Discussion Low-End iMac for Schools

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Released....Low-End iMac for Schools

Apple has today made available a low-specced, slightly cheaper iMac to the educational market. The 21.5-inch model costs $1000, $200 less than the regular entry-level iMac of the same size.

However, for that relatively small saving you get a lot less Mac. The processor is a dual-core Core i3 running at 3.1GHz, against the quad-core Core i5 at 2.5GHz, RAM is just 2GB instead of 4GB, the hard drive is a pathetic 250GB (Vs. 500GB) and the graphics — which use the same AMD Radeon HD 6750M processor — shrink their memory from 512MB to 256MB.

It also lacks a Thunderbolt port.

The educational iMac does get a keyboard with a numeric keypad, although you’re stuck with the Magic Mouse — there’s no free option for a trackpad.

For individual users, the $200 saving is clearly not worth it in exchange for last year’s tech — you’d be much better off buying a refurb from Apple and getting a bigger discount. For schools and colleges who don’t necessarily need to latest and best, and which buy in bulk, a $200 saving on, say, 50 machines is a lot of cash.

wired.com

Thanks for visiting Tom's Hardware

[:briovaz:3]

 

[halcyon]

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l546/area51reopened/iMAC.jpg

Released....Low-End iMac for Schools

Apple has today made available a low-specced, slightly cheaper iMac to the educational market. The 21.5-inch model costs $1000, $200 less than the regular entry-level iMac of the same size.

However, for that relatively small saving you get a lot less Mac. The processor is a dual-core Core i3 running at 3.1GHz, against the quad-core Core i5 at 2.5GHz, RAM is just 2GB instead of 4GB, the hard drive is a pathetic 250GB (Vs. 500GB) and the graphics — which use the same AMD Radeon HD 6750M processor — shrink their memory from 512MB to 256MB.

It also lacks a Thunderbolt port.

The educational iMac does get a keyboard with a numeric keypad, although you’re stuck with the Magic Mouse — there’s no free option for a trackpad.

For individual users, the $200 saving is clearly not worth it in exchange for last year’s tech — you’d be much better off buying a refurb from Apple and getting a bigger discount. For schools and colleges who don’t necessarily need to latest and best, and which buy in bulk, a $200 saving on, say, 50 machines is a lot of cash.

wired.com

Thanks for visiting Tom's Hardware

[:briovaz:3]

Dissapointing. Yes, Apple has a well designed all-in-one...the best designed, IMO...but they appear to heavily playing on their market's ignorance here. I like Apple, I really do, but they do some seriously questionable things sometimes.

 

[musical marv]

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l546/area51reopened/iMAC.jpg

Released....Low-End iMac for Schools

Apple has today made available a low-specced, slightly cheaper iMac to the educational market. The 21.5-inch model costs $1000, $200 less than the regular entry-level iMac of the same size.

However, for that relatively small saving you get a lot less Mac. The processor is a dual-core Core i3 running at 3.1GHz, against the quad-core Core i5 at 2.5GHz, RAM is just 2GB instead of 4GB, the hard drive is a pathetic 250GB (Vs. 500GB) and the graphics — which use the same AMD Radeon HD 6750M processor — shrink their memory from 512MB to 256MB.

It also lacks a Thunderbolt port.

The educational iMac does get a keyboard with a numeric keypad, although you’re stuck with the Magic Mouse — there’s no free option for a trackpad.

For individual users, the $200 saving is clearly not worth it in exchange for last year’s tech — you’d be much better off buying a refurb from Apple and getting a bigger discount. For schools and colleges who don’t necessarily need to latest and best, and which buy in bulk, a $200 saving on, say, 50 machines is a lot of cash.

wired.com

Thanks for visiting Tom's Hardware

[:briovaz:3]

Apple should give some kind of discount for the schools really.

 

[halcyon]

Apple should give some kind of discount for the schools really.

They do offer an educational discount.

 

[musical marv]

They do offer an educational discount.

That is good