Apple Launches $999 iMac for Educational Institutions

[MacRumors]

Apple has quietly launched a lower cost $999 iMac for educational institutions this morning. The new low-end model is labeled "Education only" and is not available for individuals. The new iMac appeared on Apple's Higher Educational online store early this morning. We've received word of the specs which are not yet published on the site. They include the following reduced features:

- 3.1GHz Intel Core i3 Dual-Core
- 21.5-inch LCD
- AMD Radeon HD 6750 with 256MB
- 2GB RAM
- 250GB Hard Drive
- SuperDrive
- OS X Lion

The next higher model is $1149 and offers a 2.5GHz Quad-Core i5 with 4GB of RAM and 500GB hard drive.

Article Link: Apple Launches $999 iMac for Educational Institutions

[antster94]

I can't see this being popular, bearing in mind that the vast majority of schools and universities, at least here in the UK, are still based around Windows. And the fact that a model with a vastly better processor is only $150 more.

[devianter]

Originally Posted by antster94

I can't see this being popular, bearing in mind that the vast majority of schools and universities, at least here in the UK, are still based around Windows. And the fact that a model with a vastly better processor is only $150 more.

and FOUR (!!) GB of RAM. Common, Apple, really? 2GB for Lion by default in an iMac? I bought my first iMac in 2007 and it had 2GB.

[Kiernan809]

No sign of this in the UK edu-store.

[HORTENSE]

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This would make it easier for schools across America to provide a machine that performs well enough for today's students. If Apple does not have this market yet, they are well on their way to have it all!

[candyapplekid]

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Nice, I'm in for 0 of em!

Giving up quad core, 2gb ram, and a nice chunk of hdd space to save $150 doesn't seem worth it. I realize that might change when you are buying 50 of them, but still...

Also, I wonder why Apple would want their slowest, worst machines to be the ones used in education. It will be the first experience a lot of kids have with a Mac. You'd think they might just offer some extra volume discounts to education on their standard models.

[imahawki]

Many US schools have been with Apple for decades. My daughter's school has two large locking carts full of MacBooks (probably 40-50 of them) and there are another 40-50 of the white plastic iMacs in the library. I guarantee they'll be replaced with something like this when they get too old to support.

[CAD4MAC]

Originally Posted by antster94

I can't see this being popular, bearing in mind that the vast majority of schools and universities, at least here in the UK, are still based around Windows. And the fact that a model with a vastly better processor is only $150 more.

Yes but this is changing, UK education wants to provide a choice to students and this now makes it an even more attractive choice!

This might be an 'entry level' iMac but there is still nothing entry about it compared to most of the PCs you'll find in any education institute.

Check out our education Mac pages - http://bit.ly/mac4edu

[dethmaShine]

Originally Posted by antster94

I can't see this being popular, bearing in mind that the vast majority of schools and universities, at least here in the UK, are still based around Windows. And the fact that a model with a vastly better processor is only $150 more.

Because they are used to using Windows, they will always use Windows?

$150 difference for a thousand machines is approx $150,000. That's a lot of money.

One of my friends, studied at University of Hertfordshire, UK and all the machines in all the computer clusters were OS X based, most of them being iMacs.

So if the software permits, there could be massive deployment of OSX based iMacs in the next few years in all the major universities in the US as well as the UK.

[usptact]

Apple on Campus?

[Elven]

A lot of schools won't require the performance nor will they have power users.

The specs Apple are offering are enough for your average school needs.

[hellomoto4]

US only at the moment? Can't see it here in Australia.

[rogan]

if this hits £749 in UK stores ill buy one, although i dont think it'll happen..

[Delegator]

Having served on my local school board and gone through three budget cycles, I can say with certainty that magic numbers like "under $1000" are indeed important. In our district we use iMacs up through grade 6, PCs after that. The kind of things that PCs are used for in grade school are not CPU intensive, so spending 15% more on a better CPU is not likely to happen, even when that 15% is "only" $150.

[BryceGeekNZ]

Is this not on the store yet?

[hellomoto4]

Clarification: Is this for individual students, or rather educational institutions looking to use iMacs in school?

[BryceGeekNZ]

Educational Institutions

Originally Posted by hellomoto4

Clarification: Is this for individual students, or rather educational institutions looking to use iMacs in school?

[xUKHCx]

Originally Posted by hellomoto4

Clarification: Is this for individual students, or rather educational institutions looking to use iMacs in school?

Originally Posted by MacRumors

Apple has quietly launched a lower cost $999 iMac for educational institutions this morning. The new low-end model is labeled "Education only" and is not available for individuals. The new iMac appeared on Apple's Higher Educational online store early this morning. We've received word of the specs which are not yet published on the site. They include the following reduced features:

...

Article Link: Apple Launches $999 iMac for Educational Institutions

[Ulf1103]

Well, those specs can't be true...
apple upgraded all their apple products in their stores to 4GB RAM for better support of Lion...
So they won't sell it with less than 4 GB of RAM...

The only products with less than 4GB RAM at tho moment are:
The lowest 11" Air (but it has ssd, so there is no problem their) (2 GB)
The lowest Mac mini (2 GB)
And the Mac Pro (3GB) but that's a 377 days old machine, so that doesn't count too...

So actually the only Apple product with less than 4GB RAM is the Mac mini, but almost everyone will upgrade it to 4GB for only 99.99€ (or 100$)

[MacUser5]

It seems likely that $999 is the list price only. Institutions will likely get a large discount on this price. Apple can easily afford to discount based on these specs.

[tallchris]

Originally Posted by Elven

A lot of schools won't require the performance nor will they have power users.

The specs Apple are offering are enough for your average school needs.

This,

My uni in the UK was windows based (XP btw didn't trust the newer versions of windows ) but the computer areas were about 10% iMacs, with all the machines in the 'creative' subjects' building being mac.

Shame they will probably all ship with the mighty mouse so people would get them at their Uni won't get to use gestures though.

[BryceGeekNZ]

Might order myself one via work

[Ulf1103]

Originally Posted by BryceGeekNZ

Is this not on the store yet?

Nope, not yet

[hellomoto4]

Originally Posted by BryceGeekNZ

Educational Institutions

Originally Posted by xUKHCx

Ah. Turns out I'm blind

[DrJohnnyN]

Good. A quad core processor is not necessary for basic needs.