Henrico County to continue using Macs
Remember
The Battle of Henrico, where thousands of
Mac-craved cheapskates gathered to purchase student-abused iBooks for $50, resulting in a Lord of the Rings-like
skirmish that made the typically-unimpassioned PC world pause and wonder why the hell anybody would be so
enthusiastic over a fricken' beaten-up old laptop? The County was liquidating machines it had provided its
students the previous years as part of a deal with Apple to test the increasingly-popular everyone-gets-a-computer
programs popping up all over the country.Well, good news from that front: Apple beat out Dell in securing a new contract to continue providing laptops to Henrico County's middle school students: "On a 3-1 vote, the School Board last night approved a four-year contract worth nearly $16 million. ...The new contract will begin after the current four-year pact with Apple ends June 30. ...The new contract is for 12,675 iBook laptops at a cost of $1,246 each."
What's interesting is that Dell even underbid Apple by a whole $125 ($1,246 vs. $1,111 for the Dells), and yet the County still chose to stick with the Mac.
Who knows: With ambition in their hearts and iBooks in their bags, maybe the country's youth do still have a chance in the dog-eat-dog World of Tomorrow.
[via MacDailyNews]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
David Anasco said 9:23AM on 2-11-2006
My favorite t-shirt from the event said, "I went to the Henrico County School Board for a $50 iBook and all got was kicked in the b@lls."
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Dylan Withers said 9:49AM on 2-11-2006
I guess we'll have to wait another four years before we can get some more $50 iBooks.
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Edsel said 9:53AM on 2-11-2006
Why on earth does every middle school kid need free laptop computers? It's a total waste of taxes.
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LD said 10:28AM on 2-11-2006
What decade do you live in, Edsel?
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matt said 10:33AM on 2-11-2006
$1246 for an iBook??? with edu discount, an decent (for school work) 12in iBook (I assume they'd give those to the students since they're smaller) is only $949... I hope those come with one hell of a service deal
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John D said 10:44AM on 2-11-2006
totally agree with Edsel. its not even highschool!
the school *must* be rich.
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john said 10:56AM on 2-11-2006
Henrico is a county that has a very wealthy western suburb and a very not wealthy urban & rural eastern end. Getting laptops into the hands of the kids in the east end is a completely horizon-changing opportunity.
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Mac Diva said 11:28AM on 2-11-2006
Here is an Apple site about use of its laptops in elementary and secondary, and college, education.
http://www.apple.com/education/mobilecomputing/news.html
I would think that Virginia schools are in particular need of technology and other help. The state shut down many of its schools to avoid desegregation in the 1950s-60s. So, there are thousands of African-American parents with very limited education. That's bound to effect their ability to help their children.
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Edsel said 12:49PM on 2-11-2006
Diva(#7)
The only technology middle schools really need are electricity and heat. Students OTH, simply need good teachers that know how to teach. Middle school computer labs are great but those labs should contain both OSX & Windows. However, giving kids laptops 24x7 is a prelude to completely automating the the school learning experience and leaving teachers to only take attendance & fix errant laptops. Hell, we could just embed RFID tags on school children so teachers won't have to take attendance. School kids need "organic" interaction with teachers & other students - not locked away in some cerebral solitary confinement on their laptop.
The "Apple/Mac for every child" moniker is beginning to remind me of Apple's Orwellian "1984" commercial except that grizzled face is actually the face of Steve Jobs.
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Martin Switaiski said 1:00PM on 2-11-2006
As the old contract ends June 30, are we talking iBooks or MacBooks?
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chase said 1:35PM on 2-11-2006
I'm a senior in high school, and my school district doesn't issue laptops to everyone, but we do use computers everyday. Essays are turned in over the Internet, so they can be checked for plagiarism, a lot of homework assignments are done over the Internet, so they are instantly graded, and of course, we all know the in and outs of office productivity software. Although laptops may be overkill, knowing how to use computers gives students a competitive advantage in the future. If one says students don't need to use computers, then one needs to look at the real world. You can't even work at a restaurant without knowing how to use a computer.
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John said 2:03PM on 2-11-2006
My Spanish teacher mentioned intel iBooks but I don't think she would know anything about it...
But maybe the intel iBooks are coming out soon.
anyway, too bad I'll be in high school next year. Stupid Dells :(
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thelgfaud said 2:29PM on 2-11-2006
Its funny seeing this, since my middle class suburbia usa towns high school with a whopping population of around 800 students has:
i think 2 mobile ibook labs.
2 emac labs with around 35 emacs in each.
1 emac in every classroom(with the occasional room also having a G4 powermac, or a g4 imac).
A full midi lab with 8 dual core G5 powermacs, and a emac.
A recording studio with a dual core G5.
a whole host of the white G3 imacs.
and a whole bunch of old 20th anniversary macs(haha)
but then again our school system in this town has always been about the tech and computers, and when it comes to the music department we have the top call trumpet player in the philladelphia area (joe fallon) along with one of the more famous musicians in the deleware valley (bob quaile) AND steve marr one of the top call saxophonists in the NATION (see film robots, and listen to most and r&b album.
but then again...maybe im just bragging...
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Mac Diva said 5:20PM on 2-11-2006
Edsel. Edsel. Edsel. I'm sure there are still good elementary and secondary school teachers, but the profession has really gone downhill overall. Now that women can go into the professions, the bottom percentile of high school graduates is most likely to go into the education. The outcome is not very capable people being entrused with the important job of teaching children. If technology can help solve that problem, as well as other problems, I'm in favor of it.
I was wondering the same thing about what kind of iBooks, Martin. Hopefully, the districts lawyers are hip enough to have contracted for the Mactel iBooks (MacBooks?) when they become available.
thelgfaud, it sounds like your school is emphasizing music, which so many districts have dropped altogether. That is a good thing.
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Martin Switaiski said 6:10PM on 2-11-2006
Yeah, if the contract refers to G4 iBooks, Apple should really be complimented on having found a convenient way to sell off their old inventories. Looking at the pricing per piece however, it seems self-evident to me that these things are going to be Intels (unless of course, the district went for some luxury CTO options, which wouldn't make a lot of sense).
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fra said 7:54PM on 2-11-2006
I have to use Windows XP computers in school
They get to use mac based computers in school
Why not write a post about the youth of North of Ireland having to use a WAN running a Windows!
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Doug said 7:54PM on 2-11-2006
Perhaps the pricing is for a low end iBook and includes Apple Care?
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Dylan Withers said 8:30PM on 2-11-2006
thelgfaud, your high school has double the students my high school has. Be glad that your school district has a student body large enough to finance the purchase of Macs. I live in South Carolina, while I love my state, we are always behind the curve on both technology and money.
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Tyler said 9:19PM on 2-11-2006
my school in ia has a mix of Macs and win computers but we have mostly macs and emacs are the newest tech we have and there running 10.3.9 (we just upgraded from 9.2.2)
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Edsel said 9:39PM on 2-11-2006
Diva(#13)
But this type of "learning" technology is not a solution, it's simply a way to neglect the problem. Yes, education has failed at many levels as has the quality of teachers.
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