June 4, 2002: Apple Offers eMac for Everyone, Not Just Education

When Apple introduced the G4 powered Sunflower iMac people were impressed, at least until they saw the $1,299 price tag. Those who couldn't stomach the high price were forced to make do with the lower cost CRT iMacs and the less than top of the line G3 chips inside.

Users who felt that there were no reasonably priced G4 options got a slap in the face when a positively cheap G4-based Mac made the scene. The machine shared the now venerable CRT iMac form factor but added a flat 17-inch CRT screen. The computer was big and bulky but at $1,099 for a G4 processor and more screen real estate than the G4 iMac, it made a lot of people very envious. Unfortunately, that was all they could be; Apple was determined to sell the eMac to education customers only.

Perhaps due to the outcry of the users or because Apple felt they could meet wider demand for the eMac, Apple changed its mind and decided to sell the eMac to the general public on June 4, 2002, a little over a month after revealing the eMac as an education-only machine.