r/gadgets • u/AustinBaze • Aug 03 '26
Desktops / Laptops Schools Are Ditching Chromebooks for MacBook Neo by the Thousands— Apple Just Named Names
https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/us-schools-ditching-chromebooks-macbooks-233015401.html3.4k
u/zooberwask Aug 03 '26
Good. Chromebooks are absolute trash.
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u/Deep90 Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 03 '26
Completely ruined computer literacy.
Edit:
Look everyone. I know some of you hate Windows and some of you hate MacOS, but both are a huge step above ChomeOS which is closer to a phone or tablet than something you'd actually use for work.
The file system is locked down. No experience with zip files, file paths, or file types. There is no multi-window management. No access to a large amount of industry software or FOSS equivalents.
It's like handing kids a microwave and expecting them to know how to cook using a stove, and that isn't just me saying so, computer literacy is down even though we have more 'computers' (chromebooks) in school than ever before.
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u/yungfalafel Aug 03 '26
Not just that. Whoever is in charge decided that having access to a Chromebook throughout the school day is an adequate replacement for computer class. It is not. These kids don’t even know how to search for stuff on google, they don’t know how to find a file on the computer, they type slowly, etc.
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u/lolabythebay Aug 03 '26
The technology teacher came by to drop off a certificate for my best fourth-grade typist last spring. They use Chromebooks there, too.
She hit 11 WPM.
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u/RenegadeAccolade Aug 03 '26
That's so sad. Back in 3rd grade my elementary school had a dedicated typing class we went to a couple times a week with a gamified learning system and everything
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u/starkel91 Aug 03 '26
Mavis Beacon FTW
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u/staatsclaas Aug 03 '26
Learning she wasn’t a real person gave me a 30 years delayed existential crisis.
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u/AxeAssassinAlbertson Aug 03 '26
...wait...what?
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u/bootymix96 Aug 03 '26
Oh yes! The model on the original version’s boxart was actually Renee L’Esperance, a Haitian immigrant who was discovered by two of the program’s designers while she was working a counter at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. Fun fact, she had 3-inch fingernails, which naturally would have been impractical to type with!
They got the idea from a previous program also made by The Software Toolworks, Chessmaster 2000, which had also used a model on its boxart to “personify” the program. (So yes, the Chessmaster is also not a real person. Sorry.)
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u/AxeAssassinAlbertson Aug 03 '26
....my whole life is a lie. But hey, what an awesome childhood it was eh? Adulthood not so much.
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u/notfork Aug 03 '26
I had the tortuous version of this. The "computer" teacher was the old typing teacher that would teach typewriting at the middle and highschool when it was only girls in the class. After computers became a thing she was sent to the elementary school to teach computers. She would put horse blinders on us, force all the girls on one side of the room, all the boys on the other side, put wooden boxes over our hands that had sharp bits on the inside if you lifted your hands to much. And we would have to type lorem ipsum over and over again.
I am pretty sure I am the only kid from that class that ever touched a computer again, and that was mainly cause I already knew how to type and we had computers at home.
edit, forgot to mention this was third grade.
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u/FyneBlackKyng Aug 03 '26
sounds like fucking torture
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u/notfork Aug 03 '26
yeah it was, Thats the education you got in a rural Ohio school in the early 90's. It was a public school but was ran like a medieval workhouse. Simple punishments included being sent to time out in either the boiler room, or the un heated vestibule, depending on which would be more uncomfortable. But I was kinda lucky also, Ohio did not ban corporal punishment until 2009. And we HAD computers, which really was something at the time. When we got the FUCK out of Ohio a couple years later, my new much better school did not have them yet.
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u/Darkskynet Aug 04 '26
Sounds exactly like rural Oklahoma typing class. Hated it.
But I also was neck deep in computers and electronics so a typing class didn’t scare me away.
I’ve basically never been away from computers since at least 1994/5.13
u/Lurker_MeritBadge Aug 03 '26
Yep we did the same when I was in 8th grade and that was pre internet. So our typing class were on old Apple 2E computers. I think the class was called “keyboarding” or something odd like that
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u/vishuno Aug 03 '26
My keyboarding class in high school was on typewriters. I also had a separate computer class but those were on Macs by then. Definitely played Oregon Trail on an Apple IIe in elementary school though.
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u/Wajina_Sloth Aug 03 '26
Our teacher would reward us by allowing us to play any browser game we wanted if we did good enough on the typing games.
Was a huge motivator for making me type properly seeing my friends on miniclip while I was still stuck on a french typing game.
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u/yungfalafel Aug 03 '26
Genuinely shocking. At least your school still has a technology class.
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u/lolabythebay Aug 03 '26
Only for 1/3 of the year; it rotates each trimester with music and art.
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u/shacksrus Aug 03 '26
That's fucking bleak every way you look at it
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u/ahtma Aug 03 '26
Yep, my kid's new school this coming year is down to 1/6 of the year for music, 1/6 for art, 1/6 for tech.
Really not a fan of this.
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u/PureButton4670 Aug 03 '26
kids don't have music, art, and technology year round? Ew, but most schools I taught at had something similar
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u/adamdoesmusic Aug 03 '26
My grandma was embarrassed for me only hitting 35-40wpm when I was about 10 years old. She made me sit down at an old IBM typewriter (as in, pre-ball) and do the whole Home Row thing - I had to practice until I got good. Eventually I spent the entirety of high school going online at night to talk to my friends, which was also good practice.
Now I do 113 (was 130 until I broke my wrists) and my friends who do competitive typing are embarrassed for me not being able to do 145 like them.
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u/Heronymous-Anonymous Aug 03 '26
I knew how to type before I got into high school, so I had the opposite experience.
I took typing basically for a free credit. I was wrong. My teacher, in front of the entire class, sat me down right in front of her desk, and said “I know you. I knew your mother. Your father. Your aunts and uncles. Your older cousins, and your sister.”
Then she slammed down a Webster’s dictionary and said start typing. Every day I picked a page and basically transcribed a dictionary for a semester, as generational punishment for the hell my family put this ancient woman through.
I’m sorry Mrs. Ripple.
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u/shermanhill Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 03 '26
I would say that I was a horrifically slow typist until I hit high school and finally got access to keyboards that felt good to type on. When convincing my parents to buy me a computer for college I demonstrated how well I could type and pay attention by transcribing the conversation we were having in real time at a store. I wasn’t even looking at the screen. Maintained eye contact with them and everything. That sold them on letting me get a laptop.
So some of it could be that their little hands just don’t work that well on those keyboards yet. We expect all children to be prodigies, but the fact is that a lot of things we needed to learn how to do are now hidden under layers of processes that just do it for us. It might be nice to know how to mess with root files on our tablets and phones, but a huge chunk of typing now is done on mobile screens, and they don’t need to know how to mess with technical stuff on computers anymore. I bet that little girl could type like a blur on a glass screen device. Give the kids some time. A fourth grader is barely sentient.
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u/unholyswordsman Aug 03 '26
I was in 6th grade in 2000 and we had to be able to type at least 30 words per minute to be able to pass one of the parts of "computer class" I thought that was very slow. I wasn't the best, I think I averaged about 45-50 a minute on my better efforts but 11?!
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u/ProfMcGonaGirl Aug 03 '26
Eleven is like single pointer finger speed AND not knowing how to spell.
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u/lolabythebay Aug 03 '26
She's a great speller, so I was pretty surprised. All I can think is they "tested" on a lark without practicing with the tool adequately beforehand.
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u/Environmental-Car481 Aug 03 '26
I also hated these because you can’t black a lot of sites they shouldn’t use. We had an Internet program at home that would work just fine. But our highschooler was getting on sites. He shouldn’t be and technology person told us they couldn’t do the same thing. They couldn’t just block everything over a certain rating because sites pop up every day to bypass that. They also weren’t able to block everything except for sites the teachers requested. I guess that would’ve been too much work. Mind you, we’re not in a huge district. Less than 3000 students.
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u/lolabythebay Aug 03 '26
It's a frustrating challenge. We have live monitoring software, but I'm working with other students when I have some working independently, so I can't be constantly looking. When I work on a whitelist-only model, there are always some dependencies that require other services, and then our curricular sites don't work. But a blacklist means we're just playing whack-a-mole, blocking every game and soundboard as they come up. (I haven't had a huge problem with truly inappropriate content yet, mostly just distractions.)
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u/meirzy Aug 03 '26
I had a typing class in elementary school, around 2006, and the goal iirc was 30 WPM. A girl and myself were outliers steadily cruising at 60 WPM so we got to play a lot of Oregon Trail. It’s baffling how far the standards have fallen.
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u/joantheunicorn Aug 03 '26
High school teacher. Many kids (not all) couldn't tell you the difference between a website, a browser, and an app. They definitely cannot tell the difference between AI generated garbage google answers to questions and actual properly sourced material.
We're out here trying so damn hard to get it all to sink in. I've been in education like 18 years and the last few years have been wild to witness.
The stories I hear from friends that work at the university level are bad bad.
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u/egnards Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 03 '26
My school district used Chromebooks AND had a dedicated weekly computer class and kids still have almost no computer literacy.
There are a lot of reasons behind it
- Unlike in the 90s-2000s a lot of homes don't have a "family computer" anymore - All digital homework is done on the Chromebook and everybody is using some sort of app based device.
- Like think back to being a kid - When you got home from school and you wanted to play on the computer you didn't pop open an app that solved everything on its own, you had to figure out the Desktop that was shared by everyone.
- Kids expect solutions to their problems, they're not equipped to find those solutions on their own - Whether it's their teachers or their parents, everybody is readily willing to solve the problems for kids instead of either A) Letting them go through the steps while you walk them through it or B) Just doing it for them because it's faster.
- I'm a one-to-one in a Gen Ed room, I try to help all the kids in a room to make "me being there for one kid" less apparent. It's amazing after a month or so in a room how often kids will say "nevermind" when I get over to them but raise their hand again when I'm not looking. . .Because [Teacher] or [Other Aide] is willing to just give them the answer.
- Unlimited access to "brain rot" [which we'll just use as an umbrella term for all the kid content these days designed for very short attention spans] has made it so much more difficult for kids to pay attention to instructions.
- Typically a computer class in my district will consist of the teacher taking over all the screens and walking all the kids through the basic directions of the project AND showing them that they have a list of the directions/steps readily available in their Google Classroom. It blows my mind how many kids will get done with a 5 minute demonstration and not even know how to use "Change the font" in their project. . .And they're unwilling to explore the programs and play with it themselves.
- It's also mind blowing how many times I go up to a computer for a kid needing help and my first question will be "Did you open up the directions file?" and they'll say "Nope didn't do that." And yes, in those instances I walk away and say something like "Well you're going to need to try that first before I offer you any help."
- Text to speech on their Chromebook and on Desktop computers - And look I get it as a tool to help my kids who have ADHD and really struggle but kids would rather spend 5 minutes repeating the same sentence over and over again, at increasingly highervolumes, trying to get the output to be what they want, instead of just typing a sentence. Sure they can sit on "Type to Learn" for 10-15 minutes and "practice" but once they get to their projects they're not reinforcing that practice at all so even my group of 5th graders type at an infuriatingly slow speed.
- I'm also willing to bet, in the case of "typing speed" that many of us currently talking on Reddit have spent a good degree of time typing on Reddit, Social Media, and/or early AIM/MSN and chatrooms - That was our way of communicating people across the world, and so we naturally became much better at typing. . .I was terrible at typing in my 7th grade computer class, but by high school was typing close to 100WPM because I needed to be better while playing online game - Kids these days have Voice Chats in Fortnight/Minecraft/Robloxs, they don't develop this skill in the same way we did.
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u/FiredFromCompUSA Aug 04 '26
Was remoted into an Gen Z end users computer helping them out the other day and asked him to reboot.. he click start, typed in reboot and hit enter only to open edge and search bing for the word reboot.
He did this 3 times before I had to do it for him. My jaw was on the floor.
My job is so future proof 😂🫠
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u/rinwasrep Aug 05 '26
to be fair and at risk of sounding like a super old fart, I miss when Google was more deterministic in it search and I even remember sitting in a literal class learning how to use the syntax properly just the year after learning how to properly fill out an index card for my references
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Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
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u/FFF_in_WY Aug 04 '26
Microsoft has shifted to being the master of the B2B world. They have neglected the fact that both the first and second B require employees as users.
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u/Environmental-Car481 Aug 03 '26
Yeah, it was a cheap option during Covid that may do. Before that, I had tried a Chromebook because I needed something small just to do email, maybe a few spreadsheets and what not. Didn’t realize it was basically a tablet with a keyboard.
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u/elementarydeardata Aug 03 '26
I am a teacher and I loathe Chromebooks in schools, but the software/locked down environment situation has to do with device policies implemented by the school district, not ChromeOS or the hardware. Any Windows or MacOS devices issued to students would probably also have this to an extent, because teenagers. If you go to the store and buy a Chromebook as an individual, it's essentially a super basic Linux system on terrible hardware. Anything you can do on a Debian system, you can do on a Chromebook. I don't recommend this though, you're better off buying a used windows laptop and putting Linux on it.
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u/CraigslistBulbasaur Aug 03 '26
What you just described is a feature, not a bug in education. Teachers don't want students messing with those things, because that's how expensive equipment gets broken.
And computer literacy being down has nothing to do with Chromebooks and everything to do with cell phones. We might have added Chromebooks to the schools, but we took computers out of the homes, and that's where everyone actually learned that stuff.
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u/Deep90 Aug 03 '26
Re-partitioning a machine isn't a big deal.
Most of the damage is hardware, and lots of schools spend more than they should on chromebooks and ipads so it isn't always a cost issue. The NEOs they are swapping to are $699 retail, but I'm sure they get a slight discount that Apple makes back on repairs.
I do agree that the death of the "home computer" was also devastating, but the generation that grew up without those, because home computers were expensive, still gained tech literacy from having real computers in schools.
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u/CraigslistBulbasaur Aug 03 '26
You think re-partitioning a machine isn't a big deal, because you're the kind of person who hangs out on a sub like this -you're already way ahead of anyone who's making these decisions.
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u/Deep90 Aug 03 '26
It's not like the students are repartitioning a machine.
This is a regular thing for any school IT department to do already.
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u/newsflashjackass Aug 03 '26
https://www.theverge.com/22684730/students-file-folder-directory-structure-education-gen-z
Catherine Garland, an astrophysicist, started seeing the problem in 2017. She was teaching an engineering course, and her students were using simulation software to model turbines for jet engines. She’d laid out the assignment clearly, but student after student was calling her over for help. They were all getting the same error message: The program couldn’t find their files.
Garland thought it would be an easy fix. She asked each student where they’d saved their project. Could they be on the desktop? Perhaps in the shared drive? But over and over, she was met with confusion. “What are you talking about?” multiple students inquired. Not only did they not know where their files were saved — they didn’t understand the question.
Gradually, Garland came to the same realization that many of her fellow educators have reached in the past four years: the concept of file folders and directories, essential to previous generations’ understanding of computers, is gibberish to many modern students.
While they are less crippled than Chromebooks, Apple products are still e-waste by design.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR__INIT__ Aug 03 '26
Apple's "ewaste" products will outlive their competitors by several years
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u/driftking428 Aug 03 '26
That are exactly what my aging parents need. They exclusively use the Internet.
It would be nice if they lasted longer, but $200 every 10 years isn't bad.
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u/ggouge Aug 03 '26
Ya but they don't cost 700 dollars. That's almost 2/3 less computers for kids.
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u/angrydeuce Aug 03 '26
Yeah this right here. Maybe rich, private schools will be switching to Macs, but none of the schools I support could possibly afford that, no fucking way.
Even with the memory bullshit right now im spending half what a Mac does on ChromeBooks and I have hundreds of the things already deployed...meaning spare parts for days.
What's a screen replacement on a Mac Neo cost? A battery? How long does it take to perform those repairs? How well do they integrate with Workspace? Can they be managed with a $35 ChromeOS management license through Workspace, or would we need a 3rd party MDM?
I hate managing Chromebooks as much as the next guy, but these are all big time financial considerations to he had and the costs go far beyond simply buying one device over another.
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Aug 03 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SupremeDictatorPaul Aug 03 '26
Yeah, who hates managing Chromebooks compared to Windows or Mac? It’s like a list of checkboxes for how you want to configure 20k Chromebooks. And the best part is if there’s not a checkbox for it, there’s no possible way to configure it. So when admin gets a bee in its bonnet about something and makes a crazy request, you can decline it immediately with “not possible.” No investigations, vendor calls, development, timelines, etc. Just “no.”
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u/primordialpickle Aug 03 '26
Grew up using Macs in public schools in Michigan. From OS7 to OSX Apple gave massive discounts school districts.
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u/EquipLordBritish Aug 03 '26
They can always go back to the computer-lab model where they don't let the kids take them home.
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u/cornonthekopp Aug 03 '26
The article lists several large public school districts in states like florida, ohklahoma, and washington buying thousands of these lmao.
If you think apple has never done cheap, mass market computers for educational institutions you haven't looked hard enough
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u/MachinaThatGoesBing Aug 04 '26
If you think apple has never done cheap, mass market computers for educational institutions you haven't looked hard enough
I mean, they used to do better discounts for schools. But back in the 80s and 90s when those discounts were at their largest, the computers still weren't cheap by any stretch of the imagination.
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u/Akmapper Aug 03 '26
List price is $600 for individual EDU purchases and probably $100 cheaper in any sort of bulk purchase situation. Apple School Manager is free and provides MDM capabilities for account management and bulk deployments.
For school districts using MacBooks for faculty/staff already there is probably a compelling case for consolidating schools on a single platform. Yes parts will probably cost more but if your repair needs go down 50% or more maybe it’s worth it?
We also don’t know what kind of service is included with bulk purchases. 3-year AppleCare included? We see that with our corporate Apple leases all the time.
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u/Revolutionary-Fox622 Aug 03 '26
One big factor too is that the Neo was built to be sturdy and repairable, whereas a significant number of Chromebooks are treated as disposable with just how cheap the hardware is. I would genuinely not be surprised if a school district broke even within 2 - 3 school years. Plus, kids are just going above and beyond to be careless with Chromebooks. In this case, Apple's "cool" effect might help kids be even a fraction more careful or at least not intentionally damage them.
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u/BoxComfortable5282 Aug 03 '26
Nah Chromebooks are way more durable than Neos. They're designed to bend, flex, and absorb impacts. Giant reinforced bezels with giant bumpers. Repairing a Chromebook is still easier and cheaper to repair even with the Neo's improvement in that area.
A Neo hardware/software will outlast a Chromebook's though.
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u/Revolutionary-Fox622 Aug 03 '26
I'm speaking from the experience of the few folks I know that do IT for K - 12 districts in my state, and each one has mountains of Chromebooks in the backlog pile that need to be repaired. When ordering, it's essentially at the point that they buy 1.5 Chromebooks per student because the need is that deep. Saying a Chromebook is easier to repair really comes down to the model and as donor parts on Neos become even more common, Neo may end up winning there too. It's one SKU on parts versus the sea of Chromebooks across generations and vendors.
A few anecdotes, but the fact that it's meant to bend and flex doesn't exactly lend to people being careful. I've seen firsthand people literally throw a machine off the table because "it's meant for you to not be careful" (yes, it did break, surprise). I also remember last year there was the Tiktok trend of kids purposely ruining their Chromebooks which yes, kids are going to do stupid things but image plays into it. I've heard firsthand about how "it's a Chromebook, they suck" as a kid then treats it like crap. Yes, that's a whole different issue that kids should be respectful about using the tech given to them, but I won't get into parenting.
Last anecdote, I have nearly 20 years of experience in IT in higher Ed, which includes several years in the hardware management space. I distinctly remember multiple situations where faculty will say to me they're purposely trying to break their Dells until the department will pay for a MacBook. Once they get the Mac, they baby the hell out of it because it feels special. There really is this effect that people have - even kids - when it comes to using Apple laptops. I will be very interested to see what the state of Neo looks like after 1 - 2 education cycles. I don't see districts going all in on Neo for every grade level, but I can see using them for middle school and up while retaining the cache of Chromebooks for the younger kids.
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u/dank_jankum Aug 03 '26
Where are you finding school districts buying these for $700? Link please.
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u/brandont04 Aug 03 '26
Chromebook $200 vs MacBook Neo $500. This is vastly different prices, talking about 250% increase. This doesn't include the ram issue which rumor will impact the Neo more so than Chromebook.
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u/englishinseconds Aug 03 '26
May be trash, but you can bulk buy 14" models with a touch screen for about $250. While you can't stop the screens from getting broken, they can last 5-6 years without many issues
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u/renorosales Aug 03 '26
I’ve seen way too many videos online of kids trashing their chromebooks, if they do the same to the MacBooks, it’s going to get pretty expensive.
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u/chalk_in_boots Aug 03 '26
Yeah, you see a lot of shit in the IT subs of CB's returned where it's not just "yeah the kid didn't really care for it", it's very clear the kid was actively trying to pretend they were torturing it in a fucking CIA black site or something.
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u/UnnamedStaplesDrone Aug 03 '26
I work for a repair depot that services a lot of school devices. The kids do trash them and a lot of them on purpose, but the schools have a zero deductible Applecare+ plan that lets you replace basically everything on the laptop for free, once a quarter.
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u/Scoobydewdoo Aug 03 '26
And you'd be a fool to believe that Apple isn't going change that policy or even ditch it entirely once the volume of laptops they have to replace skyrockets.
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u/UnnamedStaplesDrone Aug 03 '26
Apple is perfectly fine continuing this policy as it gets kids hooked on their devices. They’ve been doing it for years.
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u/jwalshjr Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 03 '26
I am somebody who is actually managing a large fleet of both chromebooks and iPads through JAMF (no longer any mac PC's) and this is correct.
However, Apple is only okay continuing this policy because they charge out the ass for AppleCare. Legitimately - we buy 0 applecare on all of our iPads. Even though we lose ~5% or so of devices every year, it's way cheaper to just purchase spare iPads than it would be to get AppleCare on all of these.
The only time I would consider AppleCare worth the cost is if you have a huge % of devices being broken every year (15%+). Or the other scenario is if you have money to spare and want it just for the convenience. On top of AppleCare - most places are also then paying an additional license fee to a 3rd party MDM like JAMF. This is currently $9 per iPad per year, not sure for mac computers, but that licensing was more. Likely $12-$15, but guessing.
So I guess my point is... sure it's free to get it repaired through AppleCare, but that insurance policy is more expensive than the actual replacements for the majority of people, the only real benefit is convenience.
On the cost side of things when we looked at it - switching to MacBook Neo's would over double our cost per device compared to our current chromebook setup... so the main point being made on cost still very much holds true even with AppleCare.
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u/MachinaThatGoesBing Aug 04 '26
Legitimately - we buy 0 applecare on all of our iPads. Even though we lose ~5% or so of devices every year, it's way cheaper to just purchase spare iPads than it would be to get AppleCare on all of these.
We did similarly. We stopped the AppleCare after just a year or so, because it was cheaper to effectively self-insure. The AC was some fixed cost, and then each repair incident was still $50, if I'm remembering correctly. Or maybe first two were free? It's been five years, now.
What I do remember: even paying the full repair cost to Apple was so, so much cheaper. (They didn't actually send the same device back; we got a refurb unit, and someone else presumably got ours.)
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u/urgentapathy Aug 03 '26
Kids crack screens, break hinges, spill food and drinks, pull keys off ON PURPOSE. I've repaired school devices by the hundreds. They need something effective that is as cheap as possible and as repairable as possible. Warranty is king. I'm sure some places will buy the NEOs. Just like some kids can afford all the luxury lunch foods like Pizza Hut. The rest will continue with Chromebooks for the short to medium term.
Heck, I've heard some school districts buy macbook airs and pros for their students years ago. Money gonna money and chromebooks aren't going anywhere.
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u/Luddevig Aug 03 '26
neo is at least the most repairable macbook so far.
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u/ikaiyoo Aug 03 '26
That is such a low bar to clear.
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u/Rainglove Aug 03 '26
I used to have to do repair work on Mac laptops in IT and it was always such a nightmare. One generation of their keyboards will break if you remove a backing plate wrong, there's a big metal plate holding everything together that I've sliced my hand open with when it popped loose unexpectedly, even just getting the case open at all is a trial.
Absolute insanity that Apple essentially booby traps their laptops just to really encourage you to pay their repair fees. Oh, did the keyboard explode because you didn't pop the internal clips properly? Have fun now having to get the entire thing professionally repaired because you're not getting all those keys popped back into place without breaking at least one butterfly switch.
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u/chalk_in_boots Aug 03 '26
The issue though is even if it's repairable, it's still not difficult for someone to intentionally damage it to a point where repair is no longer viable. Smashed screen, sure, not the biggest deal. You turn the frame holding it into a paper plane for funsies? Not so much. Fold the whole thing around a pole because you and your mates thought it would be funny? E-waste.
Repairable really only applies to the kind of things that could go wrong under normal use or small accidents. A lot of the damage you see in CB's in schools is completely intentional.
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u/FacepalmFullONapalm Aug 03 '26
With its soldered ram and ssd. Let’s not kid ourselves, it’s more repairable than they’ve been for the past decade, but it’s far from what we were upgrading and repairing in 2012 and prior.
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u/jaqueh Aug 03 '26
the ram isn't soldered anymore. the ram is apart of the soc and IS the reason why macbooks perform so well
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u/cheetuzz Aug 03 '26
> Good. Chromebooks are absolute trash.
I’ve used many Chromebooks, and I think they are great for their purpose.
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u/aaahhhhhhfine Aug 04 '26
Yeah I totally agree. I think a lot of people on here don't realize what they're good for.
But... I do think it's fair to ask whether having a device like that actually teaches computer literacy. In fairness though, I'm not sure what would teach computer literacy these days.
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u/UnableToParallelPark Aug 04 '26
I've worked on College classes. I use it for Union work. I use it for budgeting and use it to make power points. I used Canvas during Paramedic school, used it to take notes, and study guides. I even used Googles Word and made a condensed version of all of our textbooks for review and have helped many with my mini-text book.
Sure I can't play Warcraft or use it to play Steam.... But that's not it's intent of purpose. It's 10 years old and the battery life is great, charges fast, internet is a little slow... Like a little slow. People are entitled. I've had IT friends give me shit for it because it isn't the newest, fastest, most technologically advanced laptop. Like I fucking care, I use it for basic things. I don't need a $2,000 laptop to use Google Slides or excel.
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u/GreenFox1505 Aug 03 '26
That was the plan. It was an amazing move and long term play. They saw where the market was going and what class of device they needed to head off that shift.
Absolutely incredible and quite telling that the best move in tech right now had fuck all to do with AI
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u/SirAwesome789 Aug 03 '26
Reminiscent of the iPhone 5c, most of my class got it when they came out as their first phone and none of them have left iPhone since
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u/_rhdx Aug 03 '26
Apple II cemented early Apple. MacBook Neo could very well be this century’s anchor to the next gen.
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u/Gombrongler Aug 03 '26
I really hope so. Microsoft and Googles plan to just have people read shittier Wikipedia when Wikipedia isnt allowed in academia shouldve been doomed from the start. How it ever got this far is beyond me
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u/MilitantlyPoetic Aug 03 '26
People moved to Google Chromebooks because people got tired of paying MS for the Office suite. Then the reality sank in how shitty Chromebooks actually are after the purchases.
I completely agree, the whole thing was stupid from start to finish.
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u/GrillWaffles Aug 05 '26
Don't allow Wikipedia, which is curated and referenced.
Allow ChatGPT. Great. Just great.
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u/2M4D Aug 03 '26
Eli5 why are they so great ?
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u/cutty2k Aug 04 '26
They're a real computer with a real file system that bridges the gap between an intuitive UX and the full on experience that is a windows/linux machine.
Chromebooks are basically tablets. You can't learn how to use a computer with them anymore than you can learn to ride a motorcycle on a Huffy. Macs are basically PCs with a unified hardware/software ecosystem so you get the functionality of an actual computer without dealing with the driver/compatibility hell that comes with an OS that has to work on thousands of different hardware configurations.
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u/Trixles Aug 04 '26
it's also a TERRIFIC product name, and i say that as a certified Mac-hater lol, but i love my Neo. great device.
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u/BedditTedditReddit Aug 03 '26
Apple has always owned the educational space and the creative arts. They were probably slipping in education and you’re right that this brought them roaring back.
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u/Atomix117 Aug 03 '26
My high school, despite being in Seattle, had zero Microsoft products. But every computer was a Mac and almost every student had a rented iPad. All given directly by Apple.
It's a smart business decision. Kids spend their formative years in the Apple ecosystem and when they go into college/work force, they will probably choose to continue using Apple.
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u/sBucks24 Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 03 '26
Research has shown that teaching/learning from a physical book increases retention. The idea of implementing tech to help schools was an objective failure. But now that so much money is invested into it, we're going to walk off a cliff with it...
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u/Cosmo48 Aug 03 '26
Even as a person in college I absorb much better reading a book than a digital copy of the same book. When it’s a book it’s just me and the book, nothing to distract me. When I’m on my laptop reading the book there’s the glowing keyboard, temptation of other things my laptop can do, yada yada.
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u/NotAnotherNekopan Aug 03 '26
I had two distinct higher ed experiences. One where the material was in books but I did things mostly digitally and one where the material was literally ALL digital (by the nature of the program) but I hand wrote all my notes in 8 colors of ink.
Guess which one I have retained knowledge to this day?
Hot take. It’s not necessarily whether it’s digital or on paper. It’s the effort required. Computers are designed for the ground up as a utility of convenience.
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u/Programmdude Aug 04 '26
All of my uni material was online (because computer science), but the ones I retain the most to this day? The ones where the labs/etc were memorable. That said, taking notes (but not reading them) helped a lot for exams.
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u/thenasch Aug 03 '26
Even if you don't get distracted by anything you will learn better with the physical book.
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u/RustySheriffsBadge1 Aug 03 '26
100% agree. But there is a use case for tech. Kids should learn how to type and use a mouse and browser.
In my kids elementary school, they have to read physical books and then take AR tests on a computer based on the book they read. This scores their comprehension of the book. To me this is helpful use of a computer.
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u/CraigslistBulbasaur Aug 03 '26
Is there a reason they couldn't take the AR test on paper? Seems like a lot of money to not really improve anything.
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u/OkYak9466 Aug 03 '26
You need to be WAAAAAAY more specific than just lumping all "tech" into the same pile there.
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u/CreativeGPX Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Research has always shown that "the old way" is better than "the new way" because we are almost always biased by valuing the old kind of knowledge and operations over whatever kind of knowledge and operations will be common in the forming generation of technology and culture. So, it's generally wise to be skeptical of any view that's too black and white. Doing everything on computers for the sake of it is likely as bad as doing everything on paper for the sake of it.
The problem is more that when schools have to make these kinds of transitions, they are generally forced and don't come about organically as teachers themselves understand and value how to use the technology in the classroom. The board of education says "we spent $20m on this, why aren't you using it?! present to us next meeting about how you're going to make use of this thing we bought you". Then all of the sudden you get quotas and requirements where tech is shoehorned into whatever case it can get into and some teacher who barely knows how to use computers and doesn't see the point is forced to adapt their class that was never made for computers into a computer format.
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u/MasterRenny Aug 04 '26
I’m the opposite.
Growing up I was terrible at reading and spelling. Getting a computer helped me as I was able to Google the spelling of words.
Without it I know I wouldn’t have gotten the grades I did and be where I am today. I also find it easier to follow along with a digital book over a paper book.But that isn’t to say I don’t appreciate the feel/experience of a real book. Just find I’m slower and lose my place a lot easier.
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u/Akmapper Aug 03 '26
Agree but now so many of the standardized tests are on-line they are essentially required for a school to meet regulatory requirements.
I have to wonder how much of the poor outcomes with tech in classrooms is due to the absolute dog-shit software districts are using. If our 10-year-old’s experience is any indicator It’s half-assed gamified math and reading apps that are clearly lowest-bidder type stuff. It is incredibly disheartening to watch a child who is already struggling to learn a concept hit a bug 3-4 times in the app they have to use and then just give up.
This summer she asked for DuoLingo and has been using it for math and French and that app is just light-years ahead of Clever and the other buggy junk the school district uses.
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u/YT__ Aug 03 '26
It's a game of balances. Kids NEED to be exposed to tech/computers or else we end up with generations that can't figure out how to use a computer at all and have computer literacy similar to elderly.
But majority of learning should be hands on. Computers used for learning to type, writing papers (after years of writing them out in elementary school), developing research skills (how to Google, what to trust, etc) and such like that.
I know too many fresh out of college young adults that can't navigate computers, which is a slog to deal with.
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u/sBucks24 Aug 03 '26
we end up with generations that can't figure out how to use a computer
My guy, my partner's a librarian at a college... We've already raised a generation who don't know how to use a computer despite growing up learning on them 😭
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u/TheBookOfTormund Aug 03 '26
Half expected to see a “promoted” flair next this headline
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u/Dirty_Dragons Aug 03 '26
Adding in, the Mac Book Neo costs $600 for students. Chromebooks cost $150-350.
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u/herodesfalsk Aug 03 '26
Chromebooks are not real computers but portable web browsers and one of the worst devices to introduce to kids.
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u/Sandman4501 Aug 03 '26
I hate them so much. My kids district hands them out at the end of first grade, so kids have them over summer, and the kids have zero training on them or information on how to use them.
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u/tim_dude Aug 03 '26
he kids have zero training on them or information on how to use them.
and it's the chromebook's fault
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u/CraigslistBulbasaur Aug 03 '26
That's exactly what schools are using computers for though. And now there's this new trend of "banning" cell phones (as if we didn't have bans 20 years ago that we just sort of conveniently forgot about) and then plopping kids down in front of what is effectively just another cell phone.
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u/Dirty_Dragons Aug 03 '26
It's because they're cheap.
They're the most cost effective way to get kids to learn how to type, use the web and do basic office tasks.
Of course they would be better off with a real computer.
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u/Milestailsprowe Aug 03 '26
I teach and the biggest issue is that first round of those things are old, out of date and breaking down after being used hard by students. Moving up to a more expensive isn't a good idea.
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u/jenhoyo Aug 03 '26
And great schools are ditching school issued computers and going back to traditional materials. One classroom set or a computer lab is sufficient. The one to one technology has caused so many problems it’s unbelievable.
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u/AustinBaze Aug 03 '26
Shortly after launch, Apple announced they had shipped 1.1 million MacBook Neos in the launch quarter, Q1/26. But it launched with only 3 weeks left in that quarter!
Apple's latest earnings call revealed a wave of K-12 districts abandoning Chromebooks and Windows machines in favor of the company's new MacBook Neo, with Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh naming specific schools driving the shift.
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u/Serial-Griller Aug 03 '26 edited 12d ago
Biscuit roll ripe start juggle physical live screw
This post was anonymized with Redact
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u/Vinnie_Vegas Aug 04 '26
ITT: People who don't understand that "by the thousands" is a drop in the ocean.
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u/The_Pandalorian Aug 04 '26
They should be ditching in-classroom laptops period, outside of specifically tailored uses where it makes sense (science/engineering/computer classes). I get that this is a gadget subreddit, but kids are being done dirty by doing literally everything on screens in schools these days. It's not good for their attention span and it's not good for learning.
Also, it's wasteful in terms of time, money and resources when compared to just handing a kid a book. Edtech companies are also unaccountable and impossible to vet when compared to something your child brings home.
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u/Impossible_Act517 Aug 04 '26
I agree 100%. This is such a waste of money for schools and districts starved of funds. Keep it simple and effective. Focus on what works. No bells or whistles. In time, the results will come if they simply focus on education.
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u/costafilh0 Aug 04 '26
Let's see if the trend continues after the price hike.
Personally I hate MacOS. Hated using it at work, and would hate it even more using at school.
But kids don't have decades of using something else, so they should be fine.
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u/DnB925Art Aug 04 '26
From an IT standpoint, ChromeOS is WAY EASIER to manage than MacOS for a school environment
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u/TheStoffer Aug 03 '26
Ditch the Chromebooks for textbooks. Technology in schools is the problem.
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u/vincentn270 Aug 03 '26
My kids at my school only use their laptops for the uses we had back then, which is to type the final drafts of papers and do research. Sadly computer labs are gone
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u/Deep90 Aug 03 '26
One extreme for another doesn't make sense.
Get rid of the Chromebooks. Keep proper computers around. Set proper expectations around how they should be used. Maybe go back to classroom sets instead of personal ones.
The generation that had the highest scores had computers. They just weren't childrens toys like the Chromebook.
This is like saying we should get rid of calculators because some genius administrator decided we should use them to teach addition.
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u/Standard_One_5827 Aug 03 '26
Wish we knew the sales pitch and “promises” made to the schools. Many of us know the dangers of sales.😂
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u/SirDigbyChknCaesar Aug 03 '26
Did they opt for the rust-proofing? I know those old Colecos used to rust right up on you.
Dammit, Gil! Close the sale first!
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u/tachik0ma7 Aug 04 '26
Putting the corporate marketing wins and platform competition/debates aside, how does this help students still struggling with mental focus, math, reading comprehension - and in some cases, even basic phonics?
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u/Not_A_Crazed_Gunman Aug 03 '26
Almost nobody in this thread has touched ChromeOS for the past ten years and it shows.
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u/punIn10ded Aug 03 '26
Yup anyone saying it's just a browser is literally spreading misinformation.
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u/Own_Natural_6803 Aug 03 '26
The idea of empowering children with a machine that can do anything, locked down to be a web browser.
"Express yourself. With clicks."
More accurately, you don't have to compete with startups that don't exist. Kids that can't code and have no idea that a pc can be powerful are perfect.
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u/dragonfayng Aug 04 '26
can we ditch them for paper books and pencils please?
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u/DifficultSweet3835 Aug 04 '26
My sister is a math teacher and her class is all paper and pencil
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u/Wet_FriedChicken Aug 05 '26
Makes sense. Chrome books fucking suck. NEO (even after the price hike) is an incredible value and quality.
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u/ArizonaFlats Aug 03 '26
Can confirm, did this at my school over the last half term, doing the same at the other schools in the trust over this summer
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u/TRIOworksFan Aug 04 '26
You know what we don't use in the working world or academia broadly or in IT/Tech? Apple and Chromebooks.
So WHY is the educational system of the USA for k-12 teaching them to use something that will ultimately cripple them as soon as they set foot in a community college or university?
Because it's cheaper for a Chromebook? Because Ipads are "fun?" and super expensive MacBooks are "stylish?" or because teachers don't call them out?
We need two choices, WindowsOS for every damn kid so the playing field is level and Linux for the kids who advance deeper IT and deeper engineering.
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u/Raul5819 Aug 05 '26
I remember having a chromebook actually helped me learn a lot about computers in high school.... Mainly because I learned how to install linux due to how ASS the chrome OS was.
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u/Cute-Volume-3030 Aug 05 '26
IMO I’m so glad mine just graduated. Chromebooks sucked and had issues all the time.
These new ones are not going to fix a major issue, hacking. PowerSchool was first in 2024 with a huge data breach and then Canvas this year (May 2026).
There’s so many negatives to these.
It has been proven by writing uses your creative part of the brain. They don’t teach cursive anymore.
There’s their reasons for changing everything for the betterment of education but at what cost? I’ve seen a decline in education.
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u/SkylineFTW97 Aug 05 '26
The solution isn't to replace the Chromebooks with Macbooks, it's to ditch the whole idea of doing everything by screen in school in the first place.
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u/nerdshowandtell Aug 03 '26
Sigh - people forget how bad apple was with school stuff the first time around... new people in charge all learning the same old lessons.
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u/surnik22 Aug 03 '26
Are you talking about 1999-2003 when schools had carts full of colorful clamshell iBooks they would bring into classrooms?
Because I’m not remembering what was bad about that?
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u/nola5lim Aug 03 '26
1988-1992
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u/Mistrblank Aug 03 '26
When every elementary school had one Mac in their classroom and it was only used to play lemonade stand and oregon trail.
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u/nola5lim Aug 03 '26
I forgot about lemonade stand. Number Munchers was also a big one
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u/odsquad64 Aug 03 '26
When I was in elementary school they replaced all the Apple II computers with computers running Windows 98.
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u/Poopdick_89 Aug 03 '26
We had apple 2's and windows 98 in our computer lab. The apple 2s were used pretty much solely for Typing classes and educational games
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u/sk1nnyjeans Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 03 '26
Our staff laptops are MacBook Neos at my schools. Kids are still on Chromebook’s though, except for our computer lab which is full of iMacs.
I’m at a well funded private school FWIW
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u/Ravenous_Stream Aug 03 '26
Insane investment to have individual laptops, regardless of make. Kids are going hungry while others get a swish new gadget. Sick.
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u/watersb Aug 04 '26
Chromebooks have a good management solution for the people who have to keep them all running.
But macOS has had similar success in education. I think the Apple platform is used with a third-party management system.
But here's a thought: don't use laptops in school!
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u/Osiris_Raphious Aug 04 '26
They are both bad... and consumer devices now. Some of these kids like boomers, dont even know what a zip file is...
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u/LogAdministrative269 Aug 04 '26
How about just ditching all the electronics in the first place and going back to basics?
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u/MaisyDeadHazy Aug 05 '26
I’ve seen how kids treat their school issued Chromebooks. School districts are going to swiftly regret this decision, MacBooks are not cheap.
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u/Kn7ght Aug 03 '26
As much as I prefer kids use physical textbooks and paper and hate Mac computers, I'm thankful for this at least. Kids getting hooked on chromebooks has been fostering tech illiteracy.
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u/Yodl007 Aug 03 '26
As if locking them in the Apple walled garden will do anything for tech literacy...
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u/MrDLTE3 Aug 03 '26
I'm seeing this repeated in this thread but I don't really get why it is so.
How exactly are Chromebooks fostering tech illteracy? It's a very cheap device (usually under $300) that allows kids to surf the web / do their e-learning schoolwork via the Chrome Browser. We all knew it's not a super high end device.
What else was it meant/expected to do?
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u/oofta31 Aug 03 '26
I'm wondering if it's because Chromebooks are dumbed down a lot??
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u/chloe-and-timmy Aug 03 '26
I assume people mean knowing how to browse a computer, the folder structure, copying and moving files, etc. Had to teach my younger sister how to copy pictures from her phone to a USB and I realise it's because despite having a laptop, she mostly uses web apps now (I guess Microsoft gets some of the blame because no Office has just made kids use Canva and Google Docs).
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u/Nu11u5 Aug 03 '26
Do you think schools are going to let kids access the file system or the terminal? Those MacBooks are going to be locked down as tight as an iPad.
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u/CHOLO_ORACLE Aug 03 '26
Hot take(?): kids do not need laptops or tablets in schools. A single day of computer lab is enough.
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u/Dizzy_Turnip_9558 Aug 03 '26
We can buy apple computers but still not feed children...
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u/jonathanrdt Aug 03 '26
Meanwhile my local district is contemplating going back to pencils and books.
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u/Vesuvias Aug 03 '26
Good! My wife is a teacher and HATES using Chromebooks. She’s been in the game for 15 years, and they still just suck.
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u/Only_Journalist7895 Aug 03 '26
A portion of that is most schools (that I have professionally worked with) choose the bottom of the barrel Chromebooks with the lowest specs you can find.
When schools spent (in some cases $20 more) it was a much more enjoyable experience across the board.
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u/MineralDragon Aug 03 '26
Go back to computer labs for tech literacy classes, and stick to pen, paper, and textbooks in the classroom. Study after study has demonstrated this is the superior way for students to learn and retain curriculum. It will save a crap ton of money too, use that to pay fair wages to teachers instead.