Chairman Stuart Myers said the laptops are in good shape and don't need replacing...

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Blast! Having a quality product backfires again!

The real reason apple loses market share. Their "junkyard installed user base" does not rise like the rest of the craptabulous PC companies.

This isn't as bad as it may sound at first blush. The district basically turned down an early offer of a new contract from Apple, which is far different from refusing to renew come the contract's expiration.

The above two posts are also pertinent. It's amazing to think that laptops used by kids for a couple of years could still be in working order.

Pardon me if I find humor in that statement. Several years ago, I was employed by an Apple Specialist who contracted with henrico to repair a lot of the ibooks. in several short weeks, we replaced over 1200 cd-rom drives and top cases. The reality of the program was that the kids were treating the machines like used text books. If the machines are in good condition, I'd be somewhat amazed. Not to mention the fact that I'd love to buy the people repairing them a drink. They must be turning screws 18 hours a day.

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Guest wrote:
Pardon me if I find humor in that statement. Several years ago, I was employed by an Apple Specialist who contracted with henrico to repair a lot of the ibooks. in several short weeks, we replaced over 1200 cd-rom drives and top cases. The reality of the program was that the kids were treating the machines like used text books. If the machines are in good condition, I'd be somewhat amazed. Not to mention the fact that I'd love to buy the people repairing them a drink. They must be turning screws 18 hours a day.

Funny? Funny how?

In June, the school board announced the results of a commisioned survey that "A staggering 85.8 percent of all survey respondents in Henrico support the one-to-one laptop initiative in the county’s high schools," and "It revealed 88 percent of parents were in favor of continuing the initiative at the high school level and 78 percent of parents were in favor of continuation in middle schools."

Pretty positive response concidering the level of laptop abuse you seem to know all about. So should we assume that school board Chairman Stuart Myers is lying when he said "the laptops are in good shape and don't need replacing"? If the ibooks were getting so trashed, why wouldn't he jump at the chance to get NEW ones, hmm? He-- and most of the parents-- sounds pretty pleased with the ibook initiative so far.

Besides, your interchanging of "we" and "they" in your post leads me to doubt the veracity of your claim anyway.

-Ken

PS: Bryan, PLEASE fix that headline before CNET gets wind of it!

If I’m not mistaken, the iBook deal with Henrico County is about 2 years old …