John Wilkes Universityannounced Wednesday that it has root for the plug on PC in favour of Macs , say the move — which actually commence last class — will save the Pennsylvania liberal arts college more than US$ 150,000 while still countenance students and faculty continue to operate Windows applications .
Touted by Apple as one of the first college to mandate a campus - wide chemise from Windows PCs to Macs , the Wilkes - Barre , Pa. school was n’t a citadel of all things Apple before the decision , said Scott Byers , vice Chief Executive for finance and the brain of campus IT . Macs , in fact , were a minority .
Rather than take bid from the usual PC suspects — Dell and HP — as well as Macs , Wilkes adjudicate to go all - Apple because the newfangled Intel - ground manikin and the BootCamp dual - flush software — the Apple software is still in genus Beta — would let the school reduce the numeral of machines campus - wide . “ This is an belligerent technology refresh , ” Byers said .
“ We ’ll be able to reduce the number by about 250 ” across the campus , said Byers , because labs and classrooms were typically fit with an ineffective microcomputer - Mac commixture . A class worthy for 30 , for illustration , might be fit out with 20 PCs and 20 mackintosh , “ because each year and each section had its own preference for what computers and what software they like to use , ” Byers said .
Now , that form sport 30 Macs , able to swing out both ways at will , courtesy BootCamp .
“ We cogitate it will save $ 150,000 straightaway , in buying few unit — even though the Macs cost more per building block than PCs , ” he said . The school , which enrolls about 4,000 undergraduate and graduate scholar , will reduce its inventory from nigh 1,700 computing machine to around 1,450 after the change - over . Other costs savings , however , will be harder to measure . “ By standardizing , the IT department should be more productive , ” Byers said .
He also reference the additional security of Mac OS X , school - wide approach to Apple ’s iLife entourage , and Apple ’s OS itself as side benefits . “ It is , well , the ranking OS , is n’t it ? ” said Byers , who before the permutation was a dye - in - the - woolen Windows user .
The key to the modification was Apple ’s move to the Intel processor in other 2006 and the dual - kick BootCamp app . The university ’s direction program — which chase after scholar from program through graduation exercise — is a Windows app , for instance , and could n’t be abandoned . With BootCamp , such a move is n’t necessary .
Although the $ 1.4 million three - year switch — which started last year with the leverage of around 500 Macs — means Wilkes is all - Apple , pupil are free to choose any operating organization , say Byers . “ There ’s no Mac mandate . ”
Most of them pick one anyway : “ This generation seems to prefer Macs , ” he added .
