Apple Insider is reporting that Apple is developing new a Mac for education.

The new low-cost PC, which will act as a replacement for Apple's now defunct eMac line, appears to be on track to catch the latter half of the 2006 educational buying season.

Based on a series of proprietary checks, it's believed that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company is aligning component suppliers for a manufacturing ramp of the computers that it plans to initiate around the September timeframe.

Technically, this means that Apple's much anticipated professional line of Intel-based Power Mac computers -- expected to make their debut this summer under the "Mac Pro" moniker -- won't be the last of the company's PC offerings to make the transition from PowerPC to Intel chips.