Apple Launches $999 iMac for Educational Institutions - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Launches $999 iMac for Educational Institutions

by

appleedu
Apple has quietly launched a lower cost $999 iMac for educational institutions this morning. The new low-end model is labeled "Education only" and is not available for individuals. The new iMac appeared on Apple's Higher Educational online store early this morning. The specs now have been published on the site and reflect the following reduced features.

• 3.1GHz Intel Core i3 Dual-Core
• 21.5-inch LCD
• AMD Radeon HD 6750 with 256MB
• 2GB RAM
• 250GB Hard Drive
• SuperDrive
• OS X Lion

Interestingly, this new iMac does not have Thunderbolt, just a mini Display Port. The next higher model is $1149 and offers a 2.5GHz Quad-Core i5 with 4GB of RAM and 500GB hard drive.

Apple, in the past, has also offered special education only models for institutions. These larger educational purchases may be more price sensitive than the rest of the market, and Apple has adjusted the hardware down in order to fit the sub-$1000 price point. Apple appears to still offer an even cheaper $899 20" iMac that houses the previous generation Intel Core 2 Duo and does not even appear to include OS X Lion.

Popular Stories

iPhone Handoff Feature

iOS 27 Introduces New 'iPhone Handoff' Feature

Wednesday September 2, 2026 12:35 pm PDT by
Apple has added a new "iPhone Handoff" feature to iOS 27 that will allow you to switch between two iPhones while using the same phone number on each device. This functionality was briefly mentioned during the WWDC 2026 keynote in June, on a slide that listed hundreds of new features coming in iOS 27 and corresponding software updates, but Apple never shared any further details at the time. ...
Read Full Article • 128 comments
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium

New Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 Features Revealed

Sunday August 30, 2026 7:54 am PDT by
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today further outlined what to expect from the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 set to be unveiled on September 9. While it was initially rumored that Touch ID may be coming to the Apple Watch this year, Gurman reiterated that he does not expect the Series 12 or Ultra 4 to have any major design changes compared to the current Series 11 and Ultra 3 models. ...
Read Full Article • 152 comments
John Ternus and Rainbow Countour Apple Logo

Apple Just Made a Very Controversial Decision on New CEO's First Day

Wednesday September 2, 2026 6:31 am PDT by
Apple's former hardware engineering chief John Ternus became its CEO on Tuesday, and the company made a controversial decision on his very first day in charge. As of Tuesday, Apple Maps users in the U.S. see the name "Lake America" instead of Lake Ontario for the Great Lake that straddles the New York—Ontario border. Apple made this change after the U.S. Geographic Names Information...
Read Full Article

Top Rated Comments

C
candyapplekid
197 months ago
Nice, I'm in for 0 of em!

Giving up quad core, 2gb ram, and a nice chunk of hdd space to save $150 doesn't seem worth it. I realize that might change when you are buying 50 of them, but still...

Also, I wonder why Apple would want their slowest, worst machines to be the ones used in education. It will be the first experience a lot of kids have with a Mac. You'd think they might just offer some extra volume discounts to education on their standard models.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D
devianter
197 months ago
I can't see this being popular, bearing in mind that the vast majority of schools and universities, at least here in the UK, are still based around Windows. And the fact that a model with a vastly better processor is only $150 more.
and FOUR (!!) GB of RAM. Common, Apple, really? 2GB for Lion by default in an iMac? I bought my first iMac in 2007 and it had 2GB.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Elven Avatar
Elven
197 months ago
A lot of schools won't require the performance nor will they have power users.

The specs Apple are offering are enough for your average school needs.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jclardy Avatar
jclardy
197 months ago
A lot of lab machines and public computers at the library at North Carolina State University are macs.

The 2GB of RAM is kind of lame, but the HDD space won't matter for most universities as most give users network space on the University's servers (So that you don't have to sit down at the same machine every time).

But the 2GB of RAM is easily upgradable by the IT department at a later date, and for a much cheaper price.

The only bad part of this deal is the dual core i3, but it will still be plenty fast for the majority of student tasks.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iSamurai Avatar
iSamurai
197 months ago
I can't see this being popular, bearing in mind that the vast majority of schools and universities, at least here in the UK, are still based around Windows. And the fact that a model with a vastly better processor is only $150 more.
my uni has loads of these. the dells and hps in all libraries and many computer labs got replaced a while ago... and the imacs are loaded with both windows and mac and has an OS selection screen upon log on. Our IT department said they've received overwhelming positive feedback when the macs were introduced :)

Does it come with a wired keyboard and mouse?

I'm sure students would hate having to change batteries.
The problem with the wired mouse at uni is that half the scroll wheels don't work any more due to excessive use... the keyboard's alright though.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D
Delegator
197 months ago
Having served on my local school board and gone through three budget cycles, I can say with certainty that magic numbers like "under $1000" are indeed important. In our district we use iMacs up through grade 6, PCs after that. The kind of things that PCs are used for in grade school are not CPU intensive, so spending 15% more on a better CPU is not likely to happen, even when that 15% is "only" $150.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments