The eMac is an economy desktop computer made by Apple Computer. It is a white all-in-one Mac with a shape and design closely resembling that of Apple's original iMac, but it sports a PowerPC G4 processor significantly faster than the old iMac's G3, as well as a larger, higher-quality display.
Apple introduced the eMac in April 2002 as a low-cost alternative to the new LCD iMac, exclusively for education buyers – in fact the name "eMac" stands for "education mac" – but demand for it was so great that it was made available to the general public one month later.
The eMac featured a 17-inch flat CRT monitor, a G4 processor running at 700 or 800 MHz, nVidia GeForce2 MX graphics, and built-in 16-watt stereo speakers. The public models were priced at $1,099 and $1,499, filling the price gap between the $799 old iMac and the $1499 new LCD iMac.
Apple discontinued the old iMac line in March 2003 but did not fill the "cheap" price point until May, when the eMac line was updated and its price brought down to old-iMac levels. That revision brought the processor speed to 800MHz and 1GHz and replaced the GeForce2 with an ATI Radeon 7500 graphics system.
The eMac was further improved in October 2003, when the 800MHz model was eliminated and the 1GHz model brought down to its price. A more expensive 1GHz model that includes Apple's SuperDrive was also discounted. This model is notable for being one of the least expensive computers that can burn DVDs.
