Schools Are Ditching Chromebooks For MacBooks By the Thousands (9to5mac.com)
- Reference: 0184833384
- News link: https://apple.slashdot.org/story/26/08/03/2115259/schools-are-ditching-chromebooks-for-macbooks-by-the-thousands
- Source link: https://9to5mac.com/2026/08/01/apple-says-macbook-neo-is-pulling-schools-away-from-windows-and-chromebooks/
> Apple's commentary highlighted some large district deployments moving to Neo Pinellas County Schools, one of the largest districts in Florida, which is moving its 25k students off Windows and onto MacBook Neo across its 18 high schools. In Washington, Peninsula School District 401 moved over its 8,000 students from Chromebooks to MacBook Neo. Midwest City-Del City School District in Oklahoma purchased more than 6,000 MacBook Neos to become an all-Apple district for students.
[1] https://9to5mac.com/2026/08/01/apple-says-macbook-neo-is-pulling-schools-away-from-windows-and-chromebooks/
Whyyy??? (Score:1, Funny)
To make kids dumber, but at Apple rates?
Re: (Score:3)
[1]https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/jan/17/kids-reading-better-paper-vs-screen [theguardian.com]
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/jan/17/kids-reading-better-paper-vs-screen
Re:Whyyy??? (Score:4)
Not so much the laptop, but everything they neglected for the laptop.
Re: (Score:2)
They don't automatically make them dumber, at best they have no noticeable effect on their learning. At worst, they're worse off.
So the headline should really read "Schools ditch one expensive pointless tech toy for a different brand of expensive pointless tech toy. Also, teachers pay to remain at 1980s levels".
Re: (Score:2)
Compared to the cost of equivalent chromebooks the Neo makes a compelling value IMHO, and has a lot more cases and shells and such to protect them already than almost any model of Chromebook ever did so more likely to survive the school year.
Like I'm all in on x64 between the Windows and Linux computers sitting around me, but even I picked up a Neo instead of a chromebook after trying one, they're shockingly competent and nowhere near as locked down as a chromebook is.
Re: Whyyy??? (Score:2)
and nowhere near as locked down as a chromebook is.
Besides a web browser, what apps are a k12 student going to want to install?
Until they run out of defective processors (Score:4, Informative)
Apple made these to use up the backlog of slightly defective processors.
You mean binned? (Score:3)
I'm assuming you mean they were binned with fewer cores.
I guess they are "slightly defective" in the same way an Epyc 9115 is a slightly defective 9965.
Re: (Score:2)
Apple used up their backlog of processors. It's why Neo shipment times have turned into months - Apple was shocked by how many people wanted the computers and sold way more in the first month than they expected to ever sell.
As a result their supply of processors has dried up.
Shitty Trade (Score:2, Interesting)
Trading shit for more expensive shit is a crappy use of tax payer money.
Worse still is that studies show what we knew all along. Giving a laptop or iPad to every kid does not improve their education. In fact, the studies show them to be detrimental to the child's learning.
Re: (Score:2)
> Worse still is that studies show what we knew all along. Giving a laptop or iPad to every kid does not improve their education. In fact, the studies show them to be detrimental to the child's learning.
Yep. I had that suspicion 25 years ago when I was involved a related EU project. All the senior people with actual teaching experience involved though pretty much the same. Most of the others had a no-proof "Technology makes everything better!" mindset, which I found quite problematic. Turns out that intuition was pretty much correct and the senior folks with teaching experience had it all right. (I did not have a lot of teaching experience back then.)
Re: (Score:3)
I work in IT in K12, and we've been looking at these because the unit price is the same or *lower* than the crappy Lenovos we've been giving the kids for years with all the new price hikes this year. That, and they're better machines for the money. They're looking for close to a grand now for a crappy Lenovo 100w with 8GB RAM that was $400 a couple of years ago.
Who's providing the "incentive" to do this. (Score:1)
I smell a rat.
There are numerous problems with this as mentioned in prior posts, but the major one for me is our kids will now only be able and/or want to use Apple products and will whine when presented with another compute platform. This can be called "Platform Spoiling".
Re: (Score:1)
It's nothing new. Apple has been doing this to our gradeschools since the 80's. When you have any organization that's severely underfunded for a long amount of time, its key participants become increasingly susceptible to bribery.
> ...but the major one for me is our kids will now only be able and/or want to use Apple products...
It's not as though giving them Windows laptops, Chromebooks, or even Texas Instruments graphing calculators has a fundamentally different effect in that regard. Any company allowed to do this is effectively buying the next generation of consumers at a bargain price. That's why it s
Re: Who's providing the "incentive" to do this. (Score:2)
Most schools lost interest in Apple when PCs became usable, around Windows 2000.
Re: (Score:2)
> I smell a rat.
Not sure anyone is having to provide an incentive. While in small quantities, old models of Chromebook might cost as little as $200 on sale, chances are good that schools are spending more like $400 to $500 on average for their devices.
At just $600 for the Neo (the current educational price), the cost difference is minimal now. And if your teachers are already using Macs, that's one fewer platform to support. And if the hardware lasts longer (to be determined), then that could easily make up the remainin
Re: (Score:2)
I checked out the specs for the Neo and it looks a lot better than your average student Chromebook. The screen is 500 nits of brightness, 16 hour battery, an aluminum enclosure. Plus it can run apps that aren't resident in the browser, a much more flexible machine.
Re: Who's providing the "incentive" to do this. (Score:2)
As opposed to Chromebooks?
Re: Who's providing the "incentive" to do this. (Score:2)
If one platform is more attractive, i.e. âoespoilsâ users, isnâ(TM)t that mean better by market standards?
Re: (Score:2)
It would be interesting to know what the numbers look like in terms of schools that are actually doing something at least modestly Apple-specific vs. ones basically reusing chromebook-focused plans on Apple hardware.
Anything you hand out is going to be 'a platform' and normalize it for the students(not necessarily a point in its favor; people tend to resent the deliberate limitations of hardware that IT has been told to at least try to make less useful for porn and cheating); but there is a potential dif
Perfect way to prepare students for ... (Score:2, Interesting)
...a business world dominated by Macs. Oh, wait. Sorry - perfect way to prepare students for a consumerist market dominated by Apple. We know which lesson is more important to those in charge now.
Re: Perfect way to prepare students for ... (Score:3)
Do you think Chromebooks run Windows?
There's an easy fix (Score:2)
Enforce antitrust law. It does mean though you're going to have to change how you vote. You're going to have to change what you prioritize. Maybe not you personally but the majority of people reading this comment I would wager
Is that making things better or worse? (Score:2)
Because the big advantage of Chromebooks is that they are generic and you can even turn an older laptop into one. If it is all web-based, it may not matter that much as well.
There are no good choices (Score:1)
Been looking at moving to Mac no good choices
Save money (Score:1)
Ditch both.
Ah! the old (Score:2)
Hook'em while they're young!
Apple got lucky on the timing (Score:5, Informative)
Apple released the Neo at just the right time, at the right price, right when the market was stressed and looking for answers.
I've been ordering Chromebooks for my district for eleven years. Prices hit an all-time low of $227 per unit back in summer 2021. Since then, prices trended up for me year after year. Last year's units were $297. This year's were quoted to me in April at $430 each. I was able to find new-in-box 2025 models for $330 each and went with those instead. I was also warned that, if I ordered Chromebooks, it might take months before they would arrive. I have a neighboring school district that placed an order, then had it cancelled two months later because Dell couldn't fulfill the order. (There are supplies of Dell Chromebooks to be found, but at the moment, Dell is prioritizing supplying its biggest vendors like CDW. Meanwhile, many districts in my area typically order through smaller in-state vendors who aren't getting the same priority from Dell.)
The market is stressed this summer; supplies are low and difficult to find. Supplies that are available are 50% - 80% higher in price than last year. Apple comes along and says "You can buy an educational laptop right now for $500", and hell yea, the fish are gonna bite. It has nothing to do with people suddenly falling in love with Apple, and everything to do with constrains in the marketplace.
And I have no love for Apple either. Don't forget that schools have been begging Apple for a decade to release a $500 student laptop, and all Apple did was thumb their noses at us every single year. Why did they decide they now they need to release a $500 student laptop? It's only because they've been losing business to Chromebooks for a decade.
Price Increase (Score:2)
The MacBook Neo was indeed a pretty appealing prospect. Quite useable for most people, and cheaper than a MacBook Air.
But - At the end of June Apple increased prices, and the cost of a Neo increased by around 15%. That soured the appeal somewhat. Even if it is still objectively worth considering, a prospective buyer would feel like they had lost out.
Depends on the use (Score:2)
I think if I was a school administrator, I would prefer the Chromebook, unless the pupils were going to use the machines for programming (or something best done on the machine rather than remotely from the machine).
For tasks like collaborating on a Google spreadsheet, or video conferencing, Chromebooks are great. And the administration is a dream.
MacBooks are great hardware and design, but the long suffering school IT folk would find themselves with more troubleshooting work.
How about backpacks and teacher pay? (Score:2)
Charities across the US hold backpack drives each year, to provide supplies to students who can't afford them. Teachers very commonly also buy supplies out of their own pockets.
Median pay for teachers is $65K per year
Maybe we should put more money into the basics, instead of fancy computers (of any brand).
This solves nothing (Score:2)
At least, in terms of our terrible American public education system. This is not the solution, and it's pathetic that the schools think this is worth the money and will solve our childhood education crisis - yes, it is a crisis.
Good luck when it breaks (Score:1, Insightful)
and you discover the whole thing has been pumped full of epoxy.
You say that like it's a bad thing (Score:2)
Because you don't repair these things, you replace them.
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
Oh look, more planned obsolescence by Apple. Who could have possibly predicted this over the years of notice Macinslop crap hardware and designs?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
In schools no matter how robust the hardware, the kids will destroy them. You'll have to buy a whole new set next year for the new kids anyway.
Re: You say that like it's a bad thing (Score:5, Interesting)
My iPhone 7+ that got 8 years of updates wants to know what the fuck you are talking about.
Re: You say that like it's a bad thing (Score:4, Interesting)
Weak. My iPhone 5s from 2013 just got the iOS 12.5.8 update earlier this year. 13 years of support and counting...
Re: (Score:1)
> You say that like it's a bad thing
>> Just Buy A New One is a good thing
parts on CBs are free except screens, everything else is a surplus (from all the broken screens)
our K12 was also grandfathered into the AARP so don't bother yapping about MB repair rates
we used to be able to move some parts around on the macs, now everything you touch has to be blessed by the cloud (ie Buy A New One)
Re: You say that like it's a bad thing (Score:3)
[1]ahref=https://www.ifixit.com/News/116152/macbook-neo-is-the-most-repairable-macbook-in-14-yearsrel=url2html-19906 [slashdot.org]https://www.ifixit.com/News/11...>
Please continue the whining, if it makes you feel better?
[1] https://apple.slashdot.org/story/26/08/03/2115259/ahref=https://www.ifixit.com/News/116152/macbook-neo-is-the-most-repairable-macbook-in-14-yearsrel=url2html-19906
Re: (Score:2)
That is repairable by the standards of Apple computers, not the standards of open hardware.
My experience dealing with a Chromebook deployment mirrors one of the grandparent commenters: 90% of the problems are broken screens, Screens are quick and easy to replace if you have the part, but screens cost money and you'll never had as many as you'll eventually need. You'll have extra parts for everything else because of the staggering number of broken screens.
I have an occasional side job dealing with PC/laptop/
Re: (Score:2)
Your comment is disinformation. I guess thats why your score is zero. MacBook Neo Teardown: The Most Repairable Mac Yet?
[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k7Lv7f-5CQ
Re: (Score:2)
Have the seen the terrible build quality of the entry level Chromebooks they're giving the middle school students? They're cheap plastic trash, and I'm amazed that they can survive an entire school year without falling apart.
Re: (Score:2)
Unlike Chromebooks?
Re: (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure you're trolling, or are you really that ignorant?
[1]https://www.ifixit.com/News/11... [ifixit.com]
[1] https://www.ifixit.com/News/116152/macbook-neo-is-the-most-repairable-macbook-in-14-years