Now here’s a little something that’s niggling me. I’ve added up two and four and made three-and-a-half, but hear me out and see what you think.

We all know about the new iMac G5, and about how it comes in three flavors: 1.6GHz 17-inch, 1.8GHz 17-inch, or 1.8GHz 20-inch. Matches up with the three models of the previous iMac model. Makes sense to do it that way.

Except there’s another flavor, the mysterious “education configuration” that’s mentioned in Apple’s iMac G5 Developer Note but not on the pages of apple.com/imac. Why not?

This lesser known beastie has some interesting differences from the three publicised iMac models. There’s no optical drive, and a different graphics card (NVidia GForce4 MX with 32MB RAM, compared with the main model’s GForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64MB RAM). It also lacks a modem, and has only 40GB worth of hard disk, compared with a minimum of 80GB on the other models.

So, it’s a cheaper model with less impressive specifications, intended for use in the education sector. Sounds familiar. Sounds a bit like how the eMac started life.

The eMac, bargain workhorse that it is, is starting to show its age. It’s a wonderful machine (I’ve not owned one, but have used a few and have only ever heard positive comments from owners), but with the introduction of the iPod-like G5, is starting to look distinctly unlike an iPod. Might the secretive education configuration iMac be the eMac’s replacement in coming months?

You’ve probably heard a more plausible rumor. Do share.