eMacs and video cards?

[montecristo]

Thinking about buying a cheap (I mean, of course, inexpensive) mac for my mom, who will generally just be using it for word processing, e-mail, and surfing. I may use it every once in a while when I visit (unless I pony up for a G5 PB whenever that comes out! Still nursing my Bronze keyboard PB G3...), but it'll be mainly her computer.

So, I'm thinking about the 1Ghz eMac, but I'm wondering about the video capability, since I've noticed it doesn't have a video card (or at least a leading edge video card). Does anyone think this will be a problem for the types of apps we'll be using? (viewing clips online, iChatAV, maybe a game or two). It doesn't seem like the eMac is too expandable/upgradeable in this regard...I wouldn't want it to get outdated too fast (what, 5 - 6 years for a mac!?!)

Any other thoughts/suggestions? Thanks!

 

[mattmack]

Re: eMacs and video cards?

Originally posted by montecristo
Thinking about buying a cheap (I mean, of course, inexpensive) mac for my mom, who will generally just be using it for word processing, e-mail, and surfing. I may use it every once in a while when I visit (unless I pony up for a G5 PB whenever that comes out! Still nursing my Bronze keyboard PB G3...), but it'll be mainly her computer.

So, I'm thinking about the 1Ghz eMac, but my I'm wondering about the video capability, since I've noticed it doesn't have a video card (or at least a leading edge video card). Does anyone think this will be a problem for the types of apps we'll be using? (viewing clips online, iChatAV, maybe a game or two).

Any other thoughts/suggestions? Thanks!

It has an ATI 7500 with 32 megs of ram on it if you don't do alot of hardcore games on high resolutions it should be fine

 

[davy the bunny]

pff, you won't have any problems. I've got an eMac at 700 mHz with the NVidia GeForce 2 MX with 32 MB of RAM and I can play several games with little chop. For instance, I can play Jedi Outcast with no problems as long as I stay reasonable.

But as for normal use, just a couple of days ago I was watching a movie in Quicktime while writing my resume in Word and there was no problem. I frequently have multiple video clips running at the same time, so no she won't have any problems at all.

 

[solvs]

I still have a 400 MHz Celeron with 4 MB video ram lying around for some stuff. It's not the fastest in the world, but it does the job with Win2000 (even if it is Windows). Even with certain video files, it still renders everything fine. My dad still has a 200 MHz Dell that's fine for basic stuff, and my friend has a 500 MHz iMac with 8MB video ram, still doing everything it has to.

So to answer your question, I think a 1 GHz, 32 MB eMac will be good for awhile. Even if you play a few games here and there. But especially for what she does. Even if she doesn't upgrade the OS, which, if she does, will probably make it even faster (the way Apple has been doing that lately). Just buy lots of RAM for it, 128-256 MB isn't enough.

The Radeon 7500 isn't the greatest card in the world (and it sucks that you can't upgrade it), but for basic stuff, it should be good for a few years. Besides, think about how many people still run ~8 MB.

 

[QCassidy352]

my family has the 1 Ghz emac (with 640 RAM) and it does all of the things you list *quite* easily. The Radeon 7500 isn't cutting edge anymore, but unless you're a graphics professional or a hard core gamer it does just fine. Our emac runs warcraft 3 at high resolution with no problems and that's a pretty complex game (though not as graphics intensive as first person games).

Just upgrade the RAM. It was a day before I could install the extra 512, and the emac was slow as dirt with 128. Now it's quite zippy.

 

[montecristo]

Thanks everyone! Seems like an easy enough decision now!

 

[aethier]

My school has the 800 GHz emac (the rev before the one with the new keybaord) and it has a geforce 2 mx (i think) at luch i would go play games i brought from home with litte problems. Obviously you wont be able to play Doom 3 or anything at ultra high quality, but for the money, i would say that your mother will be very happy with her new eMac

aethier

 

[Fender2112]

I got an eMac 1Ghz G5 Combo Drive for my kids about two weeks ago. For the money, I have no complaints. It is a great machine. I've done all sorts of things: watch DVD's, Excel, web surfing, CodeWarrior, and a few other things.

I do suggest you spend another $150 and get two 512MB RAM modules. I put two in this evening and it really makes a difference in how "snappy" things feel.

Good Luck

 

[aethier]

Originally posted by Fender2112
I got an eMac 1Ghz G5 Combo Drive for my

i guess yuo meant G4...
unless you know something we dont..?

aethier