Quiet Introduction of $899 iMac Education Model

[Metatron]

The sad thing is these are perect business PCs. They can run any OS, no small picese like remote to lose, comes with the essentials. Most office use ....office and the internet. No need for iLife, remote, bluetooth, dedicated graphics.... I would order 100 today if apple made these for business purchase as well. But you know apple, $100,000 is nothing to them these days.

 

[chairguru22]

now once apple fully supports bootcamp and windows use then PCs in schools will start to become nonexistent.

 

[mccldwll]

Yes it is...

Nope. Unless Apple changes the rebate program/form, it says only includes imacs w/ superdrive!

 

[Plecky]

Nope. Unless Apple changes the rebate program/form, it says only includes imacs w/ superdrive!

Well that makes the deal for personal purchase a lot less sweet. Now one thing you also have to add that the 899 model doesn't include is a free 2 GB Nano. That $300 premium for education consumers (personal purchases mostly) is looking that much sweeter, considoring it's a $179 rebate value there alone! 899 with the free nano though would've been a good deal for many, I'm starting to think otherwise. Even if you already have a ipod, music player, etc. you could still ebay it or sell it off... Regardless, are the 599 and 799 Mac's elgible for the free nano?

 

[WildCowboy]

Regardless, are the 599 and 799 Mac's elgible for the free nano?

No...Mac minis are not part of the promotion.

Here (PDF) is the rebate form...qualifying machines are at the bottom of the document.

Product Family Qualifying Models
iMac
17-inch 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo with SuperDrive
20-inch 2GHz Intel Core Duo with SuperDrive
iBook
14-inch 1.42GHz PowerPC G4
MacBook
13.3-inch 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo
13.3-inch 2GHz Intel Core Duo
MacBook Pro
15.4-inch 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo
15.4-inch 2GHz Intel Core Duo
15.4-inch 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo
17-inch 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo
PowerBook
12-inch 1.5GHz PowerPC G4
Power Mac
Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5
Dual 2.3GHz PowerPC G5
Quad 2.5GHz PowerPC G5

Qualifying iPod Rebate Amount
2GB iPod nano $179
4GB iPod nano $179
30GB iPod $179
60GB iPod $179
1GB iPod nano $129
1GB iPod shuffle $89
512MB iPod shuffle $69

 

[wmmk]

See, that would be my thing. I don't mind paying the difference if caught, but I would like to know what the penality is beforehand.

Is buying a computer the normal legit way just too hard? If you really must have this, buy an iMac for $1299, rip out the superdrive, rip out the graphics, rip out the HDD, and throw your apple remote in te trash. Oh yeah, and uninstall iLife.

 

[Agent69]

Is buying a computer the normal legit way just too hard? If you really must have this, buy an iMac for $1299, rip out the superdrive, rip out the graphics, rip out the HDD, and throw your apple remote in te trash. Oh yeah, and uninstall iLife.

Yes, it is. I have just enought for the educational iMac, so unless you want to give me the difference, stop rolling your eyes.

 

[LieutenantLefse]

Plus, what I think many non-institutional edu buyers don't understand is the plus side of 10/100/1000 ethernet. Sure, Safari might run faster with more ram but then you connect it via gigabit to a T3 and you don't notice much difference to a 1.5GB Ram machine on DSL or Cable.

I still don't understand. An entire T3 is about 45Mbps, and 45Mbps < 100Mbps, so what advantage does gigabit to the desktop give you for web browsing?

 

[Peace]

Yes, it is. I have just enought for the educational iMac, so unless you want to give me the difference, stop rolling your eyes.

I need to inform you that what you keep writing about is illegal.Period.It's called fraud.

Either keep it to yourself or one of the mods is gonna eventually ban you.

 

[celebrian23]

now once apple fully supports bootcamp and windows use then PCs in schools will start to become nonexistent.

wrong. Theoretically yes, but Macs are very expensive for your average public school. Money is very tight for a lot of public schools, and macs don't fit into that equation

 

[Mechcozmo]

I still don't understand. An entire T3 is about 45Mbps, and 45Mbps < 100Mbps, so what advantage does gigabit to the desktop give you for web browsing?

None whatsoever. But when you are transferring files between two computers, GigE is wonderful. Example: I had to transfer a disk image to a friend of mine. ~650MB of data. With gigabit, it would have taken a few seconds. With normal Base 10/100-T ethernet, it took close to 5 minutes (IIRC).

But you are right; there is no gain to web browsing. Although I'd like a T3 in my house!

 

[codo]

wrong. Theoretically yes, but Macs are very expensive for your average public school. Money is very tight for a lot of public schools, and macs don't fit into that equation

I've argued this several times and agree with you fully. Apple would need to do some more subsidising to get into state schools over Dell.

I can’t even see this new iMac on the NUS HE store even though Apple state in their UK PR statement it's available. Odd.

 

[QCassidy352]

yep. any mac is eligible if its purchased by a college student or college/gradeschool teachers. because this is only available through the education store, every purchase will be eligible for the free ipod.

almost... the mac mini is not eligible no matter who it is purchased by. The margins aren't high enough, I guess. (damn, took too long to post... someone beat me too it!) Yet another reason to buy this over a mini.

Weighing in on the mini/edu imac debate...
Yes, this is a much better deal for someone starting from scratch. But, if I were in the market for a low end desktop, I'd get a core duo mini. Why? I have a bluetooth mouse, a bluetooth keyboard, and a 20" apple cinema display. Superdrive, bluetooth, and the remote, all standard on the mini, are all unavailable (or an add-on, in the remote's case) on the edu imac. And the mini is $120 cheaper; that's not a fortune, but it's not nothing. So yes, I think this makes the mini look a lot worse, and I think the mini could really use a nice bump and/or price cut, but the mini is a legitimate choice for some people.

 

[inkswamp]

The sad thing is these are perect business PCs.

That's the first thing that crossed my mind. Where I work, we could use machines like this for some routine tasks or clerical positions where graphics and processor power are not necessary. I don't understand Apple's need to make these "educational only" machines. Why can't they offer a mid-range, mid-priced machine, somewhere between the Mini and the iMac, but with a display and just make it available to everyone?

And not only that, but there are probably loads of people wanting a machine like this. I would buy one for my daughter in an instant. She's been wanting a computer in her room but I can't see shelling out $1200+ for an iMac or a laptop, and the Mini is not a solution because I would need to buy a display, keyboard, mouse, etc.

I don't get why Apple feels the need to quarantine machines like this. They did it with the eMac at first too.

 

[nem3015]

No need for that

I think this is a geat deal but something does worry me...If this is suppose to be for education, I just hope the schools that buy them remember to buy extra ram for Microsoft Office.

They can just use openoffice for free. Is 100% compatible with Microsoft Office. Also is a good way of getting rid of Microsoft from you computer (unlike windows users that still need the operating system at least)

 

[BlizzardBomb]

That's for a MacBook Pro, which has a dedicated graphics card. It makes a difference for integrated graphics.

http://www.barefeats.com/mincd.html
For 6 out of 7 tests, the difference is so tiny, it wouldn't be noticeable. In one test, unmatched even beats matched.

 

[p0intblank]

Wow, this is very cool! $899 for a iMac with a Core Duo is cheap. Hopefully this will catch on very quickly.

 

[Some_Big_Spoon]

I need to inform you that what you keep writing about is illegal.Period.It's called fraud.

Either keep it to yourself or one of the mods is gonna eventually ban you.

Yes, lord (and the republican party) forbid you discuss things in a theoretical fashion. We wouldn't want people thinking, that's just too dangerous.

On topic, the isight built in is still going to be a deal breaker for many institutions. I don't understand why they just don't make a slight case mod at design and offer it without the cam?

 

[Plecky]

Personally...

If I was personally in the market for a 17" iMac, I'd say the 899 is a good deal. Although given the free nano promotion I think I'd put in the extra busy work and eblow grease to snag a 17" $1,199 iMac, sell the Nano for $150-200 on ebay and have a iMac for close to a grand as a final price. Especially if you considor adding any upgrades to the 899 base model such as the larger hard drive and remote. At least you get a video card which will take strain off the RAM making the upgrade to 1 gig less necessary (unlike it being quite important with integrated graphics and a extra $90 cost if done through apple), and if you want to upgrade the higher end model you just have to buy one 512 stick oppose to two. Also, bluetooth and a superdrive may be nice to have in the future... you never know right? Well maybe you do... Regardless, that's only for personal purchase. For bulk purchases, educational institutes, or young kids 899 is fine. But then again a dropped down priced eMac would be fine too. Is it true that it doesn't come preinstalled with iLife '06? I can't seem to find information regarding this but read that in a few posts up. Not having iLife '06 is huge, that's one of the things I love most about the Mac Experience and really serves as a gateway to Apple's wonderful application world. That, in my opinion, would be a crucial 60 dollar value - making this computer seem like even less of a deal. It's gotta come with iLife '06! If the mini's can afford having iLife '06 bundled, so can this right?

 

[Eidorian]

All new Macs come with iLife...

 

[celebrian23]

On topic, the isight built in is still going to be a deal breaker for many institutions. I don't understand why they just don't make a slight case mod at design and offer it without the cam?

Me neither. I don't see how an isight could possibly benefit a classroom. At the school I recently graduated from, image searches were blocked. I highly doubt they'd be thrilled to see an isight on it.

 

[aafuss1]

All it's missing is a encyclopedia-multimedia (they could use Boot Camp to run Encarta-which is leading brand).

 

[aafuss1]

All it's missing is a encyclopedia-multimedia (they could use Boot Camp to run Encarta-which is leading brand). O

 

[aafuss1]

All it's missing is a encyclopedia-multimedia (they could use Boot Camp to run Encarta-which is leading brand). Or Wikipedia.

http://tinyurl.com/o92cq

 

[Eidorian]

All it's missing is a encyclopedia-multimedia (they could use Boot Camp to run Encarta-which is leading brand). Or Wikipedia.

http://tinyurl.com/o92cq

http://www.mackiev.com/world_book.html

That and you made a TRIPLE post.