Why most people should buy a Macintosh rather than a Windows PC
Written and compiled April 2000
Updated December 2005

Why this site....?
( introduction)

Design

Cost

Ease of use

Installation and troubleshooting

Extending your computer

Reliability and Security

Laptops and Working across platforms

What schools should do


Where Windows is better than the Mac

Price watch

References

Contact

front page

 

 

 

 

What schools should do...

These are the guidelines schools should use for the selection of software and hardware.

Music school to begin using PowerBooks (December 2005)
Oklahoma City University has become an Apple Digital Campus, embracing the Windows computing alternative

Apple's education shipments grow as desktop sales surge (October 2005)
"Apple saw its education computer shipments rise 15.08% worldwide and 13.79% in the U.S. By comparison, education leader Dell saw its worldwide shipments rise 6.51%, while its U.S. shipments rose by 3.84%."

Apple, Detroit schools team up
$1.2 million deal gives students a tech push with iPods, laptops, digital cameras for new high school.

Arizona High School Trades Books for iBooks

Chatham County (NC) rolls out 1,000 of eventual 7,400 Apple iBooks for students and teachers (August 2005)

Creating a wireless classroom
by Bill Carey Berkshire Eagle
PITTSFIELD -- A slew of educational, political and business leaders gathered yesterday to celebrate a pilot program that will supply Apple laptop computers to some 2,500 students in Pittsfield and North Adams middle schools.

Kutztown Area High School gives students iBooks
Allentown, Pennsylvania

Apple's Back-to-School Blast (Florida)
... the Broward County Public School District, the nation's fifth-largest with 270,000 students, just ordered 4,500 laptops for the upcoming school year. The district's computers are 70% Apple and 30% Dell (DELL ), but Sonty wants to move towards an all-Apple shop. "Apple technology is easier to use. There are fewer issues with the operating system. If you look at the price point, Apple is higher. But when you package everything, the total cost of ownership is lower," says Sonty.
July 2005 update:Apple reveals massive Broward County iBook deal

Western Australia students get iBooks

Rushing Headlong Into High-Tech
by Graeme Bennett
http://thetechnozone.com/pcbuyersguide/
solutions/smallbiz/Computers_in_Schools.htm
June 2004 broken link

"I couldn't agree more with the assertion that schools in general don't make the best purchase decisions.

The notion of having everyone using the same hardware doesn't reflect the kind of real-world experience we should be bringing to users, whether they are children in school or employees in the typical corporate environment. In the business world or at home, different members of the community have - and should be encouraged to explore - different interests.

... often, "high-tech" education forsakes underlying principles for tool-oriented techniques, as might be exemplified by the all-too-common scenario where a desktop publishing class is taught PageMaker or QuarkXPress before they learn principles of typography and design - and it's wrong!"

School Software Reviews

Why Apple's iMovie HD Beats Windows XP Movie Maker 2 (August 2005)

 
Macs in Schools in Australia
Apple Distinguished Schools Australia
Look here for a selection of software for Australian high schools
Patrician Brothers' College, Blacktown, NSW
Daceyville Public School
Emmaus Catholic College, St. Mary's, NSW
Arthur Phillip High School, Parramatta, NSW
Westfields Sports
PLC Perth
Kolbe Catholic College W A
Chapman Valley Primary School, Nabawa, WA
Macarthur Anglican School
Camden, NSW (scroll to the bottom)
Cleveland State School, Queensland
(600+k QT movie)
Graceville State School, Qld
Robina State School, Qld
Our Lady of the Rosary P-7 School, Kenmore, Qld,
Broken Hill High School, NSW
Ermington Public School, NSW
William Clarke College, Kellyville (Sydney NSW)
The Friends School Hobart Tasmania
 
 

Macs in schools outside Australia
from woz.org

1. Identify outcomes in appropriate syllabuses which may be achieved by the use of computersand / or information technologies.

2. List the learning activities and experiences which will help to achieve these outcomes.

3. Decide on the software (taking into consideration transparency and cost - see below) which will best be able to assist students and teachers to complete these activities and experiences and thus achieve the targetted learning outcomes. In other words identify the best tools for learning not teach specific tools.

4. Decide on appropriate hardware taking into consideration transparency and total cost of ownership. The choice of platform is not relevant (see below under "Which platform?").

In brief and put simply, schools should purchase software and hardware based on its effectiveness as a tool for learning - in other words, how easy it is to use and how much it is going to cost in the long run!

Notes
Transparency: refers to ease of use and effectiveness as a tool for learning the intrusiveness of the learning tool on the learning process; ideally the user should not even be aware that he or she is using a particular technology (whether it is a pen or a mouse); a transparent learning tool is easy to learn, easy to use and does not hinder the learning process; a leaking pen, software that is hard to learn or a computer that does not work properly are examples of non-transparent technologies.


Total cost of ownership (TCO): the cost of initial purchase, maintenance, repairs, upgrading (which is partly dependent on life expectancy of the hardware) and staff training.

Which platform?
(With thanks to Pete Ottman)

There have been strong moves to encourage consumers and institutions like schools to step away from the Macintosh and embrace Windows exclusively. The main reason advanced to support this argument is that because the working world, the 9-5 business world, predominantly uses Windows, schools and consumers should use Windows. It has been argued that because most people will encounter Windows at work, they will be at a disadvantage should they use any other platform in school or at home.

This is targetted at the Macintosh platform because the Macintosh has had high penetration in the education market, but it could also apply to other platforms, Linux for example, which has been gaining market share. This argument also ignores the findings of Gartner and others that an all-Mac school is considerably cheaper to maintain than an all-PC one.

However there is no evidence to support the assertion that using a modern operating system other than Windows will be a hindrance to students when they leave school and enter the world of work.

One 2002 school survey showed that students moved from one platform to the other quite easily: (PDF) Westford Public Schools Middle School Applications Survey Results July 30, 2002

Computer skills are transferable. There is a fallacy that learning an alternate-computing platform is somehow a hindrance to learning Windows. This assumes that computer skills, once learned, are intransitive. The truth is that once a computer user learns to use a mouse or trackpad they can use such a device on any computer that utilises one for input. The same is true for a keyboard, monitor, scanner, CD-ROM drive or any other peripheral device.

Transferability goes well beyond hardware. It exists for software as well. If a user has the concept of the desktop and programs opening in panes or windows in which he or she does work, then they will have little trouble using Windows or the Mac OS. Both platforms utilise very similar principles and concepts that apply to both. The real differences are in the finer details, like managing and viewing files and navigating the computer. This is where the Mac comes into its own: see Ease of Use, Reliability and Installation and Troubleshooting.

The truth is that any computer user familiar with either platform will pick up the other platform's quirks/ways and be able to move from one to the other with little effort and certainly without any need for "retraining". In terms of software, Windows and Macintosh applications are so similar in the basic ways of doing things that no user would have much trouble using either platform. Menus and commands may be named differently or have different short cuts, but overall they are very much the same: an "open" command or "close" command or "print" command does what the user expects. Most businesses use Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express or Outlook (Outlook is now available for Mac as well as Windows), and three or four other programs (eg. Excel, MYOB, Quicken,, Photoshop) that are available on both platforms . If a person learns to use one of those programs on Windows or on Macintosh, they will quickly be able to use the other platform's version.

If a school student learns to use the "easier to use" Macintosh platform, those skills will transfer to Windows, though with some difficulty. If a school student learns to use the "harder to use" Windows platform, those skills will transfer to the Mac very easily.


The Mac is almost universally acknowledged to be easier to use, so why should we expect anyone to use a harder-to-learn, and thus a less productive, tool? Because Macs are easier to use - students produce more work on Macs - and are cheaper and more reliable, they should be used in schools.

There is no hard evidence that learning to use only the Mac at school is detrimental to computer use later in life.
To quote from the Microsoft website: "Those who have had little or no exposure to Windows but have worked with the Macintosh operating system will also find themselves at home [on Windows] with a minimum of retraining." ( Word Document - http://download.microsoft.com/download/c/3/7/c376ad8a-bce6-4419-9644-1e8b4de171d0/Roadmap.doc.)

The pace of change in the IT world needs also to be considered. It is not a good idea to teach students to use a particular piece of software because that is what is used in the real world at the moment. That piece of software may not even be in use when the student leaves school especially if he or she is in Year 7 - the first year of high school. Think back to 1994 when Windows 95 did not even exist. What would have been the point in teaching Windows 3.1 to a Year 7 student then? In ten years we don't know what kind of operating systems will be used, if at all? We don't know what kind of applications they will be using. There will be jobs in existence in five years time that we haven't even thought about.

Students need exposure to computers, the internet, e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software, digital video and so on. For each of these there are versions that are cross-platform compatible. In short students need to be taught to be adaptable, to be flexible, how to learn and how best to use IT tools for learning. They don't need to be taught only Windows and only Office.

The needs of teachers need to be considered too. Most teachers now have some IT literacy but most would prefer to use a computer which is simple to set up, simple to use, simple to troubleshoot and one which has low maintenance overheads. Most teachers just want to use the machine, without worrying about keeping it running!

Schools should decide what platform to use based on what best meets the needs of its students and teachers. This decision should be based on transparency (ease of use, effectiveness as a tool for learning) and total cost of ownership, not on the mistaken assertion that because most of the business world uses Windows then we all should use Windows.

Software for business is now almost exactly the same in both Mac and Windows. To quote from the introduction to MYOB Premier Accounting Version 4 User Guide, Australian edition, 2000, p. 11: "... the accounting system works identically on both Windows and Macintosh computers ... For the most part, the Premier procedures are exactly the same for Macintosh and Windows users.

Another reason why Macs are the best choice for schools is ease of management in a networked environment using Netinstall "a.k.a. Network Install, was introduced with Mac OS X Server 10.2, as a method of network-booting Mac clients to distribute application software and OS updates."

Not to mention Netboot. Want to startup and closedown all the computers in your school lab with just a couple of keystrokes? Use Netboot and Network Install .

More recently Apple has introduced Remote Desktop: "with real-time screen sharing is the ideal desktop management solution for education and business. Teachers can monitor students’ computer screens, perform group demonstrations, and assist individual students. System administrators can configure remote systems, distribute software, provide online assistance and create reports on software and hardware configurations from anywhere on the network."

Hands on: The fine art of imaging to deploy Apple software By Ryan Faas APRIL 29, 2003

Apple computers are the easiest to upgrade and best suited for multimedia and content creation.

Apple created a very useful document called "Understanding the Total Cost of Ownership of Education Technology" which summarises how Apple solutions can provide significant advantages in helping schools and districts get the best value and presents independent research for each of the six TCO areas that provides very compelling evidence indicating that the Mac is the best choice for schools:

  1. "New Teachers & Technology," May 1999, Market Data Retrieval/Education Market Research.
  2. "K-12 School and District Survey," December 1998, Field Research Corp.
  3. "Understanding the Total Cost and Value of Integrating Technology in Schools," October 1997, International Data Corp. [Broken Link]
  4. "Taking TCO to the Classroom," June 1999, Consortium of School Networking.
  5. "Best School Software: Most Frequently Used Products by Grade and Subject," October 1999, Education Market Research.
  6. "Getting to Windows 2000 Professional: A Costly Migration," September 1999, Gartner Group Strategic Planning.
  7. "1998 Teacher Survey," 1999, U.S. Department of Education.
  8. "K-12 Technology Purchasing Forecast," 1999-2000, Quality Education Data.
  9. "Connecting K-12 Schools to the Information Superhighway," 1995, McKinsey & Company, Inc.

Commentaries and summaries of some of the references follow .....

A September 1999 Gartner Group strategic planning report predicts that migrating from Windows-based systems running older Windows operating systems (versions 95, 98, or NT) to Windows 2000 will be a costly proposition, yet will provide little return on investment over the system's useful life cycle. Gartner estimates that this migration will increase PC costs by US$2,000 to US$3,000 per user.

Results of a May 1999 Market Data Retrieval/Education Market Research survey also reports that schools using mostly Macintosh systems are more likely to have their computers connected to a local area network and to have greater access to the Internet than schools using mostly Windows-based PCs.

An October 1997 IDC report states that schools with Macintosh systems also have greater access to advanced multimedia peripherals for content development, and their educators rate Macintosh systems easier platform to upgrade to vital multimedia and Internet applications. The overall superior ease of use of Macintosh systems greatly reduces support needs and therefore support costs. The October 1997 IDC report states that Mac OS-based computers were rated higher than other personal computers in the ease of installing hardware and software and in the ease and speed of training technical staff. Schools using Macintosh systems reported that their installation costs were 30 to 50 percent lower than those of other schools because they were more likely to use internal staff. The Mac OS-based systems also experienced fewer downtime incidents; when problems did occur, the Macintosh systems could be recovered faster than other personal computers. IDC concludes that the ease of use of the Macintosh platform "increases technical support staff 's efficiency and indirectly lowers TCO."

The December 1998 Field Research Corp. survey reports that schools using mostly Mac OS-based systems are more likely to offer computer training to their teachers than schools with mostly Windows-based computers. That's because Macintosh computers have a much shorter learning curve than other systems. Not surprisingly, a May 1999 Market Data Retrieval/Education Market Research article says that teachers who have more technology training are apt to feel better prepared to integrate technology into their classroom lessons. Teachers appreciate what they can do with a Mac after they learn to use one.

In an October 1997 IDC study, teachers rated Macintosh higher in the ease of developing curriculum, teaching students, and conducting research on the Internet. An October 1997 IDC study found that Macintosh systems are used by schools for an average of 5.4 years compared with other personal computers, which are typically replaced after only 4.5 years. Even before they are replaced, Macintosh systems go longer between upgrades. 1997 IDC study reported that schools using mostly Macintosh systems report higher levels of satisfaction than those using mostly other personal computers, and those using only Macintosh systems report the highest overall level of satisfaction.

References

Why this site....? | Design | Cost | Ease of use | Installation and troubleshooting | Extending your computer | Reliability and Security | Laptops and Working across platforms | What schools should do | Where Windows is better than the Mac | Price watch | References