“The Maine Department of Education is making plans to continue the laptop computer program in middle schools beyond the original four-year contract,” The Associated Press reports. “Education Commissioner Susan Gendron told the Sun Journal newspaper that it would cost the state about eight million dollars to continue the Apple contract as is. She says it would cost ten million dollars a year to sign a similar agreement for a year but replace all 34-thousand laptops with new machines.”
According to the report, next month, the Maine Department of Education will open the program out to bid for a four-year plan. If there’s no winning bid, then the state will simply extend the current lease agreement with Apple Computer, Inc.
Full article here.
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Related MacDailyNews articles:
Should Maine’s 38,000 Apple iBooks in schools program be renewed? – October 10, 2005
Maine’s statewide Apple iBook program could offer insights for Massachusetts program – September 30, 2005
Long-term cost of Maine’s Apple iBooks for public schools estimated at $28 million per year – August 11, 2004
Maine orders up 6,000 Apple iBooks for public high schools – August 06, 2004
Maine’s Apple iBook program draws international attention – March 11, 2003
Gee, replace 34,000 three year old laptops with brand new MacTels for only $8,000,000 a year. That should be a no brainer.
I read it to mean that it would cost 10,000,000 to get all new intel macs. I think with the 8 million plan they are keeping some PPC stuff, either notebooks or servers or something.
Either way it over 4 years, not one.
Buy the last PPC ibooks. They’re fast enough, tried and true, and will work EXACTLY like the machines they are replacing. Let Intel ibooks mature and get them NEXT time instead.
Hey, why isn’t there some court case pending? Shouldn’t someone be complaining by now?
200 bucks per mac? Wow, I’m going back to school!
$50 per Mac per year… Dang, that’s a bargain.
I thought they decided to switch to dells?
Putting it out to bid?
Oh god here comes Dell which will be backed up by M$ and push Apple right out of Maine.
Lets see for example, it normally costs $1000 for a Mac laptop and little further expenses.
It normally costs $800 for a PC laptop, but requires $600 each per year in added costs to defend against spyware, viruses and extra tech support.
But Dell and M$ will subsidize the program and get the PC laptop cost down to a total of $500 a unit, throw in free anti-malware software and tech support just to push Apple out and make up for it by slightly raising prices next year.
So the kids suffer and the better platform looses.
Ain’t life grand?
Wow
8,000,000/34,000 = $236
10,000,000/34,000 = $294
And that’s a lease?
What the hell is a MacTel?
looses?