Going all the way back to the venerable eMac, Apple has produced a low-price version of its iMac for educational institutions. This year is no different. Apple is now offering a new education-only version of the all-in-one featuring many of the improvements from 2012’s model, but at $1,099 it costs $200 less than the entry-level model available to the general public. You will give up quite a bit of hardware to save that money, though. Compared to the $1,299 model, the list of downgrades runs thusly: You get a dual-core 3.3GHz Core i3 CPU, instead of a quad-core 2.5GHz Core i5 CPU. You get 4GB of RAM spread across two 2GB sticks, instead of 8GB of RAM in two 4GB sticks. You get an integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics processor, instead of the dedicated Nvidia GeForce 640M. You get a 500GB 5400RPM hard drive, instead of a 1TB 5400RPM hard drive.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.