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

Do you any other info from eBay about this eMac?

The last eMac was built in 2005, so it's 7 years old going on 8 years old.

If it's not either one of the 1.25 or 1.42 Ghz G4 PowerPC CPU models, these Macs are going to struggle even more.

Older PowerPC Macs, especially, the G4 models are getting harder to use on today's more modern Internet.

The highest OS X you can run on PowerPC Macs is OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Does it come with the original OEM supplied discs?

Without these discs, it's going to be hard and expensive to find a more modern OS X version to run.

And you won't have any of the hardware test discs.

If this eMac is a 1.0 Ghz model or older, I don't know the serial number range, but these models had capacitor issues.

Also, with models with a CPU size of 1.0 Ghz or less, I would install OS X 10.4.11 Tiger as the final running OS X version.

Anything higher than this will run quite a bit slower.

If the eMac is higher CPU speed than 1.0 Ghz, than you can install OS X 10.5.8 Leopard.

It would be nice if this eMac can take up to 2 GBs of RAM.

OS X 10.4 and 10.5 run pretty well with 2 GBsnof RAM.

You might be able to call 1-800-MYAPPLE and ask for software sales and get a retail copy of OS X 10.5 Leopard for Apple's original OEM price.

I am not sure if they have any more retail copies of OS X 10.4 Tiger any longer, though.

Can't hurt to ask.

IF, not, OS X 10.4 Tiger is going to very hard and expensive to get as it's, at least a 6 year old OS?

Also, finding older PowerPC software to run on this eMac is going to be problematic, at best.

You bought this for a steal, Sooo.......

Good Luck.

I forgot two mention, if someone tells you that Apple no longer has OS X 10,5 Leopard, tell them you still have a PowerPC Mac and just bought an iPad to use with it.

They might be able to scrounge one up, then.

;)

If you want to do a complete erase and re-install, you're going to need a retail OS X retail disc.

Either a OS X Tiger 10.4 or OS X Leopard 10.5 disc.

There is only an older version of Adobe Flash available to run on PowerPC Macs. So, website that use a more current Flash based site may not work with your eMac.

Also, streaming video may or may not work and of it does, it won't work well.

There are versions of iLife and iWork still available for PowerMacs G4s and G5s.

Here they are here

ILife '09

http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MB966Z-A-iLife-VERSION/dp/B0014X5XEK/ref=sr_1_3?s=so ftware&ie=UTF8&qid=1347402594&sr=1-3&keywords=ILife

iWork

http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MB942Z-A-iWork-VERSION/dp/B0014X2UAK/ref=sr_1_7?s=so ftware&ie=UTF8&qid=1347402656&sr=1-7&keywords=ILife

MichelPM has given you some good practical advice.

From a less practical perspective, more playfully, if i bought an eMac for =AUD7.50 I'd be tempted to replace the CRT with an LED*, replace the optical drive with a newer device because they work better, and not be concerned with what OS it ran, though at least 10.3 would be minimum, and just keep it to play music, and be able to run old classic software. Doesn't everyone need to run classic software from time to time?

I do like the eMacs because of their wonderful shape and this would be the primary reason to keep it.

As to your OS Tiger?, you may have found by now that original Mac OS's are fairly expensive on the 2nd hand market. A cheap alternative would be to buy an external firewire drive and clone your OS onto the external. This is not ideal but you can use the external version to perform ocassional operations on the internal if needed.

Another perspective, to be mused over rather than set in concrete. 😀

*which would be a major internal hardware rebuild though not necessarily expensive but fiddly. The original screens were very fine quality .25" dot pitch, better visually than an average replacement LED but the screen swap would be intended for improved energy saving and you could reduce the noisy fan.

Welcome!

Here is how to detemine what eMac model you have:

How to locate the serial number and identify your model

Using the charts on that page, figure out your model name and post that, but not any serial numbers.

Once you get that part sorted, you can do "About this Mac" form the Apple menu (left end of top menubar) to see the Mac OS version installed, how much physical RAM you have, and your Processor.

We have two eMacs in the family, both running Mac OS 10.4.11. The older one is one of the first eMacs shipped; the newer one is among the last. There is a world of difference between the two in capability and speed. My wife still uses the newest one daily and has no complaints, other than that Facebook videos won't play, only because I've not installed the thrid-part hack to get around the issue, which is due to Flash support, or more precisely, the lack thereof.

I'm looking forward to hearing waht your find!

Allan

"I hear I will probably need i-life so that should be fun to find!"

Found this for you. If you are from the U.K., check the Amazon U.K. site.

The link I provided is the U.S. site.

If the versions of iLife and iWork are available here through Amazon, they might be available on Amazon in the U.K.

I live in the U.S.

Amazon U.K. may have, also, have OS X Tiger and Leopard at much higher prices, though.

You bought this eMac cheap, if you do know any Mac users willing to give up their copy of OS X Tiger, your going to have to spend the cash for the OS.

You really need your own copy of OS X, anyways.

You could also search for Mac Users Groups ( called MUGs) that may be in the U.K. , close to your area, that you could contact and find out if any one associated with the Mac Users Group that you could contact that may want to either, borrow, give away or purchase cheaper their old copy of OS X Tiger.

Roam,

Are you kidding about replacing the old CRT, in an eMac, for a flat panel? Old CRTs can hold a lethal electrical charge for years!!

Not sure how many years. I would not want to play with a CRT in any old computer, monitor or TV.

Hi Michel,

No not kidding. Such mods exist. Some people mod the old early iMacs as well, you know the five colors series, just to show off the case.

The electrical charge in the CRT is to be respected but can always be discharged to ground no problem. It is just an electrical device, not a cave monster. 😁

I think one of the downsides of a CRT is their power consumption, compared to an LED.

Spelling corrected by: roam

I haven't shopped for Tiger or Leopard in a while but last time I looked you would pay at least what they cost new and possibly much more. We're talking US$130+ which is a lot more than you paid for the whole e-Mac! On the other hand maybe now they are so old the prices have dropped again. I think the advice about getting a bootable external Firewire drive and cloning the existing system to it is a good idea in the meanwhile. That way at least you'll have something to clone back should the OS give you problems, and an alternative boot drive for doing maintenance/repairs on the internal drive.

I use a G4. It isn't too bad on today's Internet as long as your main hobby isn't watching online video.

"I've just seen a desk lamp style i-mac which i love the look of but its only a g4 and following my experience so far that is enough to kind of put me off. Would they be easy to refit to standard pc components do you think?"

Definitely NO.

The components in the G4 iMacs were custom design so that they could fit inside the dome. Other than the optical drive, there are no standard size PC cards in there. The logic board, the GPU are all customed sized.

The G4 iMacs are still the coolest iMacs that were ever designed ,IMO.

The best one is the 1.25 Ghz G4 with a 20 inch screen. These were real cool!!!

But the top of the line G4 eMac beats it out with a 1.42 Ghz CPU.

If you are still looking at old Macs, you should be trying to find ones that were the fastest of the line.

Look at PowerPC G5 models. Even better, look for intel model Macs. This is where Apple has been for the last 6-7 years.

Do some research before you just plunk down cash willy-nilly or get something for cheap!

You only end up getting what you pay for!

Why are you looking at dirt cheap Macs that won't be a good Mac experience for you and you are going to them into PCs running Windows if these don't work well for you?!! What the hay????

Spend a little cash and get a Mac that you can have, at least, a good, fun experience with.

If you decide to hunt for a better Mac, do your research to find out what you are buying and make sure you get the original system disks with it.

"I use a G4. It isn't too bad on today's Internet as long as your main hobby isn't watching online video"

Ha, ha....

That,s why I finally bit the bullet a little while ago, while I had the financial means, and updated to a used 2009 27 inch screen iMac.

I just couldn't take any more of the video issues on my, almost, 10-year old G4 MDD.

The last thing I did before I bought a newer Mac was to put a the best video card that was available that worked in a G4 MDD tower. It helped, but still issues prevailed.

Was still feeling frustrated. I love my old Mac, but its day had come.

I just reached the end of the line with my former workhorse.

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.