Rumors of a 17″ iMac had been circulating since 1998. Apple finally did it by introducing the eMac to the education market at the end of April 2002 – and to the consumer market that June. The base 700 MHz CD-ROM model does not include a modem; all other models have one. The top-end 800 MHz model released in August 2002 includes a SuperDrive.

The eMac came with a new white no-button mouse and white keyboard. It also has video out for external displays, which will mirror whatever is displayed on the internal monitor.

Although it has the same dimensions as the original iMac , the eMac is one heavy beast – 50 pounds vs. 35-38 for the 15″ iMacs.

Specs (via Low End Mac)

• Cpu: 700/800 MHz PowerPC 7450
• Bus: 100 MHz
• Ram: 128/256 MB, expandable to 1,024 MB using two PC100 SDRAM (3.3 V, 64-bit, 168-pin, 100 MHz)
• L2 Cache: 256 KB on-chip cache running at full CPU speed
• Hard Drive: 40 GB Ultra ATA drive
• Vram: 32 MB SGRAM
• Display: 17″ (16″ viewable) multiscan to 1280 x 960
• Code Name: P69
• Ethernet: 10/100Base-T
• Usb: 3 USB 1.1 ports
• Pram Battery: 3.6V half-AA
• Weight: 50 lb/22.7 kg
• Model Identifier: PowerMac4,4
• Gpu: Nvidia GeForce2 MX 3D AGP 2x chip set, supports video mirroring with mini-VGA adapter (the VGA adapter may unlock video resolutions on the internal display that are otherwise inaccessible)
• Resolutions: 1280 x 960, 1152 x 870, 1024 x 768, 800 x 600, and 640 x 480 using
• Optical Drive: 32x CD-ROM, 8x12x32x Combo drive, or 2x SuperDrive
• Firewire 400: 2 ports
• Airport: ready to accept AirPort card
• Modem: built-in v.90 56k modem
• Microphone: built in (above monitor), standard 3.5mm minijack, compatible with line-level input, not compatible with Apple’s PlainTalk microphone
• Height: 15.8 in/40.6 cm
• Width: 15.8 in/40.6 cm
• Depth: 17.1 in/43.3 cm
• Power Supply: 150W
• See: Online resources and links for the eMac (2002)