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Apple has unveiled the eMac, a new desktop line designed specifically for education, featuring a 17-inch flat CRT and a 700 MHz PowerPC G4 processor in a highly compact design that’s 8mm thinner than a 15-inch iMac. In the run up to Macworld San Francisco, numerous rumors circulated about the existence of a 17-inch CRT-based iMac. With the announcement of the LCD-based models, this speculation was silenced. "Our education customers asked us to design a desktop computer specifically for them," said Steve Jobs in a press release announcing the new model. "The new eMac features a 17-inch flat CRT and a powerful G4 processor, while preserving the all-in-one compact enclosure that educators love." The existence of a 17-inch iMac has obviously been borne out, yet no one anticipated the move to rebrand and position the model in this way let alone that such a box was still lurking in Cupertino's labs. High praise "By listening to educators and including their suggestions in the development of the product, Apple is showing why they have led the market for technology in education for the past 25 years," said James L. Konantz, asst. superintendent, instructional technology, Los Angeles Unified School District. "The new eMac delivers on the promise of powerful, affordable technology for schools." With five USB ports and two FireWire ports, the eMac provides easy plug-and-play connectivity for digital camcorders, digital still cameras, printers and scanners, as well as external drives. The eMac’s 17-inch flat CRT display offers resolutions up to 1280 x 960 pixels in 24-bit color. All new eMacs include: a 40GB ATA Hard Drive; built-in 10/100 networking; a 56K V.90 modem (some models); AirPort support; audio-in and headphone jacks and an integrated 16-watt digital amplifier and stereo speakers; NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 3D AGP 2X graphics with 32MB (DDR); and an education-centric software bundle (AppleWorks, QuickTime, Mac OS X Mail, Microsoft Internet Explorer, WorldBook Mac OS X Edition, PCalc and Acrobat Reader). Like all new Apple models, the eMac ships with Mac OS X 10.1.4 and OS 9 pre-installed, as well as the company’s well-regarded optical Pro mouse and Pro keyboard. Set to ship in May, the new eMac will be available to education customers in the US and Canada. Apple’s press release states that it will be available through the Apple Store for Education. A new CD-ROM eMac goes for US$999. A high-end model with a Combo-drive and 56K modem will sell for US$1,199. Analysis: Apple has once again reasserted its ability to surprise. This model, though not "beautiful" like recent new Apple products, should help the company regain share in the education market because of its strong feature set and reasonable entry-level pricing. Kudos… The only problem I can see with this new model, and its obvious value and appeal, is that most of us can't buy one.
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