- published: 06 Mar 2012
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The eMac, short for education Mac, is a Macintosh desktop computer made by Apple Inc. It was originally aimed at the education market, but was later made available as a cheaper mass market alternative to Apple's second-generation LCD display iMac.
The eMac design closely resembles the first-generation iMac. Compared to the first iMac, eMacs feature a PowerPC G4 processor that is significantly faster than the previous generation G3 processors, as well as a 17-inch flat CRT display. Unlike the iMac G3, however, the eMac is not meant to be portable as it weighs 50 pounds and lacks a carrying handle.
The eMac was pulled from retail on October 12, 2005 and was sold exclusively to educational institutions thereafter. It was finally discontinued by Apple on July 5, 2006 and replaced by a cheaper, low-end iMac that, like the eMac, was originally sold exclusively to educational institutions.
The eMac generally caters to the mass market, eventually taking over from the soon-to-be-discontinued iMac G3 to become the entry level Macintosh from 2003 to 2005, while the iMac G4 was positioned as a premium offering throughout its lifetime. The eMac generally offered similar performance and features to the iMac G4 while they were sold side-by-side. The eMac was gradually supplanted by the iMac G5 in 2005 to 2006.