Apple Releases $899 iMac

Addressing the education market, where it held a dominant position years ago, Apple has unveiled a 17-inch widescreen LCD machine -- the iMac for education -- for $899. The new computer replaces the eMac, which is no longer in production.

The new iMac, available immediately, was introduced Wednesday at the National Educational Computing Conference in San Diego. The iMac features a 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, which will enable consumers to use PC and Apple software. The iMac comes with Apple's Mac OS X version 10.4.6 operating system popularly called "Tiger."

The new computer comes with many pace-setting features including Apple's iSight video camera, iChat AV and iLife '06 as well as two FireWire 400 ports to complement five USB ports. The iMac has built-in Airport Extreme 802.11g WiFi.

While the standard model of the new iMac has many advanced features, it lacks some features of the $1,299 base iMac -- namely Bluetooth capability, ATI graphics, and optical SuperDrive. The iMac for education is easily expandable from the standard 512MB SDRAM and 80GB to 2GB and 160GB respectively.

Apple noted that the iMac is targeted at "digital lifestyle applications featuring iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, GarageBand and iWeb.The firm said the eMac can still be purchased through the Apple Store for Education while supplies last.