Mom's never owned a Mac before. She is computer illiterate, for all intents and purposes. I'm sick of her calling for tech support on XP (never used it myself).

So, the eMac has an 80gb hd, 256 ram, is 1ghz, and has a Superdrive. It's 14 months old (seller says) and has no warranty. Seller says it's mint. It's C$600.

The low end mini has a 40gb hd, 256 ram, is 1.25ghz, and has a Combo drive. It's C$629+tax = $725. Plus, it has no keyboard or monitor (her pc ones may work but I don't know. They're old).

My concerns:

Any known issues with the eMac? Can I add ram to it myself or is it like the mini and needs to be added by Apple? Any drawbacks to the eMac over the mini or vice versa? What would you recommend?

She'll use it for the internet, word processing... and making birthday/christmas cards from her own photos.

Oh, and outside of burning a sample dvd while I'm at the guy's house, if I buy the eMac, anything I can do to make sure it's solid?

eMacs are OK. We do repair and they don't show up often or with chronic problems. iMacs tend to fail in the video board which includes the high voltage power supply. The price seems a little high.

If it works, it works.

What OS version is it running?

The price seems high even with the superdrive and 80gb?

I'm not sure which OS is on it. I assume Panther. I have Panther and Tiger install discs from my iBook and iMac. Was just gonna put one of those on there.

What about the ram, Warbaby? Can I just open it and put in ram?

Oh, and that price is about $500 in us$, just fyi.

The keyboard will most likely not work with the mini, if it's not USB. If it is, then fine - the windows key works as the command key, I believe. The monitor will be fine, although one thing I've noticed with my mini is that it doesn't show very brightly on my CRT - it's since been replaced. This could be a function of any number of things, including the monitor or the KVM switch I'm using, so YMMV.


It souns to me like the eMac is the way to go. The major drawback with the mac mini concerning photos is that a usb keyboard and mouse will use both of the available USB slots, making uploading a pain. However, I don't know anything about opening it up. The mac mini can be opened without even voiding the warranty if you want.

It probably wouldn't be rude to tell the seller that you want to try out the computer a little bit before you buy it; that way you can make sure.

I suggest you buy her a PC instead.

*runs and hides*

Of course, if you get an apple keyboard, it has USB ports on it. I still think the emac sounds like a better bang for your buck, though.

You can do price comparisons on eBay. We've been seeing G4 towers for $250-$300 US. They come out a remanufacturing depot and have all been good so far. Dunno the name, but can check tomorrow.

I don't know what the upper limit on RAM is, I'll have ask the techs. I'm software, myself. But it's a small shop so I see most of what goes through and catch calls when the techs are onsite.

And before the MacClansmen and the Windowites start at it, there's no big difference other than user interface. PC's handle hardware installs a little easier and Macs have better interface. But there isn't a big difference between them. Of course, everybody likes what they've got. Just as everybody likes their dentist.

emac is probably easier than a mini, unless you set her up with a monitor/keybd/mouse and everything...

emac works right out of the box--she won't even need you (much).

Is the emac coming to you with software or anything? If it's all set up, you'll just have to create a new user for it and put in her internet stuff.

Make sure you get the install discs it came with tho.

You can run ps/2 keyboard and mouse into a single USB port with this. yes, it works with the Mac mini.

Thanks so far, all.

Even if the eMac comes with software I'll erase it, no doubt. It's easy enough to install Panther or Tiger should I get more ram. I don't mind setting everything up for her.

The prob now is she calls me and tells me what's going on with her XP machine and I'm lost as to what it's doing and how it got that way. This way, on the rare occasion she'll need to call me, I'll be able to walk her thru it.

The only benefits to the mini that I can see are the warranty and its light weight (as she's old and not so strong). However, barring any known issues with eMac, I'll go for it as it's all in one, cheaper, and has more goodies.

Again, thanks!

I bought a Mac. It was an eMac.

However, despite the rosy tone of my essay at that link, all was not well in Grandma-eMac land. I vastly overestimated her learning and retention capacity. I don't consider it a complete loss, as it permitted a number of important moments and communications to happen, that wouldn't have happened otherwise. Like: Having my brother dump the Mini-DV footage of his first daughter's birth directly to the machine. Seeing various videos and photos from family all over the world on a glorious Mac-grad flat CRT. Making quality Christmas cards and letters. And more.

Despite my personal miscalculation, the eMac performed very well. It functioned as a web and FTP server while streaming MP3s on the LAN, while still handling local users with nary a hiccup or panic. And for the price at the time - new from the Apple store - it was quite a bargain for a fully functional OS X box.

Get her a real two or three button mouse with a scroll wheel, though. Those "Pro" clear mice suck so bad. Yeah, hey, it looks neato. Where the fuck do I pick it up while still holding a click down when I run out of desk space? And did they really have to make the cable the exact size that permitted it to get stuck under the clicky-shell thing, preventing the all important click?

Ram is an easy job. Flip the unit on it's face on a soft cloth. A couple of screws on the bottom. Door opens. Ram bay is there. I think it's only two slots, though.

Have your mom try out OS X. It's not as intuitive as the Macfiends like to claim it to be, especially to the 'computer illiterate' it's supposed to cater to, especially those that have been maladjusted by Windows.

eMacs were (over) designed to be bullet proof, for educational institutions.

God forbid you ever want to replace the HD, though. I've taken one apart. It is literally the most heinous machine I've ever had the displeasure of opening and fiddling with.

It took me something like 7-8 hours, an illustrated photo guide and a half dozen different drivers and bits to get at the HD, which also included removing the main system board, the video board, a massive array of heat sink dealies and what basically amounted to a complete Faraday cage in stylishly perforated stainless steel mesh, all while working in nerve-racking proximity to the back of the CRT gun and high voltage deflection coils. Putting it back together took only slightly less time.

Of course, if I had to do it again it would take a lot less time. But after barely even beginning to strip an eMac down to the chassis, one should be able to do the same to an original style iMac blindfolded and with only chewing gum as a handtool all in the space of mere minutes.

I'll also put it this way: It made the CPU-daughter-board-whoring, designed-in-the-bowels-of-satan-himself Compaqs of the late 80s and early 90s look sane and user friendly by comparison, and those things used to make me bleed every time I opened one.

But I digress sinfully. eMacs are excellent, user-friendly machines. Just start sacrificing chickens now in offering and hope that you never have to replace a bad HD or anything.

I think eMacs are pretty heavy (certainly heavier than a mini with a flat-screen), so if your mom wants to move it herself, that might be a bit of a problem. Otherwise that's the one I'd go with.

loquacious, thanks for the words/link! ... and for the ram relief.

omiewise, yeah, I know it's pretty heavy but she can't afford a new monitor (flat or not) so she'd have to lit her old CRT anyway. I mentioned the weight to her (apparently they're 50 lbs) and she said it wasn't that big an issue).

Thanks everyone for your advice. Gonna get the eMac today.

It weighs a ton--more than an old tv.

Do you have word and other programs for her? I'd think about keeping those on the machine. or archiving them and then reinstalling osX.

It made the CPU-daughter-board-whoring, designed-in-the-bowels-of-satan-himself Compaqs of the late 80s and early 90s look sane and user friendly by comparison, and those things used to make me bleed every time I opened one.
*Shows off scars (both mental and physical) from fiddling with these monsters*

Okay, so after all this... I got her a used iMac instead. It just got posted to CL today. It's older (g3) but does everything she wants at less than half the price (C$250). 384 ram, 38gb hd, g3 600. I just set it all up and it works perfect!

Thanks all for your help!

There you go! And a good price, too.