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Quiet Introduction of $899 iMac Education Model

balamw said:
😕 Sure it can. I was using iDVD on my Combo drive iBook very happily before I got my superdrive iMac...

Burn projects to video_ts folders or ISO images. Transfer them to a Mac or PC with a DVD burner and you're on your way. Or, now that iLife supports third party burners, just use an external Firewire USB burner that can be connected to the iMac at will...
Click to expand...
I see. Thanks. So iDVD isn't useless as I thought, just less convenient to use. At our school, we could use this workaround if the teacher had one Superdrive-equipped Mac and students transferred files as you suggest.
 
Doctor Q said:
I see. Thanks. So iDVD isn't useless as I thought, just less convenient to use. At our school, we could use this workaround if the teacher had one Superdrive-equipped Mac and students transferred files as you suggest.
Click to expand...

That would work. It is just alot easier having a computer with Superdrive, rather than transferring files between multiple computers. But in your scenario you don't have the choice.
 
This thing will be great for education; tasks like word processing, internet research, etc will run well even on this. But there remains to be a couple of minor problems with using an iMac for education:
1. Many will find it necessary to poke the screen!!!!!, which personally annoys me a lot.
2. The Mighty Mouse will need new batteries, and when you have 50 iMacs in a room, 100 AA batteries is a lot to put in.
3. Durability is an issue. Less immature children may damage the hinge on the aluminum stand (which seems easy to do), and poke the screen. Abuse of the computer is common in classrooms, and the camera can be used in an inappropriate manner as well.
4. iMacs, though stable in regular use, can tip over in an earthquake. 50 iMacs tipping over will not be very pretty.

Ultimately, the good side overcomes the bad side of using this computer.

And to all of you planning to rip Apple off: don't do it! If you have any sense of morality, then you won't.
 
MacsRgr8 said:
As for the educational Mac, I think cost reduction is the most important factor. Leaving out the SuperDrive, Front Row remote (ofcourse, it would have been stolen anyway...) and the X1600 card makes this Mac superb for schools.

Thumbs up on this!
🙂
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I agree it looks good.

I'm wondering about the Bluetooth removal though. Their target audience are probably the sort of people to play with the features of their mobile phones, and I'm sure that phones could be used as remotes for FrontRow, which would be a great work around.

Also, I'm wondering how this plays on rumours of a wireless iPod. IF there is one in the works, Apple wouldn't be removing connectivity to it in new products. Does the iMac come with Airport?
 
Doctor Q said:
I see. Thanks. So iDVD isn't useless as I thought, just less convenient to use. At our school, we could use this workaround if the teacher had one Superdrive-equipped Mac and students transferred files as you suggest.
Click to expand...

Or, a portable DVD burner that could be connected for the final burn. Actually, that sounds like a good idea.
 
GregA said:
Does the iMac come with Airport?
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Yes, it comes with an Airport Extreme.

Specifications

512MB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x256
24x Combo Drive (DVD-ROM, CD-RW)
Accessory kit
Keyboard & Mighty Mouse + Mac OS X - U.S. English
80GB Serial ATA drive
17-inch widescreen LCD
1.83GHz Intel Core Duo
AirPort Extreme

No Superdrive option or Bluetooth.
 
GregA said:
I'm wondering about the Bluetooth removal though. Their target audience are probably the sort of people to play with the features of their mobile phones, and I'm sure that phones could be used as remotes for FrontRow, which would be a great work around.
Click to expand...

I would imagine that Bluetooth would be a nightmare in a school environment. I'd be nervous having it in a computer lab.... 😱
 
whee900 said:
1. Many will find it necessary to poke the screen!!!!!, which personally annoys me a lot.
Click to expand...
Me too, and both my kids have been trained to not poke the iMac.

FWIW, my wife noticed that computer lab at our son's new elementary school was predominantly populated with iMac G5s (pre-iSight) and they had placed a plexiglas-like box around each of them, presumably to protect the LCD from poking fingers... I have yet to see this myself.

B
 
I agree with the screen poking problem, but the inappropriiate use of the camera shouldn't be an issue. All the kids have mobiles with a camera, anyway.
 
thogs_cave said:
Or, a portable DVD burner that could be connected for the final burn. Actually, that sounds like a good idea.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I mentioned that too. Good thing iLife 06 doesn't require the built in superdrive anymore...

Keep in mind also that these machines only have internal 80 GB drives themselves so you wouldn't be able to put too many DVD projects on them anyhow, so you'd want either a server with more storage space, or to use an external HDD...

B
 
whee900 said:
Many will find it necessary to poke the screen!!!!!, which personally annoys me a lot.
Click to expand...
Even businesspeople do that. 🙁

Less immature children may damage the hinge on the aluminum stand (which seems easy to do), and poke the screen. Abuse of the computer is common in classrooms, and the camera can be used in an inappropriate manner as well.
Click to expand...
The camera provides the problem AND the solution! Set the cameras to watch what the kids do. When they harm equipment, send their parents a copy of the video along with the repair bill. And automatically make extra copies of any photos they take, to e-mail to the principal's office when they get caught! 😀

Edit: An afterthought - Having kids learn NOT to poke screens at school might eventually stop the problem that adults poke screens, because the kids will grow up having already learned that lesson!
 
Australian version has Bluetooth included.

Or does it? It's not listed on the front page but it is listed underneath the price in the top right. Hmmm.....

Front Page:
picture25bh.png


Inside:
picture15cp.png


Vehry Eeeenterestinnngggg.....
 
Chundles said:
Or does it? It's not listed on the front page but it is listed underneath the price in the top right. Hmmm.....


Vehry Eeeenterestinnngggg.....
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Wow, that is very interesting. 😱
 
markkk! said:
sweeet 🙂
all these people are gonna have a heart attack for the shared memory though
Click to expand...

I can't feel the shared memory "problem" in my Macbook... of course that is after I dropped an extra gig of RAM in it.
 
codo said:
Do you have no morals? Since when was fraud an acceptable thing? I don't know about your state, but its certainly illegal here. It makes life a bit easier for students, if it was widely abused I have no doubt that Apple would remove it or push up the price points - They are after all, a business, not a charity.
Click to expand...

Who said anything about fraud?

What's next? Not showing up to work is considered AWOL? A chargeable offense? It is apple's responsibility to check on customer eligibility before they ship said product, sorry, but the way I see it, trusting a customer's "morals" to protect your business's bottom line is pure negligence.
 
ferretboy said:
My Mom works at a school but is not a teacher can she buy one?
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I think so...if you read the fine print on apple's site, it tells you who is eligible...faculty, staff, PTA, etc.
 
generik said:
. . .sorry, but the way I see it, trusting a customer's "morals" to protect your business's bottom line is pure negligence.
Click to expand...

So as long as a store's video surveillance system isn't good enough to catch you, it's okay to shoplift? 😕
 
Can somebody help me with my research? How would prices compare if I bought a Windows PC from a well-known PC vendor, equipped to match the specs of this new iMac for Education, including camera, speakers, Wifi, keyboard, mouse, Windows instead of Mac OS X, and the equivalent of the iLife applications?
 
I'm willing to bet you'll find these new "educational iMacs" on ebay in the really really near future. Let's say like in a week or less. Let someone else commit the fraud...
 
Doctor Q said:
Can somebody help me with my research? How would prices compare if I bought a Windows PC from a well-known PC vendor, equipped to match the specs of this new iMac for Education, including camera, speakers, Wifi, keyboard, mouse, Windows instead of Mac OS X, and the equivalent of the iLife applications?
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's not happening even with Dell. I went over this when the Core Duo mini was released.
 
whee900 said:
2. The Mighty Mouse will need new batteries, and when you have 50 iMacs in a room, 100 AA batteries is a lot to put in.
Click to expand...

Um, unless im missing something the Mighty Mouse is powered by USB.
 
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