Apple Announces $899 20" iMac for Schools

For those of you thinking all this sounds a little familiar, that’s because it was widely reported a few weeks ago. While we didn’t believe the company’s educational site when it said “the iMac line also includes a 17-inch model starting at $899,” under the “The New iMac Line” header, we were still hopeful.

It seemed some of us may have gotten excited over nothing, though. While not offered at retail, Apple still makes a 17-inch polycarbonate iMac for K12 and Higher Education priced at exactly $899. The rumor put to rest, we forgot about the possibility of Apple offering anyone anything under a thousand bucks. Lost cause.

Perhaps not. For a company so careful with announcements and launches, Apple sure did mess this one up. The company always tries to play its hand as close to the chest as possible, which is one of the reasons we didn’t believe last month’s rumor in the first place. However, last week the company updated education pricelists, discontinuing the aforementioned 17 inch and replacing it with the new 20 inch iMac for the same money.

All boiled down? Educational institutions get the 20 inch iMac (2GHz Core 2 Duo, GeForce 9400, 1GB DDR3, 160GB hard drive, 802.11n, Ethernet, four USB ports, a FireWire port and a slot-loading SuperDrive.) for a hundred bucks less. Check out the PDF here.

(Via MacWorld)