Looking for any source material....
Whether on YouTube videos, articles, reviews, real-world school deployments, etc., about how the new “Neo” Macbooks are working in education environments.
Part of my reasoning is honestly the price point and the image/perspective Apple gives off for a school trying to move toward more modern tech. (literally just opened up an Esports and Exploratorium with state of the art equipment)
Current setup at our small private school:
- K–3 = school-managed Chromebooks
- 4–12 = BYOB
- Staff = mix of unmanaged Windows laptops and Chromebooks
- I recently implemented Apple School Manager + Microsoft Intune for our STEAM lab Macs
I’ve been fighting with Dell Technologies and CDW over staff laptop orders getting canceled, specs changing, pricing changing after POs, etc., and it’s making me reconsider our direction.
I’m trying to make the case that staff/teachers could realistically daily-drive the Neo Macs for normal school tasks while also giving teachers a higher-quality device and the school a more forward-focused feel. The pricing seems relatively stable compared to constantly spec’ing Windows devices, though repair turnaround and availability concern me a little.
Long-term thought would be:
- Lower school stays on Chromebooks
- Staff slowly transitions to Macs
- Maybe eventually add iPads in certain grades/programs
One pushback from leadership is that Macs may feel “unfair” to students since many students use Chromebooks.
Would love any real-world experiences, deployment stories, pros/cons, or resources from schools actually doing something similar.
**Lastly, this is a neurodivergent school, not that it makes a difference but as far context figured it'll help **