bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

This is a post from Quora by Michael Vogel that may be of interest to those of you that are considering a new computer. Michael Vogel is a former Apple Engineer at Edu-Tech (2014-2016).

Why do schools use Macbooks when they're so much more expensive than Windows laptops?

Because they are not. Macs are actually significantly cheaper than Windows laptops. [1]

I worked for a technology consulting firm between the years 2014–2016. We worked primarily for private schools that, while they tended to have more money than public schools, were always looking for ways to save money. We performed extensive analysis of the costs of various platforms and we found, overwhelmingly, that Macs were the most cost effective. This is based on the multiple vectors, but most notably because businesses and schools take cost of ownership into account, whereas most consumers do not (even though they should).

Macs are more robust physically and less prone to failure based on physical damage, especially with the switch to SSDs.

Buying higher quality Windows based laptops requires paying prices that are similar to Macs, especially when Macs are bought in bulk with Apple’s discounts.

Macs are easier and cheaper to support, requiring fewer IT staff (my company was often contracted to handle support with just a few days a week, meaning many schools didn’t have to hire full-time IT), less infrastructure, and less after-market software to secure them. AppleCare, which is also heavily discounted, provides additional support options and they are much easier to use than Windows OEMs equivalents.

Mac software tends to be cheaper or unnecessary altogether. No need to buy Office and Adobe apps when equivalents come bundled with the Mac. Even the software that is needed tends to be cheaper, better made, and easier to support.

Macs can run Windows; only Macs can run macOS. This means that it’s rare that you’ll find yourself in a situation where you can’t run software on your Mac, but the opposite is not true if you go the Windows route.
MDM (Mobile Device Management) tools were pioneered on Apple devices, starting with iOS and BYOD (bring your own device) and as a result, are simply better and more intuitive. A lot of the tools for Windows are extremely legacy and because they have to support older hardware and software, are unintuitive. The tools for Mac are robust and newer.

After the lifecycle of the computer (in schools typically 4 years), Macs were still worth something. A four year old Windows laptop might be worth a tiny fraction of its original value and more likely, you’d pay someone to take them away or donate them and write it off on taxes. Macs hold their value and even hard used school laptops can be sold for close to 40% of their original purchase price. If the school does end up donating them, the tax write-off is even bigger.

We used to write up reports, with sources and citations, a dozen pages or so long, but this sums it up as best I can. Macs work better and cost less for schools and organizations. The only real contender for this, especially for younger children, is Chromebooks, which are doing fairly well in education, but that’s taking a bite out of iPads more than Macs.

Footnotes

[1] Debate over: IBM confirms that Macs are $535 less expensive than PCs

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

That sounds like a good summary, I'm happy that I switched.

Charlie'smom

In 28 years, I’ve had four computers. All Mac except for one PC. It lasted four years. My Macs last over eight. I’ve just added more RAM to my current eight-year-old Mac, and should be good for another couple of years.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

In UHH "Mac vs PC" posts I usually respond that the trouble-free operation of my iMac has a certain value above and beyond purchase price. Thanks for quantifying those Mac cost savings and supporting my assertion.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

How old was the above piece? It quotes IBM. Does not seem current. ???
Seems to be a lot of propaganda. I've worked for a fairly large public school district and my wife still does. It seems the main reason one sees a lot of Macs at schools is Apple Computers had in the past and probably still does either donate or discount a lot of Macs of various types to classrooms. Also most grants for "technology" might be for Macs. The school offices and even more the district office were my wife works in accounting are all Windows PCs networked to a VAX mainframe. The Macs are only used for educational purposes not "work" related. Basically an attempt to create a market from the students. I'll agree many Apple models are well made but so are many PCs, and most adults don't abuse hardware like children. And some classrooms are outfitted with Windows PCs. Certainly if Microsoft provided the grant. They all play at that. And as odd as it many seem but much due just to the difference in numbers, a lot of software is only available for Windows these days. How very different from 1985. In our district their are probably more (Windows PC) computers used by support staff than the Macs in the classrooms. And as stated some classrooms have PCs.

IT support at a public SD? LOL You mean all 4 full time IT guys for close to 30 schools. They are full time union workers and it can still take weeks to get help on a problem computer or terminal. A computer of any kind that is worth anything once it is older than say 5 years old, who is one kidding. You have to practically beg thrift stores to take such a beast off your hands. Usually by the time you see and order a new computer and get it home it is already obsolete. Pretty much like cameras. Technology is moving really fast! Public School Districts don't pay taxes, nor most Private Schools, nothing to write off, they only consume goods and use services.

And of the 8 or 9 computers I've personally owned thus far, not one of them has ever been repaired (not that one might not have ever needed it), they all either worked into obsolesces or just finally "died".

Chops Loc: Long Beach, CA

For the past 20 years I've been one guy supporting over 200 Macs in a large university art department, and I agree with most of the points posted by bpulv. That said, I will take issue with one point and add another.

Bundled software: I would down-check this one. In the real world students will eventually be required to use or trade files with users of Microsoft Office. While Pages and Numbers are good apps and can indeed read and write Word and Excel files, the workflows and feature sets of the two pairs are pretty different, and formatting is very tough (nearly impossible, actually) to keep straight when you work cross-platform on a regular basis (style sheets, anyone?). The bottom line is that Office is almost always a necessity for Mac users. While the classroom experience may not require Office, we owe it to our students to teach them software they are likely to encounter in the business world. I don't particularly like MS Word, but for the forseeable future it is the center of the word processing universe.

As an aside I will say that Keynote is, IMO, far superior to Powerpoint. Yet this too is a trap if you swap presentation files with PP users, since several very cool features of Keynote don't work on PP. Always test your Keynote file in PP before handing it off to a PP user!

An additional point in favor of Macs that was inferred but not explicit: Apple builds both the OS and the hardware, so the driver and compatibility hassles found in the Windows world are almost non-existent for Mac users. Even a Mac-based Windows setup is less hassle because Bootcamp installs a full set of Windows drivers when you set it up. Cost of ownership goes way down when you don't have to spend time or money solving hardware incompatibilities and driver issues.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

34 years with the Los Angeles Unified School District
1. a lot of teachers use Mac because it is the in thing and esp if they teach any of the computer skills they insist on Macs since they are familiar with them.
2. Apple gives them extras, breaks and goodies
3. But at the school I retired from they had 5 computer labs (5000 student school), 1 Mac, the other 4 PC. The business department insisted on PC. It was the Art Dept and one computer instructor that wanted the Macs. The school tech did use a Mac, and 3 PCs in his office. When I asked him why when 90+% of the school computers were PCs he had to have special apps to interface with, his answer "They gave us a great deal to get that Mac and 32" Monitor in the school." He and his two assistants and students did most of their work on the PCs.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

It all goes back to the "early"years, of Apple II and the first Macs. Apple Computer practically GAVE hardware to schools, and got the education market addicted on Apple. From then on it's been Mac users being afraid (I mean that seriously) of the alien creature Windows. I heard nothing but the folklore about Macs being much user-friendlier. So Mac users became teachers, and students using Macs in school grew up to be Mac addicts.

My experience was entirely Windows, from 3.1-on. Then in 2000 I became an IT Tech in a school district, and had my first Mac exposure...OS 8 and 9, later OS X. I immediately saw that the user experience and skills needed with Mac OSes were no different in Windows. Moving and copying files was the same. Opening folders and looking for stuff was the same. Opening programs was the same. Moving back and forth between Macs and Windows did not require being re-educated on how to use a computer, any more than moving from a Chevy to a Ford required re-learning to drive. Using Microsoft Office on a Mac was the same as on Windows. Using a web browser is OS-neutral. Etc. etc. etc.

This was compounded by the rise of "killer apps"....those that "make" a hardware platform. Adobe fed the Mac explosion with Pagemaker, Photoshop and more, before Windows versions were developed. Now, it makes no difference if you use them on a Mac or on Windows.

What I also learned about was Apple's "beautiful industrial design" reputation. Their hardware may be more visually appealing (so what? It's a computer, not a wall decoration), but Apple has built a lot of crap hardware. I couldn't understand why Apple thought a hard drive activity light would be a disturbance to their "beautiful" design philosophy. Or why Steve Jobs' hatred for Microsoft meant he could not allow Apples to have a two-button mouse. They will deny for years that they sold problem hardware (to this day). And Mac repair parts (even from the major reputable used parts suppliers) are only available to Apple-authorized service providers. And much costlier than parts for the rest of the computer world.

It went to far as having to try to convince people that ANY USB mouse would work fine on their Mac (and give them right-button functionality).

The superstition is still going strong, costing buyers too much money for hardware where it makes no difference. There's nothing you can do on a Mac that you can't do on Windows.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

I agree with the real world use of computers. You will very seldom find a Mac in use in any office except at Apple. The offices I have worked in both small and international were all windows based including the use of REVIT and Auto CAD and all the graphic and photo programs used with them. Yes there are individuals who like Mac computers and there is nothing wrong with them but I find the world I have encountered all seem to not be Mac and I never have compatibility problems with file transfers or usage and as you know REVIT make "large" photo files look like a pebble compared to Mt Everest in file size.

Jaackil Loc: Massachusetts

There is a much simpler answer to your question. Because they are either given to schools for free by Apple or at a cost well below retail. Start them out young on Macs and they will buy macs later on when they are purchasing. It’s how you get the world to buy your product. Hmmm sounds a lot like the MO of Heroin dealers.
Where I live the majority of schools are outfitted with Macs it’s an economic choice. Apple outbids PC when the schools are buying. However the world headquarters for what is now Dell EMC but formerly EMC is located in the next town over and they outfitted all of that towns schools with PC’s It is a purely economic choice having nothing to do with build quality.
That said Macs do seem more popular in schools however once they get to College PC’s take over. While we love our Macs for photography they can not keep up with Business software or science software. I don’t care what anyone says even excel does not run as well on a Mac no matter how you run it there are quirks to it.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

BatManPete Loc: Way Up North!

Finally ,,,, finally a subject that REALLY MEANS SOMETHING. . . . THE PERSON THAT BEGAN THIS LINE OF HISTORY OF COMPUTERS MUST BE A GENIUS . . . AND GO TO THE TOP OF THE CLASS.
I HAVE BEEN ON COMPUTERS EVER SINCE MY "NAVY DAYS", THAT BEGAN IN 1955. I WOULD SAY THAT MEANS THAT I'M NOT A KID ANYMORE, DOESEN'T IT? THANK YOU FOR YOUR ARTICLE.
THE END.....

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Educational discounts from Apple?

EX-TELCO Loc: Belen,New Mexico

Oh my, all this high tech stuff. And I sit here with my Samsung Chromebook.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, Chromebooks are nice, but limited. I got a nice one from Dell.