History
Released in April 2002, and originally only available to education customers,
the eMac was aimed at the lower end of Apple's traditional market.
Including a 17" CRT display
and a G4 processor it brought an affordable, yet relatively powerful, machine to
the Apple consumer market.
There have been several revisions of the eMac - the first used an Nvidia graphics card
and shipped at 700MHz. Top spec eMacs shipped with a G4 1.42GHz CPU, use DDR RAM and with USB 2.0 built in.
Like most of Apple's consumer targeted machines, the eMac has no PCI or PCMCIA expansion slots.
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How to Identify these Machines
The eMac G4 is similar to the older iMac series in its shape. The eMac however
only ever came in a white case and had a larger 17" CRT display (as opposed to 15" for the CRT iMacs). This makes it considerably larger and heavier than the G3 iMacs. The eMac has a full size 5.25" tray loading optical drive with a covering bezel which ejects
from the front.
There have been a number of machines in the series, all of them almost identical. To determine which of the series you have use the Apple System Profiler utility.
This is found in "About this Mac" (OSX), or in the Apple Menu (OS9.x). More details can be found here on Apple's website.
If you are still unsure you can contact us on 01223 833 412 or by email for
confirmation. If you want to upgrade but aren't happy to install your upgrades
then we can help. Simply ask our engineers for further details.
Memory Upgrades
The eMac accepts up to 1GB of Memory in 2 sockets (2 x 512MB modules). If your machine is a 700 or 800MHz version then you need PC133 RAM. If the machine is
a 1.25GHz then it uses 184 pin PC2700 RAM.
You may need to check your eMac's bus speed to check which RAM modules are compatible. You can do this by going to the Apple menu > About this Mac, and then clicking the more info button. This opens System Profiler, on the Hardware Overview that comes up your bus speed will be reported in the right-hand panel.
| 1 | Used by eMacs with a processor speed faster than 1GHz, and 1GHz eMacs with a 166MHz or 167MHz bus speed. |
| 2 | Used by all eMacs with processors slower than 1GHz, and 1GHz eMacs with a bus speed of 133MHz. |
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 2 / 5
The eMac G4 was designed for users to install memory into them easily. Lie the machine face down (on a soft
cloth to prevent scratching), all you have to do is unscrew the partial screws on the bottom end of the eMac.
There is a metal panel which is easily removed, revealing the RAM socket a picture of this is on the left. If you have any problems please email.
Apple's guide can be found here.
CD & DVD Drive Upgrades
The eMac G4 came equipped with either a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Combo drive or SuperDrive. The eMac uses a 5.25" tray-loading optical drive, and is of the same type as those used in full sized desktop or tower computers. Internal drives can be upgraded, but professional installation is strongly recommended. If you are interested in this service please contact us.
It is possible to use an external CD or DVD writer via FireWire (or USB 2.0 on later eMacs), and this is generally recommended since replacing the internal drive is a complex task.
| 1 | Only fully supported under Max OSX 10.5 or later - see product page for more details. Professional installation recommended. |
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty - 5 / 5 Very Difficult (internal)
Professional installation strongly recommended. We cannot offer to guide you through the installation process.
External units are easy to set up and use.
Internal Hard Drive Upgrades
The internal hard drive in the eMac G4 can be upgraded to a larger volume. Due to the design and internal layout of the machines we do not recommend user installation.
You may need to check your iBooks bus speed to check which drives are compatible. You can do this by going to the Apple menu > About this Mac, and then clicking the more info button. This opens System Profiler, on the Hardware Overview that comes up your bus speed will be reported in the right-hand panel.
Please contact our team for more information if you wish to upgrade the internal drive and would like us to install it for you. You may purchase the drives from us to install yourself, but we cannot guide you through the installation.
If you don't want to fit a new hard drive yourself, you can take advantage of the MacUpgrades Installation Service. Add the installation service from the list below to your cart along with your chosen hard drive. We can also clone your existing hard drive onto the new one, simply add the Clone Original Hard Drive service below to your cart.
Once you have booked the service, send your machine to us, we will carry out the work and return it to you. Alternatively, we do offer a Collection Service with our courier, please see here for details.
| 1 | Professional installation recommended. |
| 2 | Only compatible with 1GHz eMacs manufactured after 13th April 2004 (166MHz or 167MHz bus speed), and all faster eMacs. Professional installation recommended. |
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty - 5/5 (internal) Very difficult.
We do not recommend user installation of internal hard drives, due to the complex and difficult nature of the upgrade, and we cannot offer to guide you through the installation process. We do provide an installation service, please contact us for more details.
Graphics Card Upgrades
The graphics card in your eMac G4 is part of the main logic board. Therefore it is
not possible to increase or change the graphics card. It may be worth expanding your memory to its maximum
to try and compensate, but this will have a limited impact on your eMac's 3D capabilities.
There are no graphics card upgrades available for these Macs
Expansion Card Upgrades
Your eMac G4 has no available PCMCIA or PCI sockets for connectivity expansion, so the only additional card it can take is the Airport or Airport Extreme card.
| 1 | Compatible with 700MHz eMacs. Also compatible with 800MHz eMacs produced before May 2003. Later eMacs use the Airport Extreme card. |
| 2 | Compatible with 1GHz and faster eMacs. Also compatible with 800MHz eMacs produced after May 2003. 700 and 800Mhz eMacs produced before May 2003 need the original Airport Card. |
| 3 | Requires Mac OS 10.4 or later. |
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 3 / 5 Fairly Easy
Open the CD drive by pressing the keyboard eject key (or pressing and holding F12 if you don't have an eject key).
Turn off the computer while manually holding the CD drive open.
Remove the plastic surround which is held in place by 2 screws.
Unhook the Airport antenna from the plastic surround and attach it to the Airport card, and slide the card into the slot above the CD drive, tucking the plastic pull tab on the Airport card into the eMac.
Apple's guide to fitting an Airport card can be found here, and an
Airport Extreme card here.
Replace the plastic surround and close the optical drive.
Keyboards & Mice
The following keyboards and mice are compatible with this Mac.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy
Keyboards plug into the relevant port on your Mac. Mice can either be plugged into your keyboard, or they can be plugged directly into your Mac.
Power Supplies & Batteries
Listed below are power supplies, batteries and related products
we supply for this Mac.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Cables & Tools
Listed below are power cables, tools and related products
we supply for this Mac.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
External Hard Drive Upgrades
This Mac can use any of the following external hard drives.
| 1 | Only suitable for versions of this Mac with USB 2.0 built in, will not boot this Mac. |
| 2 | Requires 9.2 or later or 10.1.5 or later. |
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy
Install any supplied software and connect the new device.
You will need to format the drive before use. This is done with the "Drive Setup" utility, which can be found in Applications > Utilities.
