Why do Schools use MACS?

[peters.11]

When schools have Windows running in their schools, the have the freedom to install their own personal UI and input their preferred settings when it comes to parental controls and security, if schools invest in PC's at least the'll know they have total control of the computers in their possession.

[ZacDaMan72]

I'll ask my IT tech at school next week.

[Jvagle875]

Educational pricing and such. My old high school was given 10 million that had to be used on technology for the school so imacs, ipads, ipods were all purchased. Although for all of our laptops, they used thinkpads because thinkpads are what's up.

[peters.11]

think pads are the ultimate workplace and school machine, they've spent years perfecting the perfect recipe 

[The Crazed Child]

I've actually been to a school that has Macs and I can see why they use them.

 

Compared to Windows machines there is a lot more quality pre-installed content creation software on them. I remember making a stop motion film with some OS X software, doing it on Windows movie maker would have been a pain. Also that "iMovie" program comes free with OS X. I think some famous YouTubers actually use that over the more expensive Final Cut Pro. 

[peters.11]

movie maker also comes free with wondows 8

[ZacDaMan72]

movie maker also comes free with wondows 8

But it's so shit!

[macpro622776]

But is it safe to adapt and change? apple has had a violent financial history, during the 90's apple's existence as a company was in jeopardy, we don't know if they will exist in the future.

 

That was so many moons ago that it is no longer an argument again - Apple's financial history isn't violent, it just dipped significantly then but has come back up and hardly changed since. I was told the other day by a reputable source that the value of Apple is approximately the values of Facebook and Google put together.

 

When schools have Windows running in their schools, the have the freedom to install their own personal UI and input their preferred settings when it comes to parental controls and security, if schools invest in PC's at least the'll know they have total control of the computers in their possession.

 

Because OS X totally cannot do that.

 

think pads are the ultimate workplace and school machine, they've spent years perfecting the perfect recipe

And MacBook Airs and Pros aren't?

[Rageodontist]

I have to do a powerpoint project for school on why schools would use macs vs PCs. I cant think of that many reasons for them to use a mac. PIease give me some suggestions.

My school only uses macs for the photography rooms, I think the reason it probably that apple gave them huge educational discounts instead of someone like dell.

[Recon-UK]

I heard some schools use Mac 11's...

 

[mr.skyrim_pc]

I know!

2gb of ram *facepalm*

If I remember correctly, it only has a 5400 rpm hard drive....

[_TechPuppet_]

It makes them feel tech savvy, which they're not at all.

Exactly!

[EmotionalSloth]

Macs are easy to use and don't get viruses....

[Recon-UK]

Macs are easy to use and don't get viruses....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/9355995/Apple-drops-virus-immunity-claim-for-Macs.html

[EmotionalSloth]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/9355995/Apple-drops-virus-immunity-claim-for-Macs.html

well nvm then  

[LAwLz]

I dont mind the small close minimise buttons I like the colour coding and find it simple to use. I dont mind the unified top tool bar. A lot of programs these days are trying to hide it, like changing settings in chrome  for example, lots of programs putting settings in strange places or omitting them altogether. I like being able to alt-tab in OSX and pressing Q to quite an application, its very fast. I also like the dock and how programs minimise to one side. I find it much easier to use than the task bar in windows 8 (although its not bad).

 

Apple were the first to make a GUI for the personal computer. Who writes the rules more than the first people to do it?. Again, you said leave subjective out but you are giving your opinion on GUI elements. I dont think what you said is anything objectivity wrong with OSX just things you do not like

Well the first part of your post sounds like baby duck syndrome.

 

The second part is just inane and lies. Apple didn't make the first GUI. The first people to do something don't always get the write all the rules.

I am not giving my opinion on the subject. According to Fitt's law, buttons in corners have an infinite size, and it is therefore extremely easy to press them. Buttons which are important should be placed in corners, such as the right corner in Windows for the close button, or the button left corner for the start button.

Having a unified task bar also limits the amount of controls you can have on the screen as well. It has some benefits but also drawbacks.

Whether those drawbacks are worth the benefits are subjective, but the fact that the drawbacks exists are objective.

 

 

 

lol @ people need proof? facts? etc. this is so stupid. if you prove something on the net you won't benefit from anything and for the kid asking for proof. it's all personal preference.

I hope you're not for real... You should always, always, ALWAYS be prepared to back up your statements with facts. If you don't have facts and still make statements then you're no better than a liar. Asking for proof does not "benefit the one asking for it" by the way. In this thread I see a lot of people making baseless and wrong claims and not posting any proof whatsoever. OP is doing this as a school project and he is being fed misinformation. it's like someone asking for a history lesson and me going "well the US went to the sun in 1972", then when someone asks for proof I just go "lol people need proof? facts? That is stupid. Me posting proof will only benefit you. It's just personal preference if they went to the sun or not!".

That is not how you should write school papers. Always back up your claims with reliable sources, otherwise people will think of you as "that guy who just makes crap up".

 

 

I personally don't like the mac os as I liked windows more. although the mac os seems to be more user friendly and dumbass free (since you barely have to do anything to it. which is perfect for schools).

That is not true at all. I have no idea where this misinformation about OS X being locked down comes from. It's in fact a lot more flexible than Windows in many regards. Hell it even comes with BASH preinstalled, and if you scratch away Aqua you will basically find FreeBSD. As far as I know, OS X does not have as elegant of a solution as Windows domains and Active Directory integration either.

[bcredeur97]

my school doesn't have macs... we use thin clients (about 300 of them throughout the school) all connected to ONE SINGLE SERVER.

 

 

when no one is at school they work fine, in the middle of the day when all u want to do is simply print something though, its terrible you have to reserve like half an hour of your time to go print a sheet of paper...

[ShadowCaptain]

Well the first part of your post sounds like baby duck syndrome.

 

The second part is just inane and lies. Apple didn't make the first GUI. The first people to do something don't always get the write all the rules.

I am not giving my opinion on the subject. According to Fitt's law, buttons in corners have an infinite size, and it is therefore extremely easy to press them. Buttons which are important should be placed in corners, such as the right corner in Windows for the close button, or the button left corner for the start button.

Having a unified task bar also limits the amount of controls you can have on the screen as well. It has some benefits but also drawbacks.

Whether those drawbacks are worth the benefits are subjective, but the fact that the drawbacks exists are objective.

 

Baby duck syndrome? I have only owned 1 mac my whole life, a mac mini which I bought about 4 years ago and sold 2 years later. I worked with them for 8 years though. Always loved the system even though I am a windows user myself, I know macs pretty well inside out.

 

It isn't lies. OK the first (i believe) was the Xerox Alto, at least that used a mouse driven GUI like modern systems anyway. This was only a few years before OSX and the Apple Lisa was one of the first affordable personal computer designed for consumers not businesses like SGI/Xerox etc at the time. 

I agree that the first don't always get it write or get to write the rules.

 

Fitts law is all when and good but that was something thought  up in 1954, years before apple windows was even a thing. Whos to say say that this is "the correct way". It isnt physical law. They are drawbacks to you and perhaps according to fitts law but I (and many people I know who ARE apple users, as well as thousands of customers who came back to get upgrades over the years or for tutorials etc etc all loved the interface, how easy simple and clean it was.

 

I do not think there is a perfect interface. They all have their issues, I mean look what Microsoft have done to windows lately since 8. They even removed the X button for a while there, and the shut down button. That was really a step in the wrong direction. It is constantly evolving and requiring new knowledge to operate. OSX has always had the same look and feel. The same organisation and features. It has just improved in time. Features like finder tabs, why cant we have a tabbed windows explorer, or tags, what an awesome system that is. There is plenty to love about OSX from a usability standpoint when you get to know it well.

[LAwLz]

Could you list some of these "rules and laws" of designing a GUI?

If you want an example then Fitts' law is one of them that Apple breaks by having the unified toolbar on top instead of the bottom.

Placing important buttons somewhere other than corners is pretty stupid, because it is far more difficult to hit. The effective size of the close button in Windows is infinite. On OS X it's like 25x25 pixels.

 

 

Benefits of the unified menubar on OS X

• always in the same place
• changes based on application & tells you the active application
• the menu stays almost in the same arrangement every application
• the menu has search for the commands
• you can bind the menu commands on per application basis from the system preferences

On Windows:

• the menus are all over the place, sometimes shown, sometimes hidden etc.
• the menus don't provide a search function for the commands
• binding hotkeys only if the application itself supports it
• the border around every window wastes space
• only one workspace
• when you open multiple windows in the same application, you duplicate the same controls even when you might not want to do so.
• The "window = application" way of handling things has produced quite interesting ways of dealing with multiple documents and windows http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2009/01/dock-and-windows-7-taskbar/

 

Most applications have a toolbar above the window, which you can optionally completely hide, re-arrange, remove or add items to.

I took some screenshots of the toolbar in pages for you: https://imgur.com/a/akvmr

Benefit 1 and 3 sounds very very similar to me. Anyway I am not denying that there are some benefits to having a unified toolbar. Don't pretend like there aren't any drawbacks though. Listing the same things as benefits on OS X and drawbacks on Windows is just a lazy way to make it seem like more benefits/drawbacks by the way. For example you're listing "search for commands" twice in your post. It's enough to write "benefits of OS X: toolbar always in the same place". You don't have to write "Benefit of OS X: toolbar always in the same place. Drawback of Windows: Toolbar not always in the same place".

Not being forced to use a specific toolbar is both good and bad. It's bad because an incompetent developer might make it harder to reach certain things, but it's good because developers get more flexibility. Not all programs needs a toolbar, so in OS X you are wasting precious vertical resolution by having one.

I don't necessarily think borders around windows are bad either. It makes each program feel more like a window and not something floating in midair. This is fairly subjective though but even if you for some reason don't want it you could always use make them smaller.

You can get multiple workspaces in Windows if you want.

The "window = application" does not really have that much to do with the GUI but rather how windows are treated in Windows. Personally I prefer that when I close a window, the program gets closed too (although kept in the cache for a little while), and doesn't just get minimized and keeps running in the background. Feels more natural to me. There are good ways of dealing with multiple documents in a single window in Windows as well. Tabs in your browser is a good example of this. We also have tabs in programs like Excel, Foxit Reader, Photoshop etc. Another way of dealing with it is by doing what HexChat does and make a tree of the difference channels/conversations. Again, it's up to the developer how they want to handle it. Some make bad decitions and you should blame them, not Microsoft for that.

 

Oh so most applications has multiple toolbars, and they are not in the same place of the screen? Doesn't seem to be any standard rules for how these toolbars (if the program even has them) should be arranged either, so doesn't that go against some of your arguments for a unified toolbar?

 

 

Unfortunately, I cannot provide any empirical evidence (how much was spent, replacement rates, etc.) seeing as how doing so would violate the legal agreement I made with said school district and because it would reveal too much information about where I attended school. 

Yeah I am sure posting two numbers would reveal too much info where you attended school. I am sure someone could figure that out by looking at two numbers like for example "95,251 vs 84,271".

Anyway, no proof = no argument so it's your loss, not mine, that you won't back your claim up.

 

 

Wow, guys, the OP has to write a presentation as a school project,  If he uses all the subjective reasoning put forward in this thread he will fail. Arguments have to be objective and rationalized.

Exactly.

It boggles my mind that some people are saying "lol @ people need proof? facts? etc. this is so stupid. if you prove something on the net you won't benefit from anything and for the kid asking for proof."

Is that what this world has come to? "I don't need to post proof because whatever I say is the absolute truth and you just have to trust me!". That's not how logical reasoning and objective arguments work...

 

 

Apple designs they're computers for education and to get real work done.

Students actually improve their learning with macs raising their grades.

 

When I was in elementary we got to take a mac home everyday. My grade went from a C to a B+.

Incredible difference in how much it made to my education and others.

Ahahaha oh God this can't be for real.

"Macs magically makes your grades 1 step higher!".

Please show me a peer reviewed paper that states that Macs generally improve peoples' ability to learn.

I mean, if it's true then it's a very very important finding and it shouldn't be that hard to find studies about it, right? Will I become better at memorizing Kanji if I get an iMac? Maybe I will start reading manuals faster if they are displayed on an iMac screen.

 

 

 

Oh and one last time...

Can we please stop saying OS X is more "locked down" than Windows? I have absolutely no idea where that idea came from. OS X is in many regards more powerful, and easier to fuck up than Windows is. People also seem to completely ignore that you can enforce group policies on Windows domain users.

It seems like 90% of the people posting in this thread are just making things up or parroting what they have heard other people make up. If you don't have any experience or knowledge about being a sysadmin then maybe you shouldn't comment on it...

[Opcode]

Because it's our tax dollars that they're spending.

[LAwLz]

Baby duck syndrome? I have only owned 1 mac my whole life, a mac mini which I bought about 4 years ago and sold 2 years later. I worked with them for 8 years though. Always loved the system even though I am a windows user myself, I know macs pretty well inside out.

Good for you... Your post is still mostly "my opinion > your opinion" though even if it may not be baby duck syndrome. You're basically just saying "I don't mind X and Y and Z and A and B so therefore it is not a bad design!". Just because you can tolerate something does not mean it is actually good.

 

 

It isn't lies. OK the first (i believe) was the Xerox Alto, at least that used a mouse driven GUI like modern systems anyway. This was only a few years before OSX and the Apple Lisa was one of the first affordable personal computer designed for consumers not businesses like SGI/Xerox etc at the time. 

I agree that the first don't always get it write or get to write the rules.

Yes it is a lie. Saying something that is not true (you saying that Apple were the ones that invented the GUI) is lying. You can try to move the goal post now if you want by going "well they were the first to make the GUI for a computer for home use and not businesses" if you want but you're just making yourself look silly trying to twist your incorrect statement into something kind of correct.

 

 

Fitts law is all when and good but that was something thought  up in 1954, years before apple windows was even a thing. Whos to say say that this is "the correct way". It isnt physical law. They are drawbacks to you and perhaps according to fitts law but I (and many people I know who ARE apple users, as well as thousands of customers who came back to get upgrades over the years or for tutorials etc etc all loved the interface, how easy simple and clean it was.

Mathematical formulas (which there are plenty of that follows Fitts' law) do not care how old they become. 1 + 1 = 2 has stayed true throughout time. Smaller objects = more aim required = harder to press and may end up taking a longer time.

Your second argument in this quote is just an argument ad populum. "A lot of people think so and therefore it must be true!". It's a logical fallacy.

 

 

I do not think there is a perfect interface. They all have their issues, I mean look what Microsoft have done to windows lately since 8. They even removed the X button for a while there, and the shut down button. That was really a step in the wrong direction. It is constantly evolving and requiring new knowledge to operate. OSX has always had the same look and feel. The same organisation and features. It has just improved in time. Features like finder tabs, why cant we have a tabbed windows explorer, or tags, what an awesome system that is. There is plenty to love about OSX from a usability standpoint when you get to know it well.

There are plenty of things to love, and plenty of things to hate. That's why I don't think it is a good idea to bring that up as a reason why "OS X is better than Windows", because it's far too subjective.

[rambi36]

Well my school uses macs and pcs, as well as some chromebooks and I have to say that the desktop pcs in my cs lab are the only pcs in our school that are decent. The other pcs are shitty lenovos with i3s and 4gb of ram and a really slow 5400 rpm hard drive. And you guys already know about the situation with the macs in my school so...

[toughtrasher]

I think it's because Macs are seen as great technology by some board of education members, so when schools have Macs, people think highly of that school because they inject technology into their education. Something liike that

[macpro622776]

As far as I know, OS X does not have as elegant of a solution as Windows domains and Active Directory integration either.

 

Well it does, as I wrote earlier. It's called Open Directory.

[RelentlessAF]

iMac $1299 with education discount = $1100 (roughly)

http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/imac?afid=p219%7CGOUK&cid=AOS-UK-KWG-GO_UK_CPU

 

PC with 21.5" ips monitor, similar spec, including OS $1026, still does not include speakers, wireless keyboard and mouse (all included)

Also comes with photo ediitng software, video editing software, music software, etc etc etc

(also nowhere near the build quality, no warranty (obviously each item does), no support from manufacturer  etc etc

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3ORt8

I gotta ask though, why does a high school need this? You aren't going to need anything amazing to be able to use Adobe products. Just relatively decent hardware, my Dad's $250 PC runs Photoshop as well as my $1200. In the end it just doesn't make sense why they pay so much for it. Any OEM PC or a Mac will have great tech support and build quality. It just seems like a waste. Also as a transition the schools around where I live are ditching any sort of desktop PC's and are getting cheap chrome books instead.