Thousands of MacBooks en-route to students in southern U.S.

[AppleInsider]

Nearly 8,000 Apple MacBook computers are currently being distributed to students in Louisiana and Kansas as part of new learning initiatives aimed at better preparing students for college and helping underprivileged children gain access to modern technology.

On Tuesday, the Kansas City school board launched the largest ever distribution of notebooks in the metro area, having agreed earlier this year to purchase Apple MacBooks for all of its 5,000 high school students to use at school and at home.

The project aims to better prepare students for higher education, as school officials believe that students who do not have access to computers at home will wind up far behind their peers by the time they get to college.

The school district paid Apple approximately $6.4 million for notebooks, which are equipped with software to prevent students from viewing pornography and come with several anti-theft measures already built in.

For instance, all the notebooks have stickers clearly identifying them as the property of the Kansas City, Kansas public school system. The stickers won't come off without virtually destroying the laptop, district officials say.

Should thieves find a way around the stickers, a GPS tracking device can be used to help locate the stolen computers. And if all else fails, district officials say they can also use a remote device to destroy the hard drive inside the notebooks.

Parents pay only a $25 insurance fee to lease the MacBooks, which are valued at $1,300 each. If parents can't afford it, students can work off the fee doing community service.

Meanwhile, Louisiana's Maplewood Middle School will be the first of 54 schools in the state to receive notebooks through the Turn On To Learning education initiative. Fifty students and four teachers at the school received nearly $70,000 worth of Apple technology last Wednesday.

The initiative aims to provide MacBooks to two classes of sixth-grade students in each school district in the state. Apple is said to have developed a "digital backpack" notebook package specifically for the program, which include MacBooks with wireless capabilities that allow them to be connected to overhead projectors.

In total, 3,530 students and 153 teachers in Louisiana will be receiving the notebooks and along with Apple software, which the state purchased from Apple for approximately $5 million. The state will also provide the same notebooks to district personnel, state colleges of education, and technical centers to provide a network of support.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[waytogobuddy]

Wonder if they can make use of them as well as Green County students.

[OriginalMacRat]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Should thieves find a way around the stickers, a GPS tracking device can be used to help locate the stolen computers. And if all else fails, district officials say they can also use a remote device to destroy the hard drive inside the notebooks.

I want to hear more about this GPS feature.

And when it will be available BTO on all Macs.

[ThinkExpensive]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

The school district paid Apple approximately $6.4 million for notebooks, which are equipped with software to prevent students from viewing pornography and come with several anti-theft measures already built in.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

That's interesting. I love how they're more interested in preventing students from looking at porn then preventing them from looking up weapons or researching other violent acts. Surely that would be more of a priority.

[jd051572]

Yeah, I would like to know about that GPS system.

And also, I would like to be able to remotely destroy the hard drive on my machine. From my cellphone. At the touch of a button. And not just destroy, like a head crash, but full pyrotechnics, with explosive shrapnel. And a video of the effects.

[OriginalMacRat]

Originally Posted by ThinkExpensive

That's interesting. I love how they're more interested in preventing students from looking at porn then preventing them from looking up weapons or researching other violent acts. Surely that would be more of a priority.

The parental controls of course.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features...lcontrols.html

[city]

These machines will be personalized in about 10 minutes with stickers, etchings, and markers just like the textbooks. So then smashed and trashed, will they issue new ones next year? People, especially kids, don’t respect things they don’t pay for. Maybe school system should sell them to the students at a 75% discount.

[TB6387]

Originally Posted by city

These machines will be personalized in about 10 minutes with stickers, etchings, and markers just like the textbooks. So then smashed and trashed, will they issue new ones next year? People, especially kids, don’t respect things they don’t pay for. Maybe school system should sell them to the students at a 75% discount.

Although I agree with you that they will most likely be destroyed since the students have no investment in them, it states in the article that there is an option to do community service to cover the $25 lease fee. I'd say that if someone cannot afford $25, they surely cannot afford 75% of $1300 = $975.

I think perhaps a more viable solution and one that may already be set up in the lease is that if the students destroy the notebooks, they are required to pay for it, either by paying the full cost or by doing community service to cover the full cost.

[city]

Originally Posted by TB6387

Although I agree with you that they will most likely be destroyed since the students have no investment in them, it states in the article that there is an option to do community service to cover the $25 lease fee. I'd say that if someone cannot afford $25, they surely cannot afford 75% of $1300 = $975.

I think perhaps a more viable solution and one that may already be set up in the lease is that if the students destroy the notebooks, they are required to pay for it, either by paying the full cost or by doing community service to cover the full cost.

A 75% discount is $325. If they pay that they will be more likely to take care of the machine and it will last a number of years.

[ecking]

This is why apple needs a cheaper notebook. If the macbooks started at 800 bucks or something, you'd probably see many more schools just on things like this.

[TB6387]

Originally Posted by city

A 75% discount is $325. If they pay that they will be more likely to take care of the machine and it will last a number of years.

Sorry for my error in reading what you said, I thought you meant 75% of the cost, either way, for someone who has trouble affording $25, $325, 13 times more, is not going to be feasible.

[city]

Originally Posted by TB6387

Sorry for my error in reading what you said, I thought you meant 75% of the cost, either way, for someone who has trouble affording $25, $325, 13 times more, is not going to be feasible.

It looked like only a few were "dirt poor". The others would just forego the new iPod.

[zunx]

Windows is only maintained by inertia. The day the Mac market share reaches 20%, Windows will fade away in three years. A gigantic leap ahead for humankind!

[Lafe]

Originally Posted by jd051572

Yeah, I would like to know about that GPS system.

And also, I would like to be able to remotely destroy the hard drive on my machine. From my cellphone. At the touch of a button. And not just destroy, like a head crash, but full pyrotechnics, with explosive shrapnel. And a video of the effects.

I would pay DOUBLE the current cost of a MB for this functionality!!! In fact, I'd like my car fitted out with something like that. And my iPod! I'm seeing an aftermarket company in-the-making!

[Lafe]

Originally Posted by ThinkExpensive

That's interesting. I love how they're more interested in preventing students from looking at porn then preventing them from looking up weapons or researching other violent acts. Surely that would be more of a priority.

Actually, whether it's porn, weapons, or the latest makeout secrets, they'll find whatever
they want to find. Adult filters and such can't stop the all-powerful force known as 'human
curiosity'. Sad that the media includes silly statements like this -- like the big grown-ups
are really protecting their fragile minds from anything.

[g3pro]

Originally Posted by ecking

This is why apple needs a cheaper notebook. If the macbooks started at 800 bucks or something, you'd probably see many more schools just on things like this.

Like the eBook? Cracka, please... Apple does not need to go down that road again.

[quinney]

Originally Posted by Lafe

Actually, whether it's porn, weapons, or the latest makeout secrets, they'll find whatever
they want to find. Adult filters and such can't stop the all-powerful force known as 'human
curiosity'. Sad that the media includes silly statements like this -- like the big grown-ups
are really protecting their fragile minds from anything.

Well it is Kansas after all. For a while, state education officials
tried to "protect" students from hearing about evolution.

[tlarson]

> The stickers won't come off without virtually destroying the laptop, district officials say.

Hmm... that's a hard security measure to defeat.

Let's see... I could put another sticker on top of it! Poof, security measure defeated.

[Fishyesque]

Originally Posted by zunx

Windows is only maintained by inertia. The day the Mac market share reaches 20%, Windows will fade away in three years. A gigantic leap ahead for humankind!

Does anyone else agree with this?

May I have some reasoning behind it?

[Fishyesque]

Originally Posted by tlarson

> The stickers won't come off without virtually destroying the laptop, district officials say.

Hmm... that's a hard security measure to defeat.

Let's see... I could put another sticker on top of it! Poof, security measure defeated.

Haha nice first post.

Welcome to the forums

[CaryMacGuy]

I love how they're more interested in preventing students from looking at porn then preventing them from looking up weapons or researching other violent acts

It is funny that they bring up the porn issue...There was a story on Wral.com (in Raleigh, NC) about a student who had a school issued Macbook and created a video with his girlfriend using the built in iSight camera.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2005911/

[Haggar]

Originally Posted by zunx

Windows is only maintained by inertia. The day the Mac market share reaches 20%, Windows will fade away in three years. A gigantic leap ahead for humankind!

Is putting Boot Camp, Parallels or VMware on Macs considered part of the inertia?

[Haggar]

I wonder how many of these MacBooks will be used for running Windows.

[ecking]

Originally Posted by g3pro

Like the eBook? Cracka, please... Apple does not need to go down that road again.

I'm black.
And when did apple have a notebook that cheap? That ebook thing you're talking about wasn't a big deal, I'm talking about just grabbing the last year or two's chips and stuffing them into a slightly bigger, uglier macbook. All the win manufacters have something like that.

I'm talkin plastic, 15.4" screen, sorta thick, core duo 1.66, gma 950, a gig or ram, 60gb hd and no cool magnet in eclosures for like 700-800. Schools and entry people would eat that for breakfast and everyone smart would still get a macbook and mbp, makes way more sense than a mac mini.

Why should apple make something that bargain basement? Because even the cheapo apple would be better than the cheapo toshiba or the like and obviously osx can only run on apple machines. Lock those down in computer labs and forget using raped imacs, which cost more.

[ecking]

Originally Posted by CaryMacGuy

It is funny that they bring up the porn issue...There was a story on Wral.com (in Raleigh, NC) about a student who had a school issued Macbook and created a video with his girlfriend using the built in iSight camera.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2005911/

That's awesome.

[Neil Anderson]

Using the iLife suite, of course.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by CaryMacGuy

It is funny that they bring up the porn issue...There was a story on Wral.com (in Raleigh, NC) about a student who had a school issued Macbook and created a video with his girlfriend using the built in iSight camera.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2005911/

""I'm extremely disappointed in these students," said Greene County Schools Superintendent Dr. Steve Mazingo. "I do not think the overwhelming majority of our students would engage in this type of activity.""

Wow. There's probably some attempted face-saving and denial.

[webdude54]

Since when is Kansas a "southern" state.

[Scotepi]

Too bad Maine did this about 6 years ago i think. Every 7-8grader has a iBook/Macbook, and about 50% of the high schools in state have iBooks/Macbooks

btw, how apple charges only $325 a laptop is they bully the schools into going with a very over priced, badly deigned airport wireless network. my high school got a quote from apple and cisco, the cisco one was ~30% less, was poe, and had a full management system.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by Scotepi

To bad Maine did this about 6 years ago i think. Ever 7-8grader has a iBook/Macbook, and about 50% of the high schools in state have iBooks/Macbooks

I missed the point where they claimed the KS program was the first of its kind. It doesn't seem to be there.

[Scotepi]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

I missed the point where they claimed the KS program was the first of its kind. It doesn't seem to be there.

largest ever distribution of notebooks

could have just been bad English. i just think its funny that people make such a big deal when towns/counties do these programs, but they always forget there are several states that have already done it.

[Rich-Myster]

i like the idea of the blowing up.

[webmail]

Kids....

step 1) Carefully remove the top lid, go to macsales or ebay and buy a new lid cover.
step 2) Trade your hard disk with somebody else
step 3) download a take-apart guide to figure out where the GPS is.

Post lots of pictures! I'll trade any student (cough cough) I regular macbook for one of these, just so I can see the GPS stuff inside.

[andrewpmk]

4. Reinstall Leopard to get rid of the pesky parental controls.