I also felt that way about PowerPoint, and imovies. But.. think of it in another way. When you have a small group.. or individuals working on a project they will always remember the material much better. They also tend to remember other student's presentations on a subject better than an instructors lecture.
Not an argument, just an observation: Seems to me this proves that today's kids have inadequate attention spans that can only be held by lots of flash. I'd hate to be them when they finally get out into the real world and find out that department and board meetings are boring affairs that usually have people talking to each other rather than showing movies.
Not an argument, just an observation: Seems to me this proves that today's kids have inadequate attention spans that can only be held by lots of flash. I'd hate to be them when they finally get out into the real world and find out that department and board meetings are boring affairs that usually have people talking to each other rather than showing movies.
Which is pretty unfortunate. If you can't get a message without the message being in video form, then that's a lot of work to get the message across vs. words and the occasional still sketch. I expect that 3D flow chart animations would be somewhat easy to make in the future, but if that's what it takes for someone to understand a process then something is wrong. I also question the retention on the part of the audience member if they can't be bothered to think about something long enough to be able to remember it.
Please don't tell me that mac mini's are the answer... as their size makes them ideal for theft... and the mess of cables involved makes them much less desirable. You also have to consider the cost of monitors.. at least $80-100 for CRT's. Frankly, since we are handing the current machines down to our elementary schools... we would have to buy mice and keyboards as well... another $35-45 each.
Don't the MM's have a kensington lock slot?
And speaking as a (until very recently) high school student, powerpoint presentations (or movies in your case) are incredibly useless, unless they're used to display some image or chart etc. (a picture is worth 1000 words). Otherwise, just stick to talking.
3) Totally new computer between the iMac and mini (possibly only available for the edu market).
That's what the current emac is and that's why they're designing a new one. No one or the article ever suggested that they're making a low end imac or mac mini or that it'll be available to anyone but schools.
This is first and foremost specifically for education, making it automatically a totally new computer.
"Presentation" does not mean video only. It could be a printed page (the old-fashioned science project board style) or most any other form. It is true that students learn better from their peers than from their teachers. I have been a teacher for 15 years and once I started using student presentations in class, the performance of my students increased. Some students actually started making presentations for other classes simply to help them study. A side benefit of the presentations is they help the teacher, who alone cannot make so many presentations. The teacher becomes a coach, a guide and of course a checker to make sure the facts are right. Most importantly, the teacher is a facilitator, who orchestrates a learning atmosphere and program.
To make a presentation, one must know the subject matter very well and the person feels responsible for imparting the knowledge to someone else. By being creative in the actual "presentation" of the material, the student is actually repeating the material over and over, thus increasing memory. They are doing something fun to achieve something that is usually quite boring; this is something a lot of people in the work force could benefit from as well!
The average attention span of a high school kid is somewhere along 45 minutes, but notice the saame kids when they are doing something fun: they will spend hours at it. If learning is fun, they will spend more time at it, this increasing their learning. Too many schools go for rote memorization and bland testing (multiple choice being the worst), which dulls the students to death. Fun can mean exciting, interesting, etc., not as in the laughing and playing way.
Computers can be a fun way for students to use in thecreation of their presentations.
The next step after the presentation (or report) is the discussion, where the teacher plays a key role.
Meetings in the business world do not have to be boring, either. It's just that most people believe that they are and thus dullify them so that they actually fulfill the negative expectation. I attend three meetings a week in addition to a daily morning briefing and they are certainly not boring. It depends on how they are set up and run.
AI has it that the new eMac will shed the CRT in favor of an LCD monitor, and be based, however vaguely, on the iMac design (though we prefer our own crappy mockup above)
First, I am a Macintosh technician for a large high school. We are currently finishing up our buying plans for the 06-07 school year. Schools typically end their financial year around June 30, and and their new one starts July 1st. What we will by needs to be released by June 1st or it may as well come out 7-8 months later. The summer months are the only time that computer labs can be swapped out and upgraded.
Right now my school is strugling greatly with our buying decision. Emacs are still being offered to us at around $720 for 1GB Ram and combo drives. (Don't quote me on this cost and config as I don't have my notes here)
The alternative is of course imacs... but the cost of those hover around $1,100 each. Please don't tell me that mac mini's are the answer... as their size makes them ideal for theft... and the mess of cables involved makes them much less desirable. You also have to consider the cost of monitors.. at least $80-100 for CRT's. Frankly, since we are handing the current machines down to our elementary schools... we would have to buy mice and keyboards as well... another $35-45 each.
So for us, our options are... $720 for a G4 emac that is nearly a year old already. $1,100 for an imac, or $600 mac mini PLUS $80 monitor for an easily stealable mac mini. Not great options.
I need to replace 100 imac G3's, 28 400mhz G4 towers, and 28 433 Mhz G4 towers. So 160 computers total.
160 x $720 emac is $115,200
160 x $1,100 imac is $176,000
160 x $600 mac mini is $96,000 plus $80 monitor = $108,800
Quite a difference when you look at the bottom line.
Our educational environment really requires at least combo drives... and frankly DVD burners are not out of line. Our teachers and students really do a lot of imovies.. it is rapidly replacing Power Point. CD burners are used for saving documents for both backup and transfer to home computers. Rarely are they used for burning music cd's.
Since they do use imovie a lot, you ideally need largish hard drives... at LEAST 80gb if not 160GB. Yes our students use network storage... but you can't use network storage for working on movies.. not until a 1GB to desktop and 10GB backbone is the norm. (We're a 100MB switched school)
Is bluetooth needed? No. But I could see in the future the advantage of having things like bluetooth presentation remotes, or bluetooth science probes. Less wires means less problems.
Is wifi needed? No. If the cost of adding wifi to a computer cost the end buyer less than say $10 I would be willing to pay for the flexibility.. but otherwise i don't mind adding it later.
isight? No... but of the new 'Apple standard fun stuff' that are now included in every model.. I would choose this one. Our imovie using and digital photography students would make great use of these camera. They also make great across the school or across the globe web conferencing.
RAM? At least 1GB should be standard. That's what really is needed. And don't rip me off my including 2 512MB sticks... Give me 1 chip so I can add another one later.
Cost? Well our Windows PC's come in around $750.. maybe a little less with CRT 17" monitor. They will have the same core duo chip and 512MB of ram.
Sellling a $1,100 imac vs a $750 HP computer to our school board is very, very difficult. The school board approves all expenditures.
Yes, the macs CAN run Windows Xp... and they are more secure and frankly usually better built... but you can see why we would have a problem asking for computers that cost over $300 more than HP's.
Apple... please help us continue to buy macs and keep them in our schools! It is getting harder to do this every year.
Ok, I'll get off my soap box now.
Frankly I don't see haw you won't end up with a pc. Dell will make what you're looking for at $500. With Apple sticking to ICD the cheapest they'll come in at is probably $750.
750 for a Dell... how much is then spent on software that already comes on a Mac (movie making, homepage making, etc.) and other apps that are are similar to use, thus saving many hours of time, which will likely save more money in the long run.
That's what the current emac is and that's why they're designing a new one. No one or the article ever suggested that they're making a low end imac or mac mini or that it'll be available to anyone but schools.
This is first and foremost specifically for education, making it automatically a totally new computer.
Not necessarily.
It's much cheaper to use elements of already excisting systems.
So integrated graphics is a no brainer, as is an iMac set up. (without the nice transparant polycarbonates etc.)
The aluminium stand is perfect.
You have to use real violence to keel an iMac over.
With the same blund force a PC tower keels much easier.
And indeed: educational only.
A $300 price premium for an iMac is not something Apple will give up easily.
"Presentation" does not mean video only. It could be a printed page (the old-fashioned science project board style) or most any other form. It is true that students learn better from their peers than from their teachers. I have been a teacher for 15 years and once I started using student presentations in class, the performance of my students increased. Some students actually started making presentations for other classes simply to help them study. A side benefit of the presentations is they help the teacher, who alone cannot make so many presentations. The teacher becomes a coach, a guide and of course a checker to make sure the facts are right. Most importantly, the teacher is a facilitator, who orchestrates a learning atmosphere and program.
Computers can be a fun way for students to use in thecreation of their presentations.
The next step after the presentation (or report) is the discussion, where the teacher plays a key role.
Now that is what I meant to explain. Thanks Bergermeister.
I still can answer many questions about Einstein due to my oral presentation in 7th grade.
It's much cheaper to use elements of already excisting systems.
So integrated graphics is a no brainer, as is an iMac set up. (without the nice transparant polycarbonates etc.)
The aluminium stand is perfect.
You have to use real violence to keel an iMac over.
With the same blund force a PC tower keels much easier.
And indeed: educational only.
A $300 price premium for an iMac is not something Apple will give up easily.
Lots of happy kids now could mean lots of Apple customers in the near future...
I believe that Apple will include a special software bundle that will include iWork for little or nothing extra.
They also can't make the edu model with more RAM than the full-priced machine, so whatever it is will have 512 and probably 120 GB or thereabouts to allow for movies and DVD making. Schools don't need great graphics nor tremendous speed; they need things that work. They can save money on a graphics card; a concerned school (though I don't there will be many) will increase the RAM at 40 dollars a unit, whcih is not outlandish.
Wired mouse and mighty mouse are a given, and I think they will hold to the iMac form, but reintroduce a 15" monitor at a lower price point. The machine will look fantastic, have tons of software and will sell for 999. Don't forget, it will work right out of the box.
The other thing I think that Apple will come up with is a new way to monitor what the students are actually doing with their machines (if there isn't a way to do this already; I know there is on PC).
I think a low end Mini would be the best thing for education. The problem is though, the lowest Mini they already have is about the lowest spec you can get short of downgrading the CPU. Maybe they can just put the parts in a plywood box or something.
I don't like all-in-ones because schools can get cheap displays anywhere and replace them very cheaply. Quality isn't of the essence so they could pick up cheap displays for about $100 or less. CRTs for less than half that. The big advantage there is not just on initial cost but repair.
Schools don't have the budget to spend $600 or so fixing a built-in display from Apple and why should they if they can buy a whole new display for $50-100?
They got a setup like that where I work for someone who mainly does general office work and it feels powerful enough to fit any needs in the education sector. We got an LCD display for £100. Yes it's not great quality but it looks ok and support 1280x1024 and has built-in speakers to boost the Mini's puny sound output.
Total cost £600 (exchange rate isn't great). It still doesn't rival Dell with their machines selling for £300 including a display though.
"Presentation" does not mean video only. It could be a printed page (the old-fashioned science project board style) or most any other form.
In which case, you won't need a Superdrive.
Quote:
Meetings in the business world do not have to be boring, either. It's just that most people believe that they are and thus dullify them so that they actually fulfill the negative expectation. I attend three meetings a week in addition to a daily morning briefing and they are certainly not boring. It depends on how they are set up and run.
They may not be boring to you, but you're not a kid who's being taught most lessons via iMovies.
Concur on dropping wireless, BT, iSight, and IR remote. None of those are things that teachers are going to want. Yeah, maybe the wireless and BT are cheap, but they're totally useless in a classroom. A teacher won't use a BT keyboard, and there are generally plenty of wires in the average school network. Front Row's not gonna be needed in a school, and what class assignments rely on webcams?
However, I see an all Core-Duo line. I think the Mini will be bumped to both models with a Duo late this summer, and I expect the Macbook and MBP to go Merom (if only for the battery life), so there's no reason not to see a Core Duo. But what about a low clocked Conroe? I mean, if the heat works out (and a lot of people think it will for the iMac), a Conroe would be a great choice, because they range from 1.86 GHz to 3.xx (EE stats not out), and the low end ones are cheapish, while still a strong desktop chip. And that's prolly what Apple's competing against.
i agree with dropping BT, isight, remote etc. not only are they costs that can be shaved, what the heck is a school going to do with a bin of 200 iMac remotes? remember a school can always order the regular iMacs, but it makes sense for Apple to offer a stripped down version. when you are buying a lot of computers, dropping those above mentioned things works out to getting more computers for your budget.
maybe they will make a model option without an optical drive? they have done it before. using netinstall to admin a classroom full of machines is a heck of a lot easier than going machine to machine with a CD/DVD, and it helps reduce some chaos. students can save work on a server or flash drive (or iPod). is the airport card/chip/? in the current iMac merged with the processor? it's possible they could drop BT/802.11* in favor of ethernet. i honestly don't know what is the norm for elementry/high schools these days. i guess it depends if they also have a ton of laptops for students? then wifi would make sense.
really there is a lot of stuff in the current iMac that would be totally unneeded in a school setting. unless you had to maintain a computer in an edu setting you could never imagine what weird things can happen when 100 people have access to it. i don't even mean anything malicious, just people poking around. you want them to enjoy OS X and the Mac, especially if they use windows otherwise. i can vouch for OS X selling itself to many people. where i help keep iMacs running, i know some MS users gripe at first, but many have since replaced their old hardware with Mac stuff. even a few Linux/BSD people bought Macs. there is a balance between letting people get full use of the machine and OS X, and making sure it still works right for the next person.
Comments
Apple will want to make their education mac very different from their iMac because their iMac is their flagship consumer product.
If they make it too much like the mini, they are potentially tramping on their home media market if that is the direction apple goes with the mini.
So I guess the three options are:
1) Lowest end mini - This would mean it would be cheap. Which for a cheap-budget-being-cut-market, might be great.
2) Lowest end iMac -- Apple did this with their iBook a while back. That is make a edu only lowest end iBook model.
3) Totally new computer between the iMac and mini (possibly only available for the edu market).
Originally posted by npynenberg
I also felt that way about PowerPoint, and imovies. But.. think of it in another way. When you have a small group.. or individuals working on a project they will always remember the material much better. They also tend to remember other student's presentations on a subject better than an instructors lecture.
Not an argument, just an observation: Seems to me this proves that today's kids have inadequate attention spans that can only be held by lots of flash. I'd hate to be them when they finally get out into the real world and find out that department and board meetings are boring affairs that usually have people talking to each other rather than showing movies.
Originally posted by Kolchak
Not an argument, just an observation: Seems to me this proves that today's kids have inadequate attention spans that can only be held by lots of flash. I'd hate to be them when they finally get out into the real world and find out that department and board meetings are boring affairs that usually have people talking to each other rather than showing movies.
Which is pretty unfortunate. If you can't get a message without the message being in video form, then that's a lot of work to get the message across vs. words and the occasional still sketch. I expect that 3D flow chart animations would be somewhat easy to make in the future, but if that's what it takes for someone to understand a process then something is wrong. I also question the retention on the part of the audience member if they can't be bothered to think about something long enough to be able to remember it.
Originally posted by npynenberg
Please don't tell me that mac mini's are the answer... as their size makes them ideal for theft... and the mess of cables involved makes them much less desirable. You also have to consider the cost of monitors.. at least $80-100 for CRT's. Frankly, since we are handing the current machines down to our elementary schools... we would have to buy mice and keyboards as well... another $35-45 each.
Don't the MM's have a kensington lock slot?
And speaking as a (until very recently) high school student, powerpoint presentations (or movies in your case) are incredibly useless, unless they're used to display some image or chart etc. (a picture is worth 1000 words). Otherwise, just stick to talking.
Originally posted by ncbill
There's no chance there will be a Superdrive in an educational Mac.
Combo drive at best, but more likely CD drive or no optical drive at all (as with previous education Macs)
80GB hard drive minimum, Core Duo minimum (legacy school applications will be running in Rosetta)
Camera cost is negligible (less than wireless), so I would expect it would be included, but easily disabled in software.
I do think Airport Extreme will still be built-in, but I agree Bluetooth won't.
The current educational mac has a superdrive and airport. They're not gonna scale back schools with these new machines.
You don't take away current features away to add more power, you take the current features and add more power.
Originally posted by icfireball
3) Totally new computer between the iMac and mini (possibly only available for the edu market).
That's what the current emac is and that's why they're designing a new one. No one or the article ever suggested that they're making a low end imac or mac mini or that it'll be available to anyone but schools.
This is first and foremost specifically for education, making it automatically a totally new computer.
To make a presentation, one must know the subject matter very well and the person feels responsible for imparting the knowledge to someone else. By being creative in the actual "presentation" of the material, the student is actually repeating the material over and over, thus increasing memory. They are doing something fun to achieve something that is usually quite boring; this is something a lot of people in the work force could benefit from as well!
The average attention span of a high school kid is somewhere along 45 minutes, but notice the saame kids when they are doing something fun: they will spend hours at it. If learning is fun, they will spend more time at it, this increasing their learning. Too many schools go for rote memorization and bland testing (multiple choice being the worst), which dulls the students to death. Fun can mean exciting, interesting, etc., not as in the laughing and playing way.
Computers can be a fun way for students to use in thecreation of their presentations.
The next step after the presentation (or report) is the discussion, where the teacher plays a key role.
Meetings in the business world do not have to be boring, either. It's just that most people believe that they are and thus dullify them so that they actually fulfill the negative expectation. I attend three meetings a week in addition to a daily morning briefing and they are certainly not boring. It depends on how they are set up and run.
AI has it that the new eMac will shed the CRT in favor of an LCD monitor, and be based, however vaguely, on the iMac design (though we prefer our own crappy mockup above)
http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/27/n...-for-september
Will they go with a tray or a slot loading optical drive? Side mount or front?
I would think slot on the side, as most kids today can load CDs into the car sero that has a slot.
Originally posted by npynenberg
Time for me to weigh in...
First, I am a Macintosh technician for a large high school. We are currently finishing up our buying plans for the 06-07 school year. Schools typically end their financial year around June 30, and and their new one starts July 1st. What we will by needs to be released by June 1st or it may as well come out 7-8 months later. The summer months are the only time that computer labs can be swapped out and upgraded.
Right now my school is strugling greatly with our buying decision. Emacs are still being offered to us at around $720 for 1GB Ram and combo drives. (Don't quote me on this cost and config as I don't have my notes here)
The alternative is of course imacs... but the cost of those hover around $1,100 each. Please don't tell me that mac mini's are the answer... as their size makes them ideal for theft... and the mess of cables involved makes them much less desirable. You also have to consider the cost of monitors.. at least $80-100 for CRT's. Frankly, since we are handing the current machines down to our elementary schools... we would have to buy mice and keyboards as well... another $35-45 each.
So for us, our options are... $720 for a G4 emac that is nearly a year old already. $1,100 for an imac, or $600 mac mini PLUS $80 monitor for an easily stealable mac mini. Not great options.
I need to replace 100 imac G3's, 28 400mhz G4 towers, and 28 433 Mhz G4 towers. So 160 computers total.
160 x $720 emac is $115,200
160 x $1,100 imac is $176,000
160 x $600 mac mini is $96,000 plus $80 monitor = $108,800
Quite a difference when you look at the bottom line.
Our educational environment really requires at least combo drives... and frankly DVD burners are not out of line. Our teachers and students really do a lot of imovies.. it is rapidly replacing Power Point. CD burners are used for saving documents for both backup and transfer to home computers. Rarely are they used for burning music cd's.
Since they do use imovie a lot, you ideally need largish hard drives... at LEAST 80gb if not 160GB. Yes our students use network storage... but you can't use network storage for working on movies.. not until a 1GB to desktop and 10GB backbone is the norm. (We're a 100MB switched school)
Is bluetooth needed? No. But I could see in the future the advantage of having things like bluetooth presentation remotes, or bluetooth science probes. Less wires means less problems.
Is wifi needed? No. If the cost of adding wifi to a computer cost the end buyer less than say $10 I would be willing to pay for the flexibility.. but otherwise i don't mind adding it later.
isight? No... but of the new 'Apple standard fun stuff' that are now included in every model.. I would choose this one. Our imovie using and digital photography students would make great use of these camera. They also make great across the school or across the globe web conferencing.
RAM? At least 1GB should be standard. That's what really is needed. And don't rip me off my including 2 512MB sticks... Give me 1 chip so I can add another one later.
Cost? Well our Windows PC's come in around $750.. maybe a little less with CRT 17" monitor. They will have the same core duo chip and 512MB of ram.
Sellling a $1,100 imac vs a $750 HP computer to our school board is very, very difficult. The school board approves all expenditures.
Yes, the macs CAN run Windows Xp... and they are more secure and frankly usually better built... but you can see why we would have a problem asking for computers that cost over $300 more than HP's.
Apple... please help us continue to buy macs and keep them in our schools! It is getting harder to do this every year.
Ok, I'll get off my soap box now.
Frankly I don't see haw you won't end up with a pc. Dell will make what you're looking for at $500. With Apple sticking to ICD the cheapest they'll come in at is probably $750.
Originally posted by ecking
That's what the current emac is and that's why they're designing a new one. No one or the article ever suggested that they're making a low end imac or mac mini or that it'll be available to anyone but schools.
This is first and foremost specifically for education, making it automatically a totally new computer.
Not necessarily.
It's much cheaper to use elements of already excisting systems.
So integrated graphics is a no brainer, as is an iMac set up. (without the nice transparant polycarbonates etc.)
The aluminium stand is perfect.
You have to use real violence to keel an iMac over.
With the same blund force a PC tower keels much easier.
And indeed: educational only.
A $300 price premium for an iMac is not something Apple will give up easily.
Originally posted by Bergermeister
"Presentation" does not mean video only. It could be a printed page (the old-fashioned science project board style) or most any other form. It is true that students learn better from their peers than from their teachers. I have been a teacher for 15 years and once I started using student presentations in class, the performance of my students increased. Some students actually started making presentations for other classes simply to help them study. A side benefit of the presentations is they help the teacher, who alone cannot make so many presentations. The teacher becomes a coach, a guide and of course a checker to make sure the facts are right. Most importantly, the teacher is a facilitator, who orchestrates a learning atmosphere and program.
Computers can be a fun way for students to use in thecreation of their presentations.
The next step after the presentation (or report) is the discussion, where the teacher plays a key role.
Now that is what I meant to explain. Thanks Bergermeister.
I still can answer many questions about Einstein due to my oral presentation in 7th grade.
Originally posted by gar
Not necessarily.
It's much cheaper to use elements of already excisting systems.
So integrated graphics is a no brainer, as is an iMac set up. (without the nice transparant polycarbonates etc.)
The aluminium stand is perfect.
You have to use real violence to keel an iMac over.
With the same blund force a PC tower keels much easier.
And indeed: educational only.
A $300 price premium for an iMac is not something Apple will give up easily.
Lots of happy kids now could mean lots of Apple customers in the near future...
I believe that Apple will include a special software bundle that will include iWork for little or nothing extra.
They also can't make the edu model with more RAM than the full-priced machine, so whatever it is will have 512 and probably 120 GB or thereabouts to allow for movies and DVD making. Schools don't need great graphics nor tremendous speed; they need things that work. They can save money on a graphics card; a concerned school (though I don't there will be many) will increase the RAM at 40 dollars a unit, whcih is not outlandish.
Wired mouse and mighty mouse are a given, and I think they will hold to the iMac form, but reintroduce a 15" monitor at a lower price point. The machine will look fantastic, have tons of software and will sell for 999. Don't forget, it will work right out of the box.
The other thing I think that Apple will come up with is a new way to monitor what the students are actually doing with their machines (if there isn't a way to do this already; I know there is on PC).
$799 - Mac Mini
$999 - 15" or 17" iMac Mini /eMac
$1099 - 15" or 17" iMac Mini /eMac
$1299 - 19" iMac
$1699 - 21" iMac
$1999 - 24" iMac
purely speculating on price points to cover the entire line
not sure how many pixels go into these displays
Originally posted by shanmugam
$599 - Mac Mini
$799 - Mac Mini
$999 - 15" or 17" iMac Mini /eMac
$1099 - 15" or 17" iMac Mini /eMac
$1299 - 19" iMac
$1699 - 21" iMac
$1999 - 24" iMac
purely speculating on price points to cover the entire line
not sure how many pixels go into these displays
You really love to have different screensizes than Apple offers already, don't you
I think 19" and 21" not gonna happen.
It makes shooding an iMac more confussion and less than 10% screensize difference is not very cost efficient either. (economie of scale)
They'll stick to the current offering of 17" and 20" and add a 23"iMac or as you wish a Dellish 24" size.
Maybe ditch the 17" iMac in a year or 2.
I don't like all-in-ones because schools can get cheap displays anywhere and replace them very cheaply. Quality isn't of the essence so they could pick up cheap displays for about $100 or less. CRTs for less than half that. The big advantage there is not just on initial cost but repair.
Schools don't have the budget to spend $600 or so fixing a built-in display from Apple and why should they if they can buy a whole new display for $50-100?
They got a setup like that where I work for someone who mainly does general office work and it feels powerful enough to fit any needs in the education sector. We got an LCD display for £100. Yes it's not great quality but it looks ok and support 1280x1024 and has built-in speakers to boost the Mini's puny sound output.
Total cost £600 (exchange rate isn't great). It still doesn't rival Dell with their machines selling for £300 including a display though.
Originally posted by Bergermeister
"Presentation" does not mean video only. It could be a printed page (the old-fashioned science project board style) or most any other form.
In which case, you won't need a Superdrive.
Meetings in the business world do not have to be boring, either. It's just that most people believe that they are and thus dullify them so that they actually fulfill the negative expectation. I attend three meetings a week in addition to a daily morning briefing and they are certainly not boring. It depends on how they are set up and run.
They may not be boring to you, but you're not a kid who's being taught most lessons via iMovies.
Originally posted by ZachPruckowski
Concur on dropping wireless, BT, iSight, and IR remote. None of those are things that teachers are going to want. Yeah, maybe the wireless and BT are cheap, but they're totally useless in a classroom. A teacher won't use a BT keyboard, and there are generally plenty of wires in the average school network. Front Row's not gonna be needed in a school, and what class assignments rely on webcams?
However, I see an all Core-Duo line. I think the Mini will be bumped to both models with a Duo late this summer, and I expect the Macbook and MBP to go Merom (if only for the battery life), so there's no reason not to see a Core Duo. But what about a low clocked Conroe? I mean, if the heat works out (and a lot of people think it will for the iMac), a Conroe would be a great choice, because they range from 1.86 GHz to 3.xx (EE stats not out), and the low end ones are cheapish, while still a strong desktop chip. And that's prolly what Apple's competing against.
i agree with dropping BT, isight, remote etc. not only are they costs that can be shaved, what the heck is a school going to do with a bin of 200 iMac remotes? remember a school can always order the regular iMacs, but it makes sense for Apple to offer a stripped down version. when you are buying a lot of computers, dropping those above mentioned things works out to getting more computers for your budget.
maybe they will make a model option without an optical drive? they have done it before. using netinstall to admin a classroom full of machines is a heck of a lot easier than going machine to machine with a CD/DVD, and it helps reduce some chaos. students can save work on a server or flash drive (or iPod). is the airport card/chip/? in the current iMac merged with the processor? it's possible they could drop BT/802.11* in favor of ethernet. i honestly don't know what is the norm for elementry/high schools these days. i guess it depends if they also have a ton of laptops for students? then wifi would make sense.
really there is a lot of stuff in the current iMac that would be totally unneeded in a school setting. unless you had to maintain a computer in an edu setting you could never imagine what weird things can happen when 100 people have access to it. i don't even mean anything malicious, just people poking around. you want them to enjoy OS X and the Mac, especially if they use windows otherwise. i can vouch for OS X selling itself to many people. where i help keep iMacs running, i know some MS users gripe at first, but many have since replaced their old hardware with Mac stuff. even a few Linux/BSD people bought Macs. there is a balance between letting people get full use of the machine and OS X, and making sure it still works right for the next person.