Briefly: Apple still selling $899 17-inch iMac for education

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
In its March eNews mailing to education users, Apple has revealed plans to continue to offer its 17" iMac to education customers starting at $899, alongside its current 20" and 24" iMac models now being sold to the general public.



The 17" iMac for education, which AppleInsider reported earlier would be limited to education sales, isn't being listed on Apple's publicly accessible online store for education or the general public or by any partners sites.



It appears the holdover product, the same white 17" iMac Apple sold in 2006, continues to be offered in response to the global economic crisis, which is hitting government and education markets particularly hard as tax revenues slip and the public sector seeks ways to close budget gaps.



The $899 price point of the education-only 17" iMac reflects the previous 17" CRT eMac model that Apple sold to education markets as a lower priced alternative to its flat screen models beginning in April 2002. Consumer demand for that originally education-only model resulted in Apple offering it to the general public within a month.







In 2005, Apple later returned the eMac to its original "education-only" status, although it was still possible to obtain through some resellers. The company then discontinued the PowerPC G4-based eMac in mid 2006 as part of its transition to Intel. It was also Apple's last CRT product; its lack of an Intel upgrade was part of the company's efforts to move away from toxic heavy metals that are used in CRTs.



Since then, Apple's lowest end offering among its all-in-one Macs has been the 17" flat panel, Intel-based iMac, which was discontinued outside of education sales in 2007, leaving the 20" iMac as Apple's entry level iMac model marketed to consumers.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 37
    msnlymsnly Posts: 378member
    Why not just call it the eMac and swap some of the more expensive parts for even cheaper parts?
  • Reply 2 of 37
    hiimamachiimamac Posts: 584member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MsNly View Post


    Why not just call it the eMac and swap some of the more expensive parts for even cheaper parts?



    Can you imagine Apple giving the public, during these tough time, what they want like dedicated gpu, FireWire and good CPU.



    Ha ha ha ha. Falli g off chair. That will be the day especially given that for $899 you can build a hack i7 that darn near Stomps the mac pro. Makes no sense. Go hack fir low end and get WAY more bang for buck.
  • Reply 3 of 37
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hiimamac View Post


    That will be the day especially given that for $899 you can build a hack i7 that darn near Stomps the mac pro. Makes no sense. Go hack fir low end and get WAY more bang for buck.



    Who knew you could build a barebones machine yourself with a stolen and hacked OS and SW that is cheaper than a store bought machine? Now you're just talkin' crazy.
  • Reply 4 of 37
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    given the source of the info, assuming it is correct, it is possible that it is NOT a consumer machine but one designed for schools to buy/lease for labs and classrooms. if it is marketed to teachers/students it will likely be online only and requiring validation of the 'education' status.
  • Reply 5 of 37
    dhagan4755dhagan4755 Posts: 2,152member
    To the editor/writer: Apple has been selling a 17" iMac to education customers all along. I work for a public school district here in Massachusetts and we bought 50 of them last August, and continued to buy them here and there since.



    This same 17" iMac computer that they are offering is a shameful rip off for education now. For the specs it should be $500. Its specs are 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB HD, Intel GMA 950 graphics. I mean seriously, in this economy, $899 for that spec is a blatant rip-off. For that money it should have identical specs to the mid-range MacBook.
  • Reply 6 of 37
    wplj42wplj42 Posts: 439member
    With iMac 20 @ $1199 and 24 @ $1499, it would make perfect sense for a 17 @ $899. But why? Since the 24" LED screen is $899 all by itself, the iMac 17 can't be anything more than a smaller version of what is available now. $799 ... maybe. $699 ... yeah baby! Two even! One for under each arm. If this is just an "education" box, then $699 is even better. Toss a bone out for the schools. They need all the help they can get. So might Apple. Looks like they have almost pulled the plug on selling monitors, especially affordable ones.
  • Reply 7 of 37
    lorrelorre Posts: 396member
    Apple didn't announce anything, this is still the old white 17 inch iMac that has been sold to education for ages.



    Screenshot taken today:



  • Reply 8 of 37
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Damn, now labs at school will get these in place of the 20 inchers...
  • Reply 9 of 37
    wplj42wplj42 Posts: 439member
    I don't see any reference to the old iMac 17-inch.

    http://www.apple.com/education/products/

    Where did the screenshot come from?
  • Reply 10 of 37
    msnlymsnly Posts: 378member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hiimamac View Post


    Can you imagine Apple giving the public, during these tough time, what they want like dedicated gpu, FireWire and good CPU.



    Ha ha ha ha. Falli g off chair. That will be the day especially given that for $899 you can build a hack i7 that darn near Stomps the mac pro. Makes no sense. Go hack fir low end and get WAY more bang for buck.



    I didn't say give the public what they want. I was implying that they should make a bare bones eMac that would be perfect for Highschools.
  • Reply 11 of 37
    royboyroyboy Posts: 458member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    given the source of the info, assuming it is correct, it is possible that it is NOT a consumer machine but one designed for schools to buy/lease for labs and classrooms. if it is marketed to teachers/students it will likely be online only and requiring validation of the 'education' status.





    Have you ever ordered any Mac on the Education on-line store? If you have, what did you use to validate your status as a teacher/student other that just picking a name of a school and ordering a Mac and having it sent directly to your house. Apple is not Adobe in reference to validating your status.
  • Reply 12 of 37
    gemgem Posts: 7member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Royboy View Post


    Have you ever ordered any Mac on the Education on-line store? If you have, what did you use to validate your status as a teacher/student other that just picking a name of a school and ordering a Mac and having it sent directly to your house. Apple is not Adobe in reference to validating your status.



    Whilst this is true, in the UK at least, you have to be using your school network when you go through this for it to work. At least to get the full discount anyway....

    Anyway - it does mean that non-education customers may not be able to see this.



    I think the apple picture implies that it is now updating the style to match the other current ones. About time if they are!
  • Reply 13 of 37
    dhagan4755dhagan4755 Posts: 2,152member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by WPLJ42 View Post


    Where did the screenshot come from?



    This is actually pretty easy to find once you know what to do...

    Go to http://store.apple.com/

    On the left hand side, click the "Education Store" link.

    From the resulting next page, on the right side under where it says, "Purchasing for your institution," I click on K-12.

    Then click on Create Quote. You may have to put in your zip code at this point, and choose your district.

    Once you are at the education store for institutions, scroll down and you will see the $899 white 17" iMac...which has been there almost two years now unchanged.
  • Reply 14 of 37
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    Not every school has room for wide 20" or 24" Macs in either the lab and/or classroom. It could also make the difference between fitting 40 Macs in a lab or only fitting 25-30 Macs in a lab because of the size.



    I also work in a school district (2 of them actually) and except for creative things, large widescreens aren't really necessary. It would just be a waste of space. Most of the computers are used for simple things like educational software, MS Office, and of course the internet. They don't need a top of the line Mac with a huge display to get this done. However, I do believe they should be cheaper, maybe $699.



    And yes...this is nothing new. They were selling these last year for the same price.
  • Reply 15 of 37
    dhagan4755dhagan4755 Posts: 2,152member
    I see that this topic was moved from Future Hardware to Current Hardware. Interesting. There needs to be a topic for "Old Hardware," because that's where this topic belongs. Intel GMA 950 graphics, 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo, for $899. For education market?! Apple: Give me a fucking break!
  • Reply 16 of 37
    These 17" GMA 950 iMacs periodically turn up in the refurb store, too, where they can be purchased by anyone. Last time they were available refurbished, I think they were $699.
  • Reply 17 of 37
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Hopefully the kids still get a full functioned, universal, numeric keyboard.
  • Reply 18 of 37
    That is extremly overpriced compared to most current Apple offerings



    Dell XPS One 20" with Core 2 Duo with bigger HDD (250GB) and more RAM (2GB) is only $800.
  • Reply 19 of 37
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Beastage View Post


    That is extremly overpriced compared to most current Apple offerings



    Dell XPS One 20" with Core 2 Duo with bigger HDD (250GB) and more RAM (2GB) is only $800.



    Compared to the 17" iMac that is a better deal when not considering SW. But when compared to Apple's 20" iMac for $1149, the additional $350 does get you a lot more, especially in the CPU.



    Still, for base price of a system the value is better in the Dell. But this is expected as Dell is struggling to sell their AIO in the face of Apple's long history of selling AIOs.
  • Reply 20 of 37
    msnlymsnly Posts: 378member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    Hopefully the kids still get a full functioned, universal, numeric keyboard.



    Most students don't even know how to use a numeric keypad. When I learned how to type they spent a day discussing how to use it.
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