The $899 Educational iMac 483
Valthan writes "Macsimum news has just released news about a new version of the iMac that is being touted as an educational machine. It seems to be a nice setup, and has the cheapness that us university students strive on, I think they just may have a winner here to get people on the Mac. Now if only JCreator worked on it ..."
From the article "Featuring a 17-inch widescreen LCD display, the iMac for education includes a Combo drive for burning CDs and reading DVDs, 512MB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory expandable up to 2GB and hard drive storage capacity up to 160GB. Every iMac also includes a built-in iSight video camera, built-in 10/100/1000 BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet for high-speed networking, built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11g WiFi for up to 54Mbps wireless networking, a total of five USB ports (three USB 2.0) and two FireWire 400 ports."
Thriving on Strife (Score:3, Funny)
No cheap 20" model (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:No cheap 20" model (Score:2)
Re:No cheap 20" model (Score:5, Insightful)
Heck, I'd get one, and I've already got a monster display available for a Mini. In fact, I'd almost have to get a mini for that reason (no room for another display).
Re:No cheap 20" model (Score:4, Insightful)
And yes, there are a lot of good games for the Mac, all of your first-tier FPS games get ported, WoW, etc.... but you can't play them (not even Second Life) on the low-end Macs they sell.
Cheap bastards are shooting themselves in the feet.
Re:No cheap no screen model (Score:3, Interesting)
oops (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Screen spanning? (Score:2)
Direct info from apple (Score:5, Informative)
Technical specifications & available configurations [apple.com]
899 is cheap? (Score:4, Insightful)
Cash (Score:3, Funny)
There are a few options: 1) Beg parents 2) Get job, or...
3) That's why God gave you blood plasma and spoo. Sell it.
4) Failing that, find some lubriderm, a rubber glove, and a busy intersection.
Re:Cash (Score:3, Insightful)
Although that post was supposed to be humorous it is a problem.
My compaq v4000 notebook I got for $740 was financed with a high interest 14.4% APR loan. With these its about $35 but I had $300 cash from working and saving so it turned out to be affordable for college students. The best Apple could do was a 90 day loan. Uh sorry.
Apple loyalists claim their systems are like BMw's for the wealthy to make themselves feel supperior. Well it wont help spread the
Re:Cash (Score:5, Informative)
You can get what is essentially a Mastercard with no annual fee and an APR somewhere between 13.5% and 22.5% depending on your credit rating, with no interest for 90 days after purchase. If you've got good credit, this pretty much amounts to the same thing you got. If not, good luck finding financing anyway.
Re:Cash (Score:4, Informative)
While you're at it, run the numbers through an online credit card calculator.
Assuming the 22.49% APR and a 3-year payoff, the total interest on a financed $899 iMac is $338, or 37% above the store price.
Now your $899 iMac costs you $1,237.
Ain't credit grand?
Re:Cash (Score:3, Interesting)
Especially because Apple tried it several times and ways during the 90s through contracted lenders - little more than specialty one-time checks or credit cards that were used once to purchase computer equipment for a pre-arranged price.
They lost money on most of the promotions and pissed off customers each a
Re:899 is cheap? (Score:2, Funny)
All the kids will want a computer. The real question is why get this when you can get a portable, bluetooth, macbook for only $200 more?
Re:899 is cheap? (Score:3, Insightful)
If my elected officials start saying X is cheap compared to the space shuttle, war in Iraq, etc. I'll shoot them.
I am a Mac user. They are not cheap. This one is not cheap. (Incidentally, mine was cheaper.)
Still wasn't cheap.
Dell is cheap.
Re:899 is cheap? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:899 is cheap? (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe, but if you take the quality into account, I'd say they're about par. Dell isn't exactly known for quality, most people I know who have Dells have them because they were the cheapest. The people I know have a Mac because they know Macs for the quality. And only one of the 3 or 4 people I know using Macs uses it for MacOS X.
Re:899 is cheap? (Score:3, Informative)
Harvard costs about $38k including tuition, fees, room and board. Most people aren't going to ivy league schools.
Cost is going to depend heavily on area, but the local univeristy here (University at Buffalo) you looking at more like $6K for tuition and fees and housing starts at about $4K. And there are colleges you can go to with tuition and fees well under $4K for the year.
And this all ignores the fact th
Yes $899 is cheap. (Score:3, Informative)
It seems like a rather good deal to me, that offer is actually cheaper than the computer I bought when I went to university. I spent almost every cent I had on that thing including the money meant for buying books. The school books I checked out of the library or borrowed off my friends then I photocopied them for a fraction of what they
Re:Yes $899 is cheap. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Yes $899 is cheap. (Score:3, Informative)
And what part of engineering student needing a CAD program didn't you understand?
The poster was speaking of his own experiences and you accuse him of lying? His experience sounded pretty believable to me.
Re:Yes $899 is cheap. (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe it's all you need, but your peers in the "Advanced Nonlinear Editing" class are going to be enjoying lots of practice time at home while you spend hundreds of hours in the lab, at school, late at night - because your iBook won't run any of the current NLE tools. Or maybe you're an aspiring photojournalist and need to quickly manipulate 3
Re:899 is cheap? (Score:2)
Re:899 is cheap? (Score:2)
Re:899 is cheap? (Score:2)
Re:899 is cheap? (Score:5, Insightful)
At my school, we weren't a rich campus by any means, but an 8MHz Mac Classic and a raster laser printer for $1200.00 was a fucking STEAL when I started college in 1991. Even the Dells with Windows 3.1 were $1000.00 - and you didn't get a printer.
Times change...but the dollar barrier for entry into the "computer in my dorm room" club has remained nearly constant for fifteen years. If you want a computer that will last you through college, mow a lot of lawns between your high school graduation and your freshman orientation. For $1200.00, you can get any number of very nice Macs or PCs. For $1000.00, your choices get fewer, but there are still many nice machines. This new Mac is a lot of machine for $900.00.
Re:899 is cheap? (Score:3, Interesting)
Think about this for a second: a $1500 Lenovo Thinkpad will get you a machine with pretty decent specs; I just costed a T60 with a T2400 chip (1.83GHz), 1 GB RAM, 80 GB HD, optical, and Office 2003 Basic. For arts majors, this will get you through
5 USB ports? (Score:3, Informative)
granted, i have an imac g5 that has the same USB setup, but i just don't like misleading advertising. (although its not really advertising, but i digress.)
Re:5 USB ports? (Score:3, Insightful)
No computer maker reports their product's number of ports based on what they thing you might or might not have plugged in to it. I just don't understand how saying your computer has 5 ports when it... has 5 ports is misleading.
"My car has 5 seats."
"NO IT DOESN'T! YOU BIG PHONEY! PHONEY MC-FAKERSON! FAKER!
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:3, Funny)
</sarcasm>
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:2)
Add in MS Word - OSX can (usually) read
Comparisons like these are invariably flawed, but yours was particularly unfair.
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:2)
So can XP after a fashion - WordPad...
That being said, if I got a Hel^W Dell, the first thing I'd do would either be to reinstall Windoze, making sure to keep the drivers and activation files from the old drive, or install Debian or Ubuntu. The crap that you get with a "stock" Dell is extremely annoying and can lead to boot times > 5 min on a new machine.
-b.
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:3, Informative)
And of course, since we're talking the educational market, you can also snag a full academic version of office for $120 (or less, since a lot of campuses negotiated larger discounts).
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:2)
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:2)
This IS actually the point.
Mac OS X IS the differentiator. If you don't want Mac OS X - get your Dell. If you do then get one of these.
Simple.
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:2)
Dell is know to charge $200 for shipping and handling on a $399 computer worth $550 on the market. Dell pays Fedex $30 and pockets the change and the consumer thinks he got a good deal on the system.
I dont know if they still do this but for awhile it worked as everyone orded Dell's because they appeared cheaper.
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:2)
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:5, Informative)
And the dual core out performs the AMD 2.2.
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:2)
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:2)
Then you are one of the few.
I have two friends who purchased iMacs for music/video production and one of their constant problems when recording voiceovers was the iMac fans would kick on and they'd get a soft "whooosh" sound in their recording. Since the iMac was "all in one" they just couldn't stick CPU somewhere with long cables. One eventually returned it and got a PowerMac, the other just does all his production on a PC and uses the iMac
Re:Cheap, but not cheap enough. (Score:3, Insightful)
It does look like these students are busier than a CEO of a Fortune 100 company; no surprise they just throw money at every problem!
On my planet, however, majority of students have plenty of time, and very little money; most of the software they need is either free (MSN/Yahoo/Meebo/* Messenger, Picasa, Google Talk, etc.) or inexpensive. Windows XP comes with MovieMaker,
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Things a student strives on? (Score:2, Insightful)
Get a prev-gen iMac for less than half the price and spend the rest on beer and hookers or callboys.
Re:Things a student strives on? (Score:2)
I never spent more than about $250 on *any* computer in college, considering that there were many people willing to throw away "last year's model" or sell it very cheaply. I got into Macs after I graduated and started to have money.
-b.
I'd get one... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I'd get one... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I'd get one... (Score:5, Funny)
Unless it's SCO UNIX.
Re:I'd get one... (Score:3, Interesting)
In the interest of full disclosure, I run Ubuntu on my main box and have an iBook as a portable. Seriously.
Just in time for Leopard (Score:3, Interesting)
College students want a cheap but stylish machine, yet they don't want to lose their "gaming" functionality. It could be a perfect marriage.
Jim http://www.runfatboy.net/ [runfatboy.net] -- Exercise for the rest of us.
Re:Just in time for Leopard (Score:4, Informative)
Except that, as even a modest gaming rig, it's entirely uninspiring, largely thanks to the graphics chip. As the GMA 950 lacks support for things like T&L and vertex shaders, it's not going to cut it for most modern games. And since it draws from main system memory, the fact that the system is shipping with only 512MB (even granted the fact that it's expanadable to 2GB) is going to be a problem, as well. It seems extremely unlikely to me that this is going to set anyone's world on fire. It certainly won't bomb, but I don't really think it's going to expand much beyond the original eMac niche.
what about non gamers? (Score:2)
But that doesn't mean it can't expand beyond the eMac niche.
There are plenty of non-gamers in this world.
Yes, but... (Score:4, Funny)
From the Apple Store for Education (Score:5, Informative)
1440x900 resolution
1.83GHz Intel Core Duo processor (1)
512MB memory (2x256MB SO-DIMMs)
80GB Serial ATA hard drive
24x Combo drive (DVD-ROM, CD-RW)
Intel GMA 950 graphics with 64MB of shared memory
($899)
The regular entry level iMac comes with
17-inch widescreen LCD
1440x900 resolution
1.83GHz Intel Core Duo processor (1)
512MB memory (single SO-DIMM)
160GB Serial ATA hard drive
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±RW, CD-RW)
ATI Radeon X1600 graphics with 128MB GDDR3 memory
Bluetooth 2.0
Apple Remote
($1199)
You save $300, but give up Apple Remote, bluetooth, ATI Radeon, 80GB of drive space, and the SuperDrive.
Re:The Intel GMA950 makes it a non-starter... (Score:4, Interesting)
A bit spoiled? (Score:5, Insightful)
$900 for a computer, for students, er yeah I guess some of them have that kind of cash. But I don't think they fit the stretched to the max, loans up the wazoo students that you'll encounter in today's universities. Those students still get by on the computer resources made available by the school.
In fact for $400 you could get a laptop from a couple of PC makers.
Saying that any price point is cheap and affordable only makes you look like an ass and makes other people feel bad.
Re:A bit spoiled? (Score:2)
Re:A bit spoiled? (Score:4, Informative)
It's "free" with financial aid (Score:3, Interesting)
A lot of students count financial aid as "free". And as an example, here at Kansas State as a Computer Science student I fell under the $1500 category, but friends in the College of Architecture and Design were in the $2500 category. Also, for "studio" in Architecture you *must* buy a fully capable computer and provide it for the duration of the coursework in a lock
Not Available in Canada (Score:2, Informative)
Dude... JCreator? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Dude... JCreator? (Score:2)
If they want something a little more lightweight with a similar feature set to jcreator, jedit [jedit.org] is free and will run on a mac.
Re:Dude... JCreator? (Score:2)
Why the iSight? (Score:2)
Re:Why the iSight? (Score:2)
Keyboard and wireless mouse is the real deal-breaker for some people but in a computer lab it's exactly what you don't want. Also bluetooth is easier to remove. You can just take the chip out and people can
Lenovo N100 models hit this price point (Score:3, Informative)
This isn't just for students (Score:2, Informative)
Sounds fine for a computer lab... (Score:2)
They haven't thought this through properly... (Score:2, Funny)
a) "What ? No DVD burner ? How the hell am I supposed to earn beer money by pirating things I've downloaded on school internet ?!"
b) "No remote ? GTF out of here, now how am I supposed to cycle through my slideshow of err.. botany pictures from bed with one hand ?!"
Good on them for trying, but I think this machine is basically a decoy so that they can say the iMac line-up "starts at $899", because taking out somet
As a recent grad... (Score:2)
Guinness or OS X? (Score:4, Funny)
$899 = 12-pack bottled Guinness Draught [bevmo.com] x at least 50.
So, an iMac or 600 bottles of Guinness. College student unimpressed.
And don't anybody say "B-B-B-BUT THE GUINNESS DOESN'T COME WITH ILIFE" or I will rip your fucking head off and shove it up your ass.
Re:Guinness or OS X? (Score:3, Funny)
B-B-B-BUT THE GUINNESS DOESN'T COME WITH ILIFE (Score:3, Funny)
Outside US? (Score:2)
Anyone know more on this?
Really an institutional machine... (Score:3, Informative)
- this will drop the HD capacity (schools don't generally load up boxes with the photos and songs that end users do)
- drop the remote (you can drive FrontRow from the keyboard)
- 20" (for students in a lab up close, 17" is plenty big)
- bluetooth (not a big deal in a classroom)
- graphics for gamers
- DVD burner (as long as you have one or two of these per lab, you'll do fine)
where's the $250 educational mac (Score:3, Insightful)
Cut the propaganda! (Score:3, Insightful)
Come on.. this is puRe advertisement about Mac, could you stop it!
No news here, just advertisement, and I don't want advertisement covered as a story (yeah, yeah, somebody is going to say, then don't read
If these are news, I would like to read the news about the special discount from Dell for grannies. I'm sure it rocks!
Please, don't get me wrong, I own several PowerBooks/iBooks (in fact I'm writing this posts in one!), so I don't have anything against macs, I'm against lame stories on the FrontPage of
still relatively expensive ... (Score:3, Insightful)
They do come cheaper than that: (Score:3, Insightful)
You spend 150 to 200 bucks on the machine and 50 on the crt or 150 on the lcd. If you use Ubuntu you can even save the 50 bucks for XP.
You get a total of 200 to 350 bucks minus the printer. I would use something that you can refill. Old sturdy inkjets or laser printers that now have cheap cartridges come to mind. You should really be able to stay below 400 in total and installing ubuntu is easier than to install windows nowdays. Especially because a computer illiterate would have problems installing all the anti spyware tools.
Does Slashdot get money for advertisements for Apple machines? Seeing how much they charge for a machine I suppose they have the spare money.
Re:Unfortunately (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Unfortunately (Score:2, Insightful)
What school are you going to?
My Uni is one of the biggest MS sellouts there is and they still expect CS students to program on, and submit assignments on UNIX. Mac is much more compatible with UNIX than Windows is, so this would make sense for us.
Re:Unfortunately (Score:5, Insightful)
I graduated with an engineering degree in 2002, but took a few CS courses. All of the work was done on the CS lab UNIX boxes (Suns at the time, upgraded to commodity BSD machines right about the time I finished). Remember that CS is about teaching *concepts* rather than putting out functional code-monkeys - that's what "IT" programs are for.
-b.
Re:Unfortunately (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Unfortunately (Score:5, Insightful)
If that were true, then Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and DragonFlyBSD would have to, when running on a regular PC, crash as much as Windows, too. If they don't, then perhaps PowerPC isn't as magical as you appear to think it is.
Re:Ya but (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Ya but (Score:2)
Clicky [wikipedia.org].
Re:Huh? (Score:2)
I agree, but only about their desktops. With their laptops, where are you going to get a laptop that's as light, functional, and sturdy as a MacBook at the same price? Before you say "VAIO", Vaios aren't cheap either and have plasticky shite construction quality. Maybe Averatec...
-b.
Re:Huh? (Score:2)
I wanted one but Apple refused to finance me one because I was a college student. I got a compaq pressario v4000 for $740 because it was opened and discontinued and it runs faster and cooler than my gf's $1400 vio that is always overheating. With loans and money down I only pay $20 for my laptop. Not bad
Re:Huh? (Score:2)
Re:Huh? (Score:3, Insightful)
much more powerful commodity Intel box (which is all Macs are now) and load up FreeBSD for around $300.
Bored again, so feeding the trolls...
You can't get a "much more powerful" commodity Intel (or other x86) box. The only "much more powerful" Intel boxes use very expensive high-end CPUs. No one here seems to realize that the cute cuddly little iMac has a 1.83GHz dual-core CPU; you're all comparing it with 2004 products.
For $300 your box will be significantly less powerful than the iMac *and* have no
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Corner Them - Then Exploit. (Score:3, Insightful)
Given the fact that the vast majority of computers in schools are Macs, and Windows is the dominant home desktop environment, I don't see how your "capture them early" theory holds water.