Apple Launches $1099 21.5-Inch iMac With 3.3 GHz Dual-Core i3 Processor for Educational Institutions

[Shrink]

They actually made all the students want to learn with all these cool iMacs around

Sorry, here comes the old fart with an "in my day" post. Please skip this post if you can't stand that crap.

First, anything that stimulates the desire to learn is wonderful, to my way of thinking.

That being said, there is something sad and disturbing that the need for flash and whiz bang to stimulate learning is becoming the norm. I know it won't change, and that this is the 21st Century and all, but the apparent need for intense stimulation to gain student's attention is kind of too bad. I'm not pushing the idea that everyone should love learning for it's own sake (although that would be nice!) there was a time when one learned without the flash.

OK, sorry for the sentiment from a long past and forever dead, era...just had to mention it for no other reason than I felt it needed to be mentioned.

 

[Rampage Dev]

A temper tantrum? I never saw that. He just mentioned it during a keynote that they weren't able to offer it. Do you have a link to where he had a temper tantrum?

He was pissed. He brought it up for years in other keynotes. Little side comments when even CPUs were talked about.

 

[chugg]

This is whats wrong with many schools. They don't know how to budget. They don't have the sense to buy cheap PCs instead of buying an expensive Mac, and then spend the extra money on other resources. Macs are great if you have the money. But you are a school on a budget, don't even consider it.

Completely agree. I love my MBA but any public school should not be wasting tax payers' money on stuff like this. There is absolutely no reason to be spending 1099 per machine. Especially when the majority of software in engineering, comp sci, math, business are all Windows only anyways. Only media or arts labs should even think about purchasing Macs.

 

[Rampage Dev]

Macs cost about the same as name-brand PCs for equal specs and bundle (rather than cherry-picking some features and ignoring others). So--find a PC with a durable glass screen, gesture-capable laser mouse, software as east to use and productive as GarageBand/iLife, Thunderbolt connector, etc.

They also last longer.

They cost less to support.

They hold better resale value.

They are more productive to work with.

Sounds like a win for schools as much as anyone!

Not the right model for hard core gamers though. And you could say that your school needs DIFFERENT specs from these (maybe you don't need the software bundle but you need a DVD burner: add $89 then). Heck, maybe you need laptops, or a 27" screen. You can't, though, say this iMac is overpriced compared to an equivalent PC for what you get.

Same system from Dell and HP for Educational is $550... Lets review school budgets and review this... Apple failed.

 

[ABG]

Umm my old college had Macs in the design, Art and Media department. I did media at college and used the iMacs. You may think PCS are cheaper, but in the long run they are far more expensive to maintain and keep working properly. I don't recall ever seeing an IT tech doing anything to any of the Macs and we had over 500 in the one building.

Find out your 24" iMac needs a graphics card replacement (£400) and you'll sing a different tune. Just over 4 years old - now in the skip.

 

[0111587]

I remember when Steve had a temper tantrum over the lack of a 3.0+ Ghz PowerMac chip. Now there is a 3.3 Ghz chip in the crippleware education iMac. We have arrived.

crippleware? hehehe

 

[Brian Y]

I don't understand this?

Educational institutions get the same pricing as students, so for roughly the same price as the entry level normal one with education pricing, you get:

- dual core i3 instead of quad core i5
- smaller HDD
- half the ram
- integrated graphics.

 

[Mainsail]

Hmmm......if a school really wants desktop Macs, why not buy the Mac Mini, with educational discount? Also, the school could get a bulk discount on 20 inch monitors, keyboard, and mouse from a reputable supplier. It seem like you could put together a nice little unit for less than $750 each, including peripherals etc.. Also, the RAM is easily expandable and the base unit has the i5 processor.

If there is a problem with the monitor, a seperate monitor would be easily replaced without having to remove the entire machine from the classroom.

In fact, for the $1100 cost of an iMac you could add a classroom ipad mini or ipad 2 for good measure.

 

[blackburn]

In the university were I attend classes they spent way less on way more capable machines. And yes a decent video card is required, and a matte screen too.

They have 8gigs of ram, quad i5, a decent screen that can be tilted, raised or lowered, 1tb of hdd, and a amd gpu.

The only problem is that they run either windows or Ubuntu. And yet with the daily abuse they take they work just fine.

Oh and that was a year ago.. So apple 1099 education pricing? That's why I won't see a Mac on the uni ever. Only in a special multimedia course (and because its sponsored).

 

[deconstruct60]

taking advantage of a cheaper dual-core Intel Core i3 processor and integrated graphics to offer pricing of $1099, $200 cheaper than the entry-level pricing for consumer models. The education-only iMac, which carries a model number of ME699LL/A, also includes just 4GB of RAM and a 500 GB hard drive, while the low-end consumer model doubles both of those figures.

Not only that they apparently nuked the discrete GPU and associated VRAM.
That's likely over $100 in parts right there. If that is a the "discounted price' that is pretty lame.

Core i5 3330S $177
http://ark.intel.com/products/65510/Intel-Core-i5-3330S-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_20-GHz

to Core i3 3225 $134
http://ark.intel.com/products/65692/Intel-Core-i3-3225-Processor-3M-Cache-3_30-GHz

About $20 drop on HDD.
About $30 drop in 4GB
About $50 drop for GPU + 512MB GDDR5 (admittedly conservative guess, probaby is more )

50 + 30 + 20 + 43 = $143 in parts reduction.

They took out. So

1299 - 143 = 1,156

selling for 1099 that is like a 5% discount. The volume discount are likely the only time these make sense.

 

[G51989]

Macs cost about the same as name-brand PCs for equal specs and bundle (rather than cherry-picking some features and ignoring others). So--find a PC with a durable glass screen, gesture-capable laser mouse, software as east to use and productive as GarageBand/iLife, Thunderbolt connector, etc.

.

No, You can get a Wintel Machine that will last a long time for 500-600 dollars,monitor included. Who cares if the screen is shiny?

They also last longer.

They're made of the same quality parts as any mid range PC, they do not last longer. Most PCs and Macs will last a very long time.

They cost less to support.

When you consider you can't do in house repairs, not really.

They hold better resale value.

Schools don't sell, they keep them until they stop working.

They are more productive to work with.

Which is why Windows commands 90 % of the Business world?

----------

Macs are supported for a long time

No they aren't. Apple dropped support for PPC machines a long time ago, and have already dropped support for early Intel Machines, and some newer intel Machines, XP was supported for well over a decade.

Our school uses the same iMacs they got in 2006 (Upgraded to run Snow Leopard) in the Photography and Arts classes, My graphics class and some of the broadcasting computers are still the same 2007 Aluminum models (still running Leopard mind you). In fact, some of the school Macs are older than the Dells running Windows 7 in the school.

Indeed, and give it another year, and those machines won't get any more updates or support, and you'll be forced to replace them.

I do agree though the machine is overpriced, should be closed to $700/$800

I would say more like 500-600, with hardware that meager.

I love Macs as much as the next MR user, but I would perfer schools use cheaper Windows or Linux boxes, and stop wasting my hard earned tax money on things they don't need. If a 500 dollar Dell or HP can do the same job for just as long, and do it just as good, why should the taxpayer pay another 599 dollars per machine?

 

[star-affinity]

4 GB of RAM?

I think 4 GB of RAM is quite sneaky even for as school computer. It's 2013. 8 GB of RAM would be more reasonable.

 

[daneoni]

For $1099 it should NOT be shipping with the HD4000 nor 4GB of RAM. Come on!

 

[Rocketman]

A temper tantrum? I never saw that. He just mentioned it during a keynote that they weren't able to offer it. Do you have a link to where he had a temper tantrum?

He had a temper tantrum.

BTW our currency has been crashed since the $899 education Mac. I use Gold and Oil as my benchmark. On that basis the $1099 far better processor and display iMac is an equal or greater value.

Apple has always been and always will be stingy on memory. 4GB for the ed iMac and 256Mb in a cable and an Apple TV. You must know it's true by now. 4Mb for the Mac+.

Rocketman

 

[G51989]

I think 4 GB of RAM is quite sneaky even for as school computer. It's 2013. 8 GB of RAM would be more reasonable.

Agreed, I worked for a public highschool right before I got my big boy job after college, and they were running XP 64 machines with 8GB of ram...in 2006.....

 

[deconstruct60]

Hmmm......if a school really wants desktop Macs, why not buy the Mac Mini, with educational discount?...
....
If there is a problem with the monitor, a seperate monitor would be easily replaced without having to remove the entire machine from the classroom.

typically the monitors have to secured. It is easier to deploy a single unit and a keyboard/mouse.

Also easy to have a spare. And drop in replace while outsourced repair fixes iMac. If covered for support it is Apple's problem anyway. ( if on lease it is certainly Apple's or leasors problem. )


These are no one person's iMac. Probably should be reimaged to the standard system image periodically anyway. So it isn't like some home directory is missing if the machine goes away. They should be interchangeable units.

 

[nStyle]

"Budget conscious schools"

Right... Raise the price $100 and consider that budget conscious? What a joke.

Better off like others have said: Mac Mini + monitor ... if a Mac is necessary at all.

Not only is the iMac more initially, but you pay much more for repairs as well. Not a good investment.

 

[Renzatic]

I do agree though the machine is overpriced, should be closed to $700/$800

When I first started typing this, I was originally gonna say that it's probably as expensive as it is because Apple's still using the same decently high quality iMac screen that comes standard across the line.

Then I looked up and realized it's just a 21.5" monitor, and not the 24". You can easily get a 21 inch LED IPS monitor for under $200 these days. So yeah, it should be a good deal less than $1100.

 

[inlinevolvo]

Budget conscious schools should opt for the standard 21.5 model. The downgrade in hardware makes this a worst bang for the buck.

 

[Gym Hellwig]

They should have held firm on the $999 price point.

 

[G51989]

Budget conscious schools should opt for the standard 21.5 model. The downgrade in hardware makes this a worst bang for the buck.

Budget conscious schools should buy Linux or Windows machines for half the price.

 

[oopodoo]

Macs multi-boot OSX/Windows/Linux

"Don't know why budget-conscious schools don't buy PCs. PCs are far better than Mac even though I'm a Mac, iPhone, and iPad user."

When you consider that Macs will run Windows, OSX and Linux, virtualized or through bootcamp... Does the monetary difference trump that capability?

 

[aristotle]

Wow, you guys are really clueless when it comes to pricing out against these systems in corporate/educational environment. I have worked in both education and the corporate world. The majority of IT at large companies are outsourced so there are not many staff members around to continually "support" desktops. In most cases, they buy from large vendors like Lenovo and they do not "fix" computers in house. The most they might do is "reimage" the machine and send it back to the office it came from.

A unit from Lenovo with a similar form factor (ThinkCentre M92z) will run you about 929.00 which is not much cheaper and much uglier possibly with a lower resolution screen.

 

[TMar]

This computer is not "powerful", especially considering it costs $1099. It's a desktop computer that doesnt even feature a dedicated GPU! That is astounding terrible, given the price of the thing.

Educational facilities are normally run on highly monitored, shoestring budgets. I simply dont see any normal institution spending this kind of money on something so weak, considering what $1099 will get you when it comes to buying Windows-based machines, subtracting bulk-buy discount.

Okay, you have no clue. Powerful computer doesn't = gaming performance. This is school computer! They will be doing documents, spreadsheets and the like on it not running Crysis 3 or any modeling work that would even make use of a dedicated GPU. Not sure when "dedicated GPU" because the standard for every use case for computers measurement of power but some of you are clueless.

For the price it's a good monitor and decent school PC while I would say it's a good deal at ~$750.

 

[Overg]

How about start shipping this damn macs for thos of us who wait from January?
Instead of over stressing your Mac pipeline?