Apple's commitment to education is important. This sector can turn out to be the "seed" of many users who opt for a Mac for their training and become the computer brand of their lives, giving continuity in professional and personal life.
We know today the testimonies of Bradley Chambers, who specializes in the educational tools offered by Apple. Chambers has been working for Apple's education environment since 2009 and has extensive experience managing hundreds of Macs and iPads on educational networks. We will see your point of view of the current situation.
In the middle of the debate between the perfect team, be it the MacBook, the MacBook Air or the MacBook Pro, we can affirm, just as we expected, that everyone has their pros and cons.
Like any study, the first thing Chambers establishes are the measurement criteria. For this, the three main axes in education are the following:
- Hardware compatibility with peripherals such as screens, projectors, etc.
- La Hardware consistency and stability.
- Price compared to functionality.
Let's see each of them:
Hardware compatibility with peripherals
The main feature are the connections that each of the teams has and the characteristics of the peripheral. Today's MacBook and MacBook Pros feature USB-C to a large extent. In contrast, the MacBook Air, retains the USB-A.
USB-C is the future and the possibilities it offers seem logical to opt for this connection. But it is not the present for many peripherals such as desktop printers. You can always turn to adapters, but if you run a lot of Macs like a school, the over-cost can be significant.
The consistency and stability of the Hardware.
New doesn't always have to be better. But it depends, once again, on how we use it. For example, the new MacBook and MacBook Pros carry the wonderful butterfly keyboard. This keyboard is causing problems as soon as a small object enters between the keys. This can lead to not recommending these computers for heavy use by many different users.
Price compared to functionality.
It always seems that buying a Mac with very high performance is the best, so as not to run out of performance in any action, in the present or future. But it is not always justified to buy many MacBook Pro Retina, if the use that the equipment will make is mainly for text editing, video playback, etc.
So, in conclusion, team management in education does not have to differ much from choosing a Mac for personal use. Of course, we must see that the investment is made for a group and specify when you buy equipment for more than 50 students, it is something complex.