(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Kansas City Public Schools will kick their PCs and Chromebooks to the curb to become an "all-Apple" school district.
As part of the transition, the school district will replace around 30,000 Windows PCs and Chromebooks with Apple devices, 9to5Mac reports. The district has already acquired 4,500 MacBook Neos for students in eighth grade and above; students in lower grades will get devices from an existing stock of iPads and MacBook Airs.
“This decision reflects our ongoing commitment to providing the highest quality education from day one, and we're excited to bring about such a positive change,” the district said in a notice that calls Apple devices “more secure, durable, and reliable.”
The move was highlighted by Apple CFO Kevan Parekh in the company’s latest earnings call. Mentioning Kansas City Public Schools as an example, Parekh said Apple is currently delivering “an unprecedented combination of quality, value, and industry-leading security that is resonating strongly in enterprise and education.”
The MacBook Neo’s launch in March shock waves through the Windows ecosystem, with Asus co-CEO S.Y. Hsu even saying there were discussions within the community about “how to compete with this product.” It received positive reviews from customers and tech experts; PCMag’s Joe Osborne gave the laptop a 4.5-star rating and our Editors’ Choice designation.
Following the Neo launch, Apple reportedly asked suppliers to double up on production. According to tech columnist Tim Culpan, Apple was expecting to sell 5-6 million units before launch, but it has since revised the target to 10 million. The company has also ordered a fresh lot of A18 Pro processors for Neo from TSMC, he added.