM in response to philip.o

    The G5.. I did erase and reinstall the OS begining of July 2013. The G4 apple.... forget it the hard drive is failing and I am not going to put another one in because I can't get 2.5" PATA hard drives new anymore and I have done a lot to keep this computer running in the last couple of years. It is now a paper weight.

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