Rumored $899 educational iMac arrives [in four weeks]
The last time Apple tried offering a low-cost, all-in-one Mac exclusively for educational buyers, it was eventually sold to all comers and became one of the company’s best loved if not best selling products ever. Will the invisible hand of the market force Cupertino to open distribution once again?
AppleInsider among others are reporting that the Apple Store for Education (institutional buyers) is now listing an $899 iMac, but with much better specs than had previously been rumored. Whereas earlier reports said to expect a 17-inch screen in the previous generation white plastic enclosure, the mothership is offering what amounts to a current generation unit with a 20-inch display in the stylish brushed Aluminum enclosure plus black bezel.
Further, the $899 educational iMac also includes a 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB of memory, 160GB hard disc drive, 8X SuperDrive with dual-layer support and, by far best of all, nVidia’s best-of-class 9400M integrated graphics solution.
In addition to the fact that Apple is only selling this configuration at this price to institutional education buyers — no direct sales to teachers, parents, students or administrators — the company won’t actually begin shipping product for another four weeks. I guess they need a little time to take the market’s temperature and build accordingly. Is their forecasting really that weak?
Interestingly enough, about a week ago the Apple Store’s special deals section was offering a refurbished 2.4GHz 20-inch iMac with 1GB RAM, a larger 250GB hard disc, 8X SuperDrive and discreet graphics in the form of ATI’s 2400XT with 128MB for $849. That’s a lot more Mac for $50 less with the very same full warranty, free shipping and free (up to $100) printer.
That said, will Apple eventually offer the $899 iMac to the general public like they did the eMac, which also was an education only product when it first shipped back in May of 2003? Here’s hoping they cave sooner rather than later…
What’s your take?
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April 14th, 2009
Just quickly, you are incorrect regarding the warranty for the refurbs vs new machines for EDU institutions. New machines have a 3 year back to base warranty attached to them for all education institutions.
Rgds,
Sam.