ozydave Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 This is not my Plan – I say this at the outset. It’s been proposed that we have a set of 30 Macbook Pro’s in a trolley for music and media students rather than a suite of iMacs. Just fills me with dread! Can you lot convince me this is a good idea?
3s-gtech Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 What's the reasoning? Typically, the sort of applications used in Music and Media can shift a lot of data around, especially if you have network home directories. On wifi, this may be quite poor in use with a whole class doing so. Laptops are also more susceptible to breakage, which gets very pricey quickly with Macs. Plus, they're simply not as powerful as desktop equivalents, although the gap is small with the iMac. So no, I can't convince you. 1
bald_pig Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 logic struggles over the network with gigabit, you'd be stuffed using wifi! 2
synaesthesia Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 Point them in the direction of the thousands of cases of crapbook keyboard failures due to the rubbish new design. They're failing with personal use, how well are they likely to stack up in classroom? Not at all. So *when* one breaks you're down a whole machine rather than just being able to plug in a new keyboard/mouse. It's an awful idea. 1
DalekSec Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 Can you lot convince me this is a good idea? No, as it's not. It's a terrible idea! Laptops get broken a lot easier than desktops everyone knows that. Also a lot easier to steal. iMacs also have bigger screens and wired connections (yeah i know MacBooks can as well but defeats the purpose of the portable aspect). Pros of this plan: Portability, Cons of this plan: Literally everything else 1
DJ-1701 Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 The media Mac's here have had keyboards and mice damaged... at least those can be replaced at a lesser cost... I dread to think how much it would cost to repair MacBooks… especially if they are treated with the same disrespect of our Windows laptops. 1
strawberry Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 Great Idea, So long as everyone agrees it wont be as reliable, will have less performance and will cost a bundle more than desktops. 1
DalekSec Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 Not to mention if you get the new Macbooks you'll have USB-C adapters coming out of your ears and most likely stolen often 1
Arthur Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 (edited) I dread to think how much it would cost to repair MacBooks… £474.70 + VAT for a new screen. One of our teachers tripped over the power cable connected to their shiny new MacBook Pro! 🤦🤦🤦 x 💯 The keyboard apparently costs around $700 (~£520 + VAT) to replace out of warranty since the entire top half of the laptop needs to be replaced! It's only a matter of time until a speck of dust inevitably finds its way under the keys of the keyboard. https://daringfireball.net/linked/2018/04/25/johnston-mbp-keyboard Casey Johnston, writing for The Outline: A few months ago, I wrote about how my one-year-old MacBook Pro’s keyboard keys stopped working if a single piece of dust slipped under there, and more importantly, that neither Apple nor its Geniuses would acknowledge that this was actually a problem. Today, Best Buy announced it is having a significant sale on these computers, marking them hundreds of dollars off. Interesting. Still, I’d suggest you do not buy them. Since I wrote about my experience, many have asked me what happened with the new top half of the computer that the Apple Geniuses installed, with its pristine keyboard and maybe-different key switches. The answer is that after a couple of months, I started to get temporarily dead keys for seemingly no reason. Again. This keyboard has to be one of the biggest design screwups in Apple history. Everyone who buys a MacBook depends upon the keyboard and this keyboard is undependable. Jason Snell: I know that we Apple-watchers sit around wondering if Apple will release new laptops with new keyboards that don’t have these issues, but Apple’s relative silence on this issue for existing customers is deafening. If these problems are remotely as common as they seem to be, this is an altogether defective product that should be recalled. Further reading... Don’t buy the MacBook Pros even on sale, in my opinion The new MacBook keyboard is ruining my life Edited May 16, 2018 by Arthur 2
DalekSec Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 The new MacBook keyboard is ruining my life The headline alone screams 'Millennial', plug in a USB keyboard and your life isn't ruined anymore!
ICTDirect_Dave Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 Definitely not a good idea! A trolley with £30k worth of laptops is going to be a an expensive weight on your shoulders and with the current rate of attrition in the latest Macbook lineup you'll be forever booking in costly repairs/replacements. I could understand people asking for it if they were necessary for the work you suggest will be done on them, but they aren't. Macs aren't the industry standard in music or video production. Yes Garageband is on there and it's easy to use, but it's not something you'll find any studio orth it's salt using. HP Z Workstations are the default for all animation studios these days and similar machines will b perfect for music also, and for a fraction of the cost! - - - Updated - - - The headline alone screams 'Millennial', plug in a USB keyboard and your life isn't ruined anymore! Except that a laptop should not require a usb keyboard 1
DalekSec Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 Except that a laptop should not require a usb keyboard I'm just trying to save this guys life, he said it's ruined. I'm guessing his wife and kids have left him because of it, might of become homeless. If he plugged a usb keyboard in and has a way to type his life can become un ruined and he won't have to live in the 3rd word again the poor guy. As you can tell i don't like people who blow things out of proportion
3s-gtech Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 (edited) Yes, they have headphone sockets at least. No mention of an audio-in jack. We use external (M-audio or Roland) sound cards with our Macs. They're all USB and were pretty good value (used to enable headphones without cheap 3.5mm jacks snapping off inside the headphone port which happened A LOT). This is more awkward with laptops. Edited May 16, 2018 by 3s-gtech Context added.
Arthur Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 (edited) Surely Apple should design a better keyboard? One that doesn't need this... https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205662 I'm just trying to save this guys life, he said it's ruined. I'm guessing his wife and kids have left him because of it, might of become homeless. The author of that article is a women btw. Edited May 16, 2018 by Arthur
DalekSec Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 The author of that article is a women btw. I didn't bother reading it, the headline alone annoyed me enough!
synaesthesia Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 There's a typical pattern with Apple kit. It's never a design fault or just poor overall engineering. "They're using it wrong".
SamanthaD Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 The only positive I can think of for using a laptop form factor over a desktop is the ability to use a laptop stand and have your workstation contained in a space above a musical keyboard (similar to what DJ's do over their mixers). My old school had Zoostorms with monitors attached behind a keyboard which worked well, but try and find space for the computer keyboard and mouse and you end up with a jumble of wires. Other than that - just NO!
DeGrimmy Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 Yes, they have headphone sockets at least. No mention of an audio-in jack. We use external (M-audio or Roland) sound cards with our Macs. They're all USB and were pretty good value (used to enable headphones without cheap 3.5mm jacks snapping off inside the headphone port which happened A LOT). This is more awkward with laptops. My 2011 Macbook Pro 13" has a combined audio in/out port, which can be switched in the system preferences. No good if you have two analogue jacks to plug in! I think at that time, the larger Macbook Pros had one port for each, but I doubt that's the same anymore. And just to reiterate what everyone else has said - No, sounds like a terrible idea!
mjk Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 I'll bite. It's a good idea because students and parents KNOW macbooks are expensive and fragile. Prospective parents, wandering around the school, will be directed to said macbooks. They will be overwhelmed that the school has the kind of resources to provide such expensive kit. They will perceive that if the school can afford this kind of kit, and the techs to manage it, then imagine how well resourced the teachers are in other areas! The result is that more students will come to the school ( @4000 per student per year ! ) and your budget will grow by at least 10% per year. How did I do ? 2
Popular Post Oaktech Posted May 16, 2018 Popular Post Posted May 16, 2018 I'll bite. It's a good idea because students and parents KNOW macbooks are expensive and fragile. Prospective parents, wandering around the school, will be directed to said macbooks. They will be overwhelmed that the school has the kind of resources to provide such expensive kit. They will perceive that if the school can afford this kind of kit, and the techs to manage it, then imagine how well resourced the teachers are in other areas! The result is that more students will come to the school ( @4000 per student per year ! ) and your budget will grow by at least 10% per year. How did I do ? The cheque from Apple's marketing department is in the post... 5
HTCPCP Posted May 16, 2018 Posted May 16, 2018 Blatantly a great idea... Come on, how else will there be a constant stream of grade B macbooks on eBay*! In all seriousness - It's about as good of an idea as Professor Branestawms Pocket Motor Car for the reasons listed previously *Other auction sites are available, not all for sale are stolen, and no I don't know of any currently stolen on eBay
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