If you happen to be subscribed to the Apple education newsletter, you may have gotten a surprise in the latest issue of an unannounced addition to the iMac line.

Sneaking in under everyone’s radar, it appears Apple has reintroduced the discontinued 17″ version of their all-in-one desktop, the iMac.  This model is only being marketed to people who can buy from Apple’s education products, but it is not available on their online store.  The unit is priced at $899 via their email newsletter, and appears this will be the only way you can get it.  This does make it the lowest priced model in the line, and should appeal to cash strapped students.

According to AppleInsider, though, it appears that the price reflects the components, and this may be the exact same model they were selling in 2006.  This means it has a CRT monitor, lower RAM, lower video specs and so on.  Essentially you are buying an out of date computer that will shorten its life span some.

Regardless of the outdated nature, and limited availability of the product, it still makes an interesting comment about the possible state of the economy when it comes to the sale of desktops if Apple is stepping back over two years in their technology to offer an affordable solution to students.  Could we possibly see this show up for normal consumers also?