Man, talk about lucky in Kentucky. Students and staff in the Owensboro, Kentucky district will all be issued Apple’s newest ultraportable MacBook Air thanks to US$5 million in stimulus funding, Electronista reports. The MacBook Air’s small size and increased durability compared to the plastic and spinning-platter hard disk MacBook were key factors in the school district’s decision to go with the aluminum chassis, SSD-based MacBook Air.
Local reporters say students will be banned from “illegal websites” and “gambling over the internet.” (As an aside, whoever selected the B-roll for the report seems to have no idea what a MacBook Air is, as the footage instead shows some anonymous netbook). Teachers have already received their MacBook Airs, but students reportedly won’t receive them until a month or so into the school year.
I’ll admit it, I’m a little jealous of these kids. Back in my day, we had ten Apple IIe units to share among the entire elementary school. No internet, no portable computers, certainly nothing like the iPad… and we were thankful. All kidding aside, it’s great to see that Apple’s remained committed to education even as its cheaper computers like the eMac and the plastic MacBook have disappeared into the mists of history.
Owensboro, Kentucky students to receive 2200 MacBook Airs originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments