New All-in-One Mac for Education?

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif

AppleInsider reports that Apple is working on a new all-in-one Mac for education, to replace the phased-out eMac, and that Apple is targeting release in the "September timeframe" 2006. If so, Apple would catch only the tail end of the purchase cycle for the school year beginning this Fall, since many educational institutions, faculty, and students are already planning their next purchases.

The upcoming model is said to have a design similar to the current iMac, with a single enclosure, LCD screen, and Intel processor. It is not clear whether it will simply be a lower-end iMac or be a distinct model line. Apple's challenge will be to keep the price down, despite the switch to LCD displays, because of the competitive pressures in the education market.

The CRT-based eMac has had its share of ups and downs over the years. Introduced in April 2002, the eMac was first sold only to education customers, but Apple soon added the eMac to its consumer line by popular demand. In efforts to keep the eMac up to date, Apple gave the eMac occasional price drops and speed bumps as demand waned, and rumors of the eMac's demise have circulated since as long ago as March 2004. The eMac line received a quiet update in May 2005. In October 2005, Apple dropped the eMac from its retail line and let inventory run down in the education channel.

[Atlasland]

This has to have been expected for a while.

There has been a gap in the product lineup for a little while.

Here's to 15"/17" Edu-only iMacs being released along with the Mac Pros.

[4God]

I'll bet it's a core solo 17" iMac.

[steve_hill4]

Originally Posted by 4God

I'll bet it's a core solo 17" iMac.

My thoughts exactly, but with stripped down HDD, combo drive, maybe lower graphics.

I hope they also release this onto the consumer market again. That way it could replace the Mini for low end switchers and the Mini could evolve into a true range of Media Hubs.

[narco]

Probably a 15" or even a 17" iMac core solo. Or maybe a mac mini on a iMac/display stand with a 6" LCD mounted on top.

Fishes,
narco.

[Windowlicker]

Originally Posted by narco

Or maybe a mac mini on a iMac/display stand with a 6" LCD mounted on top.

That must be the stupidest idea ever! Hope you didn't actually think it would be a real possibility..

[081440]

There is no way on Earth Apple will put in anything smaller than a 17 inch LCD in a new eMac.

No one wants to look at a tiny little 15" or worse yet 12" as some of you suggested, and to the poster that said a 6" I hope it was a typo.

My school bought 15" CRTs four years ago and they are begining to seem too small. The CAD room and teachers desks all are getting newer 17 inch CRTs. (I don't know why they just don't buy LCDs (the tech guys and main office all have 19 inch LCDs )

There is also no way the eMacs will be anything other than a fully functioning independant machine (not a client), plus they will definetly have gigabit ethernet - it's a standard now and most schools have a central server were all the data goes, so there will definitely be a fast hard wire system.

And as for keyboard and mouse theft - Almost nonexistant, no one wants a keyboard or mouse any more, there common items, most thefts of computer hardware is of hard drives, optical drives, and RAM. (at least at this school)

The eMacs will have to be heavy and bulky, you cannot lock up all the Macs cause that would become unbelievably expensive.

[ero87]

Maybe they'll bring back the form factor of the iMac G4, sticking an intel chip inside? That was a sweet design.

[sam10685]

Originally Posted by ero87

Maybe they'll bring back the form factor of the iMac G4, sticking an intel chip inside? That was a sweet design.

dad's getting an iMac G4... i'm jealous.

Originally Posted by sushi

I have a Logitec (not Logitech) 15 inch LCD monitor.

I always thought that it's form factor would be a great eMac replacement.

It's sort of like the iMac, but all plastic. It has a more normal looking stand vice the metal one for the iMac. And the stand is detachable which makes for a small package for shipping.

For the eMac, I would have USB, FW, and audio in/out ports at the front of the stand. Also, I really like the forward facing speakers as well. Simple solid design. Would be great for the classroom.

I would equip it with:
40GB HD
512MB RAM
On board Intel Graphics chip set
No optical drive
USB/FW ports
No iSight

Cost could easily be in the $600-700 range.

i like the like the little blue light disk thing from the Nintendo Wii.

[LACOSTE]

Originally Posted by ero87

Maybe they'll bring back the form factor of the iMac G4, sticking an intel chip inside? That was a sweet design.

Yup i agree, an eMac Flatpanel design would look great, but it might be more costly to make.

Maybe apple would design this new eMac using the "ipod-in-a-dock" design...

Or maybe something completely different: Can the eMac turn out to be the long-awaited tablet mac? At least one that you can dock?

This would be useful in higher education: specially for genomics, architecture and the like.

As for schools, the touchscreen interactive feature would be a big bonus.

[celebrian23]

I think it's an excellent idea. I think apple needs a mac in the mac mini price range that is a full-blown mac.

[yankeefan24]

I think it will be a 17" iMac, Core Solo, Integrated graphics, 80 or 100 GB HDD. It should be released soon for this years educational market though. Very soon.

Originally Posted by ero87

Maybe they'll bring back the form factor of the iMac G4, sticking an intel chip inside? That was a sweet design.

I always loved that design, but it won't happen.

[Foxglove9]

That's exactly what my guess would be too. Though the idea of the G4 imac being resurrected is nice, it will never happen.

Originally Posted by yankeefan24

I think it will be a 17" iMac, Core Solo, Integrated graphics, 80 or 100 GB HDD. It should be released soon for this years educational market though. Very soon.



I always loved that design, but it won't happen.

[sushi]

Originally Posted by Atlasland

Here's to 15"/17" Edu-only iMacs being released along with the Mac Pros.

Would love to see it.

Apple tends to give full featured computers.

For example, the current 17 inch iMac specs:
- 512MB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 1x512
- 160GB Serial ATA drive
- ATI Radeon X1600/128MB VRAM
- SuperDrive 8x (DVD+R DL/DVD+RW/CD-RW)
- 17-inch widescreen LCD
- 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo
- AirPort Extreme
- Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

This at $1,299 retail or $1,199 educational discount.

Why not have a low end iMac offering. Something like this:
- 512MB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 1x512
- 40GB Serial ATA drive
- Onboard Intel Graphics
- Combo drive
- 15-inch widescreen LCD
- Somthing less than a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo. Maybe a Core Solo or slower Core Duo.
- AirPort Extreme
- Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

Would be fantastic for office type environments which traditionally run MSFT Office and for classrooms that need basic functionality.

Price around $700-800.

Having an all in one design for the traditional office would be great. Don't need a large HD. 40GB is more than plenty. Intel Graphics is more than sufficient for Microsoft Office, email, browsing and such. Having an all in one design saves set up time and parts tracking.

I think for many classroom situations, this would be sufficient as well.

[Multimedia]

I've seen Tuscon mandate iBooks for all students. Man these MacBooks would be killer for the next generation of Mac lovers - esp because they also run Windows. What a huge amount of power in the hands of kids.

Maybe a 1.66 Core 2 Duo MacBook for schools @ $899 would work?

[Multimedia]

Originally Posted by sushi

Would love to see it.

Apple tends to give full featured computers.

For example, the current 17 inch iMac specs:
- 512MB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 1x512
- 160GB Serial ATA drive
- ATI Radeon X1600/128MB VRAM
- SuperDrive 8x (DVD+R DL/DVD+RW/CD-RW)
- 17-inch widescreen LCD
- 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo
- AirPort Extreme
- Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

This at $1,299 retail or $1,199 educational discount.

Don't even need dedicated graphics for Final Cut Studio. Today's integrated graphics are more powerful than yesterday's dedicated and support both Quartz Extreme and Core Image. Unnecessary expense. Bluetooth for school? Perhaps if it doesn't cost Apple more but I can't imagine why.

Originally Posted by sushi

Why not have a low end iMac offering. Something like this:
- 512MB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 1x512
- 40GB Serial ATA drive
- Onboard Intel Graphics
- Combo drive
- 15-inch widescreen LCD
- Somthing less than a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo. Maybe a Core Solo or slower Core Duo.
- AirPort Extreme
- Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

Would be fantastic for office type environments which traditionally run MSFT Office and for classrooms that need basic functionality.

Price around $700-800.

Having an all in one design for the traditional office would be great. Don't need a large HD. 40GB is more than plenty. Intel Graphics is more than sufficient for Microsoft Office, email, browsing and such. Having an all in one design saves set up time and parts tracking.

I think for many classroom situations, this would be sufficient as well.

Core Solo? God I hope not. Price of 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo Merom is pretty much the bottom of the processors by September. That would make for a great new 64-bit Leopard ready eMac's foundation.

[alec]

It'll just be nice to have an all-in-one sub-$1000 Mac back on the market. I know it doesn't appeal to a lot of the Mac Rumors crowd, but a compatible price tag can really help attract users that don't need a full featured computer.

[IamtheGTIguy]

Sorry to say this guys, but some of you are such lame mac geeks that you've never built a computer yourself and have no concept of component costs, etc...

As much as I like Macs and Mac OS, the one thing you miss out on (for better or worse) is the first-hand knowledge of hardware you get when you build a performance PC.

The new eMac will likely be around $899, possibly $999.

There is no reason not to offer wides screen - and 15.4" widescreen really isn't big enough for a desktop. Moreover, the marginal cost of a 17" screen is virtually zilch. Combine this with the fact that Apple alreadh has engineered a 17" body for the iMac, and its obvious that the eMac will be a 17" widescreen likely with 1440 x 900 resolution.

It likely will still have iSight, but not bluetooth or wireless. Most school networks are still hard-wired. ISight, however, is virtually free and already engineered into the frames of the iMacs.
It likely will not have a core solo, but rather leftover core-duos, probably T2300 1.66 GHZ Yonahs. THey cost marginally more than core-solos and are great for multitasking - soemthing school computers get used for all the time.

Finally, the harddrive is a 3.5" drive. THis is where most people on here don't seem to know anything about hardware costs. The reasons laptop harddrives go in increments of 60/80/100/120 GB is because they are 2.5" drives and far more expensive for larger capacities.

3.5" drives, however, now start at 80GB. The next step is 120GB, which is virtually the same price as 160GB.


It is assanine to think that the eMac will have a 40GB harddrive - again - it's a 3.5" drive. Most companies stopped making 3.5" drives that small years ago.

So here are my predicted specs:

-iSight
-No wireless, no bluetooth
-17" 1440x900
-1.66 GHZ Core Duo Yonah
-512 MB ram (2 x 256 due to the neceissity of running dual-channel for integrated graphics)
-Intel integrated 950 GMA
-80GB Harddrive
-Combo Drive (No need for superdrive)
-Special hard plastic casing around computer

-$899 available only to schools and through the education store.

[Doctor Q]

I'm already helping a school plan their next computer purchases, to replace the Macs in our computer lab, and the PC-vs.-Mac and price/performance debates are back in our planning committee for their annual visits.

Knowing that Apple will introduce new up-to-date Macs, if this rumor is true, will make a positive difference in promoting the Mac option. It would help if we knew the price too.

[saulbug]

Originally Posted by Doctor Q

Knowing that Apple will introduce new up-to-date Macs, if this rumor is true, will make a positive difference in promoting the Mac option. It would help if we knew the price too.

Considering your comment, and considering how many situations like yours likely exist, and considering how relatively late in the educational buying season the release of this machine would be... it would seem to greatly behoove Apple to make an official pre-release announcement regarding this machine as soon as possible (if it is indeed coming).

Didn’t they do this with the iMac G5 (although for somewhat different reasons)?

In this case, it seems that the usual upside to "the element of surprise" would be overpowered by the upside to "planning ahead". No?

[Eidorian]

I've been waiting for this announcement all year. I'd like to get all-in-ones w/keyboard instead of our Dell LCD plus Mini.

[macgeek2005]

Please let it be a $799 starting point!!!

Apple needs that. They desperatly need a desktop computer that costs $799 or less.

And I'm also hoping for the iMac G4 Design.

[daneoni]

it'll definately be a 1.66 Core Duo (Yonah) (since prices of the chips would have further decreased on the release of merom) with integrated graphics,60GB HDD and combo drive on a 15" model whilst the 17" model will have a low end discrete ATI/Nvidia Card, 1.83 Ghz chip, superdrive and an 80GB HDD. It will be close to the mini in specs "for a while" till the mini (if not already upgraded) gets upgraded to a merom 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo chip

Also it'll be called an eMac because it has mac in it.

These are my theories

[bigandy]

my thoughts are it's not going to be a "stripped down iMac" - for the plain and simple reason that they released one of them in the G5 guise - and it didn't sell well, here in the UK anyway.

people thought "why get a worse processor and no optical drive when you can get that stuff for a few quid more?"

i think a completely different system, based around a 15" TFT (1280x1024 or, hopefully, a little more), would be good. 1.83 Core Duos, or their replacement by then, would be pretty sweet. chuck in GMA950's, 512mb RAM, and a SuperDrive, and that's perfect.

all this crap about education markets needing less spec is exactly that - i've been in contact with a good few here in britain that have shown the eMac (much as i love that indestructable hunk of plastic), and the Edu iMac G5, the door, because of their "too low" spec. - Core Duo, in some form, would be a must. GMA950s are fine in the Edu model, because they're not aimed at gaming or apple's Motion.

[iWaugh]

Maybe they should sell it to whoever wants it !! Why should such goodies be limited to education.

I think it will be a 15" (and if it is like iMac G4 - I will grab it on day one.)