Hold on to your panties everyone, you don't have to buy this version;
I bet energy consumption is way lower, which is another cost advantage for schools.
The most sought after mac today? Oh yeah, its the macbook air, which has the same performance, and no one is complaining. Its plenty fast for every casual user, browsing the web and storing photos.
I can't be bothered to look at the prices for the two processors, but having only changed the processor and the hard drive I hardly think they make much more than 200$ in savings for apple. So i bet the margin could be lower on these imacs. Think about it.