Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
With the $ 899 iMac Education Configuration , Apple has a ripe opportunity of regaining some of its former glory with school systems by put up a knock-down yet low - price all - in - one computer that can facilitate ill-tempered - platform operation . This limited model replaces the eMac as Apple ’s primary school offer , and is available only to educational foundation . Other education customers — college students as well as K-12 and college faculty , for example — can buy the received 17 - inch and 20 - in iMacs at a discount . ( See this machine from an educator ’s view . )
What’s inside
Apple ’s Education Department iMac is much the same as the $ 1,299 , 17 - column inch widescreen iMac ( ) the company sells to the general public . Like the more expensive theoretical account , the $ 899 iMac includes a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo processor with 2 MB of shared L2 stash , 512 MB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM ( expandible to 2 GB ) , built - in AirPort networking , Gigabit Ethernet , a build - in iSight camera , mini - DVI video output , analog and digital audio stimulation and output , a multibutton Mighty Mouse and Apple Keyboard , two FireWire 400 port , three USB 2.0 ports ( plus two USB 1.1 port on the keyboard ) , a security time slot for locking the figurer down .
Unlike the standard 17 - inch iMac , the $ 899 iMac has an 80 GB 7200RPM SATA concentrated drive instead of 160 GB , a Combo driving or else of videodisc - burning SuperDrive , and Intel ’s GMA 950 incorporate graphics C.P.U. ( which borrows its RAM from the system memory ) instead of an ATI Radeon X1600 computer graphic mainframe with 128 MB of consecrated GDDR3 RAM .
And speaking of RAM , the $ 899 iMac includes the same 512 MB of RAM as all other iMacs . But unlike the other models , which ship with a single 512 MB SO - DIMM and have loose a RAM slot , this iMac has two 256 MB SO - DIMMs . Apple does this with every Mac that uses the GMA 950 , since those Macs run most expeditiously with matched pair of DDR RAM . The big downside to this approaching is that you ca n’t merely add RAM to this iMac , but must instead substitute both SO - DIMMs for advance — making RAM upgrades potentially expensive .
And completely missing from this iMac are Bluetooth connectivity and the Apple Remote — which is likely just as well , since you do n’t want students wirelessly transferring file cabinet to a cell telephone set or plain back with a remote ascendence ( one that could just as easily actuate another iMac ’s Front rowing software ) to watch a DVD .
And while it come in with the iLife ’ 06 suite of multimedia system lotion and other software package , there ’s no included word processing , spreadsheet , page layout , or database software system , such as the AppleWorks retinue include with previous education models — potentially an additional disbursement for any school that want to summate such apps .
Goodbye eMac
The $ 899 iMac brings an end to Apple ’s former education computer — the eMac — and with it an end to Macs with CRT displays and G4 processors . This iMac better on the eMac in terms of central processor ( 1.83GHz Core Duo vs. a 1.42GHz G4 ) , double-decker pep pill ( 667MHz vs. 167MHz ) , weight ( 15.5 pounds vs. 50 punt ) , declaration ( 1,440 by 900 pixels vs. 1,280 by 960 pixel ) , and more . The eMac , however , had a 4X AGP ATI Radeon 9600 nontextual matter central processor with 64 MiB of dedicated DDR RAM , and an optional SuperDrive contour ( although now that iDVD support inexpensive external DVD burners , that defect is light to get around ) .
Performance
The Macworld Lab tested the $ 899 iMac with our standard cortege of test , and the results were telling . The composite Speedmark score for all tests was 175 , which compared very favorably to the eMac ( 137 ) and the MacBook with the same processor ( 155 ) . The standard 17 - in iMac , however , wash up out the Education Department version by more than 15 percent ( 202 ) .
Processor - intensive tasks such as a Cinema 4D render , iMovie filter , and iTunes MP3 encoding showed huge improvements over the G4 - based eMac—71 percent , 43 percent , and 48 per centum , severally — and mark equal to or good than the standard iMac . And playback of HD motion-picture show trailers from Apple ’s Web site was smooth , although I did notice a few stutter when playing clips in iMovie that have several transitions and effects apply to them .
The $ 899 iMac decidedly suffered in 3 - 500 game play — getting 30 few frames per second than the received iMac and only about one half a material body more per second than the eMac — due to its integrated graphics , but that ’s a ritual killing Apple seems willing to make for a computing machine meant only for the schoolroom ( and I was able-bodied to bet Unreal Tournament 2004 and Nanosaur 2 quite enjoyably ) .
And as with all Intel - based Macs , performance suffers when running non - aboriginal covering — it took an redundant minute ( 58 percentage longer ) to complete the Photoshop CS2 test suite , for model — but the $ 899 iMac was a piffling faster than the MacBook and only a few second slower than the standard iMac at the Photoshop test . But I found using the non - native Microsoft Office applications on this iMac worked very well .
Macworld’s buying advice
For the most part , the feature film that Apple remove from the standard iMac to make this one more low-cost are good choices break the target market . However , the lack of included software for Word of God processing , page layout , and spreadsheets may be a calculated danger on Apple ’s part . But for schools that can live with that potentially extra disbursement , the $ 899 iMac Education Configuration should be hard to pass up .
