Apple quietly announced a new eMac.

Biggest improvements:
USB 2.0 and an ATI 9200 graphics card. But the graphics card with its 32Mb still is a bit low from my point of view.

But hey its a low-end machine and you can get one for only 999$!!!

Now when are the new Powerbooks comming!!  

I CAN'T WAIT!!!  

Do I buy a PB G4 now....or try to wait....hmm....I can't take this anymore!!

DAMMIT! lol. I just bought the 1ghz emac about two months ago. Oh well. Just for a bit of info, it runs AA just fine, but with all graphics set to ultra low and no graphical details on. This is with 1gb of ram. I must say, AA still looks pretty sexy with graphics all the way down.

I'm sorry but a PC is more worth it for the price of an emac.  The PC I'm getting is an HP Pavillion for $849 after a $50 rebate.

AMD Athlon XP 3200+(2.0ghz, 64-bit)
512mb DDR Ram
nvidia 5200XT 8x w/128mb video ram
USB 2.0, firewire 400
DVD-R/CD-RW in one slot
CD-ROM in 2nd slot

Yeah it's a sweet deal, I'd get the eMac if it had 64mb video ram, but it doesn't.

I call bullshit. The unit you spec'd out costs $1384 from HP's website. (BTW, the 2.2 GHz 64 bit Athlon is called the Athlon 64 3400+.) I then went to the Apple store and spec'd the closest eMac I could find:

1.25 GHz G4
512 MB DDR RAM
Radeon 9200 /w 32 MB VRAM and AGP 4x
2 FireWire 400 ports/3 USB 2.0 ports
Superdrive
160 GB HD

This came to a total of $1174. I bumped the eMac to the 160 GB HD because that was standard on the HP. When you look at it this way, for $200 more the HP gives you a better GPU*, an extra CD-ROM drive, and a better processor. However, you also lose 1 FireWire and 2 USB 2.0 ports and the ability to run OS X. To boot, I gave the HP the cheapest monitor and optical mouse I could find (both standard on the eMac). Are you willing to put some cheapo HP monitor and optical mouse up against the beautifully integrated eMac CRT and the elegant Apple mouse? Not to mention the additional desktop space you will require for both a tower and a monitor.

In the end, the only real advantage to the HP is gaming. I'll readily admit that it is a superior gaming machine, but I think that only further makes my point that such a purchase would be folly. The Mac will be more enjoyable to work on, is less expensive, and will last far longer. If I were you, I would get the eMac and spend the $200 you just saved on a PS2**. Now you have awesome gaming and awesome computing.




*Really only due to the added VRAM. AGP 4x vs 8x is irrelevent as neither card will saturate 4x. Also, the 9200 is pretty similar to the 5200 in terms of technical capabilities.
**Insert your fanboy console of choice here.

Do you think that the new emac would actually get a nice fps on all the new games?

I might have to get one if so, 800 is completely affordable for me.