Kansas school district dumps Apple Macs for Dell PCs
Thursday, April 19, 2007 - 03:09 PM EST

"They weren’t comparing apples to oranges," Diane Gasper-O'Brien reports for The Hays Daily News [Hayes, Kansas]. "But when school board members in Hays USD 489 compared Apples to Dells, the price tag on this bag of Apples was just too high."

"So the board voted 5-1 on Wednesday night to go with Dells — a PC brand — for the next technology lease for the district," Gasper-O'Brien reports.

"The Hays district is in its final year of a three-year lease with Apple, from which it is leasing 1,800 computers yearly, including 1,450 laptops — 1,100 at Hays High School alone. The the new four-year lease with Dell will begin June 1. The district decided to switch to a four-year lease agreement to help spread the cost through an additional year," Gasper-O'Brien reports.

"The difference in total price between the two proposals for the four-year lease was $200,000. 'I don’t think we have any choice,' board member Greg Schwartz said," Gasper-O'Brien reports.

"At a technology work session earlier this month, school board members and the district’s technology committee decided to keep the annual amount coming out of capital outlay to $920,000 or less. Dell’s proposal was $919,909, while Apple’s was $945,295," Gasper-O'Brien reports. "With all bids and all budgets included, the four-year total from Apple was right at $4.3 million, while Dell’s was $4.1 million."

"'This recommendation will meet our needs and serve what we need to have served in the most economical way possible,' Woods said. While Woods said she knows some district employees would prefer staying with Apple, she thinks everyone will be on board as 'team players' come summer," Gasper-O'Brien reports.

Gasper-O'Brien reports, "Woods said the Apple laptops will be available for purchase by the general public when the new computers come in. She and VonLintel will release the process for buying those laptops later this week."

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