Apple Computer on Wednesday announced the new version of the iMac computer, specifically designed for education purposes and available at relatively low cost. The new iMac replaces the eMac-series, which were produced for schools, colleges and other educational organizations.

Previously Apple shipped eMac and iMac all-in-one desktop computers for different price-points and with different hardware. However, the eMac machines, which featured outdated G4 microprocessors and cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, no longer provided up-to-date performance and feature-set. In a bid to offer educational organization a modern system, Apple introduced its new iMac version for education, which combines relatively low cost as well as support for modern technologies.

The new iMac for education features 17” wide-screen liquid-crystal display (LCD), Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz processor, 512MB of PC2-5300 (667MHz) memory, 80GB hard disk drive, integrated Intel graphics media accelerator (GMA) 950 graphics core, combo drive (CD burner and DVD reader), Gigabit Ethernet, AirPort Extreme 802.11g WiFi card, iSight web-cam and so on. By contrast, fully-fledged iMac 17” computer features ATI Radeon X1600-series graphics processor, DVD burner, 160GB hard drive, Apple remote controller and some other advantages.

Every iMac comes with iLife ‘06, featuring iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, GarageBand and iWeb, a new iLife application that makes it easy to create websites with photos, blogs and Podcasts and publish them on .Mac. Every iMac also comes with the latest release of the Mac OS X version 10.4.6 “Tiger” including Safari, Mail, iCal, iChat AV, Front Row and Photo Booth.

The new iMac will be available to education customers for $899, just like the eMac, while the more advanced iMac systems retail for $1299 or $1699, depending on the display size.