Apple’s US $999 i3 iMac for iEducation iOnly

If you’re buying computers for education, you’re normally doing this to a budget - especially when buying in bulk.

While anyone can buy PCs from any number of sources, Apple’s iMacs continue being popular computers in education, just as Apple IIe models were all those years ago when I was in primary school.

These days Macs are as compatible as any PC, still come pre-loaded with a stack of cool digital tools, run all kinds of cool Mac programs and can even handle Windows either natively or through a virtual machine, giving you the best of both computing worlds.

While there’s no confirmation of this model as yet for Australia, MacRumors in the US says that Apple US has now launched a special education-only 21.5-inch iMac for US $999.

It won’t be available to buy online or in stores if you’re a regular consumer, as only educational institutions will have access to online ordering for this model.

The education iMac sports a 3.1GHz dual Core i3 processor instead of a more powerful Core i5 or i7 processor, but it will still deliver a solidly 2011 computing experience to students lucky enough to be learning on one, being as powerful and capable as Windows 7 but with some excellent Mac-only software, like Garageband or the entire iLife suite a standard part of the package. 

Other spec differences include only 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive, SuperDrive, an Apple keyboard with numeric keypad and the latest OS X Lion - but apparently there's no Thunderbolt port, nor Bluetooth.

Apple’s Support pages list it as a 21.5-inch iMac, Late 2011 – more specs here.

Hopefully this model becomes available to Australian schools soon, too - if it's not already!