eMac

The eMac was announced on 29 April 2002 (2002-04-29) as an update to the iMac G3 with a simplified design and a PowerPC G4 processor upgrade. As the iMac G4 made use of an LCD at a time when this technology was still expensive as compared to CRTs, the iMac G3 initially remained in the product line as the entry-level option. The eMac was designed to replace the aging PowerPC G3, while retaining the lower-cost design for schools. The "e" prefix stands for "education", indicating its very specific purpose.

The eMac was initially only made available to educational institutions. Because of consumer demand for the return of a desktop Mac at its price point, on 4 June 2002 (2002-06-04), Apple announced the retail availability of the eMac. The eMac continued to be sold alongside the iMac G5 until 5 June 2006 (2006-06-05), when it was replaced by a low-end, education-only iMac G5 model - a practice that continued throughout the Intel iMac series.

Apple has launched four eMacs.

eMac

Various

• Release Date: (700MHz) 22 April 2002 (2002-04-22) / (800MHz) 13 August 2002 (2002-08-13)
• Tech Specs:
  • 700MHz on everymac.com
  • 800MHz on everymac.com

Software

• First Release: Mac OS 9 (9.2.2) / Mac OS X 10.1 (10.1.4)
• Last Release: Mac OS X Tiger (10.4.11)

Identifiers

• Model Identifier: PowerMac4,4

eMac (ATI Graphics)

Various

• Release Date: 6 May 2003 (2003-05-06)
• Tech Specs:
  • support.apple.com

Software

• First Release: Mac OS 9 (9.2.2) / Mac OS X Jaguar (10.2.4)
• Last Release: (800MHz) Mac OS X Tiger (10.4.11) / (1GHz) Mac OS X Leopard (10.5.8)

Identifiers

• Model Identifier: PowerMac4,4

eMac (USB 2.0)

Various

• Release Date: 13 April 2004 (2004-04-13)
• Tech Specs:
  • support.apple.com

Software

• First Release: Mac OS X Panther (10.3.3)
• Last Release: Mac OS X Leopard (10.5.8)

Identifiers

• Model Identifier: PowerMac6,4

eMac (2005)

Various

• Release Date: 3 May 2005 (2005-05-03)
• Tech Specs:
  • support.apple.com

Software

• First Release: Mac OS X Tiger (10.4)
• Last Release: Mac OS X Leopard (10.5.8)

Identifiers

• Model Identifier: PowerMac6,4