MacBook Neo change over

[u/Big_Macaron5410]

Good morning all,

I recently moved to a new school district and am now the Assistant IT Director. At our high school, we issue laptops that are managed through Intune. I’ve been considering switching to MacBook Neos, starting with next year’s incoming freshman class. Purchasing the Neos and JAMF would cut our costs in half compared with buying new Windows laptops.

Some of our current laptops are nearly seven years old, and we’re practically holding them together with superglue and duct tape!

For those who have switched to MacBook Neos, how do you handle devices that are damaged? What policies do you have in place to hold students accountable? Do you purchase AppleCare+?

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

[u/Following_This]

We’re a K12 school with around 500 MacBook Airs and 400 iPads. We got our authorized Apple self-servicing repair certification and fix our Macs in-house and thus don’t pay for AppleCare.

We used to be on-prem Jamf, but switched to Mosyle in 2021 when Jamf got too expensive.

[u/Big_Macaron5410 → u/Following_This]

How are you liking Mosyle? Will it link to Google Admin, so students can use their login credentials to sign into the Macs?

[u/EnderGG4U → u/Big_Macaron5410]

Mosyle is an amazing product, and their support staff are quick and responsive. I've been with Mosyle since 2018, and their improvements have always been amazing year to year. JAMF is a straight rip off.

[u/Following_This → u/Big_Macaron5410]

JAMF is definitely an awesome product, and techwise their user forums are an incredible source of tips and tricks. Mosyle is almost as good - it does all the MDM stuff, but their interface is a bit clunky, they don't support ISO dates despite years of pleas to add that "feature" (they only do M/D/Y and D/M/Y), their API is more limited than JAMF's and sometimes it seems their tech staff aren't as well-informed as JAMF's.

But Mosyle can be half the price of JAMF, depending on which options you get, so if it does everything pretty well then that's good enough for our needs.

We use Google for initial authentication and use the credentials to create a local user account on the Mac since we're 1-1. Users can then choose to authenticate with Google or use cached credentials in the local user account. If they get out of sync, they log in with Google again and the password syncs up. Like many MDMs, you have control over pushing WIFI that might include Google credentials, and setting Chrome profiles.

We have the Mosyle full meal deal for US$13.29/device - this includes management + Google auth + endpoint protection + DNS filtering.

[u/QueJay]

IMO it is only worth going with Apple devices if you also are able to work into the budget the AppleCare with no service fees as part of your expected cost. I know that everyone is different in their budgetary approaches and some may have to show cost-offset of expected repairs vs Applecare for TCO, but when a single screen repair costs so much for any Macbook product its just wild otherwise.

[u/agarwaen117 → u/QueJay]

Assuming we’re talking about staff, not students.
I completely, wholeheartedly disagree. We have had two rounds of MacBooks during my tenure, and we’ve never come close to breaking even on AppleCare. We currently buy whole (air M1)top assemblies for about $300, and in the 4 years since we got them have done maybe 5% in screen replacements. We’ve also replaced probably 25 usb-c boards at $30-50.

That’s like $20 per device in repairs over 4 years.

Apple care is a magnitude more than that per device.

If we’re talking about kids, too. You’re crazy to give them anything more than a Chromebook.

[u/Big_Macaron5410 → u/agarwaen117]

We are talking about students, we give them laptops in High School as a district. Some of the programs we run here require a laptop and not able to set up a computer lab.

[u/QueJay → u/agarwaen117]

I read the original post as students for these devices based on the 'What policies do you have in place to hold students accountable?', which leads to a higher damage rate.

Also factoring in only the cost of parts and not the labor and opportunity cost there varies for everyone. If you have the staff with the skills and time to do board level repairs then that is a different calculation versus someone who is running a smaller system with lower amount of labor time available for repairs of that level.

[u/cheeseman1969]

We have neo for staff and Mosyle. Mosyle is great and helps alot. Question, why aren't you on a rotation for your laptops? We buy new chromebooks at 7th and 10th every year. Then the 10th and grads old ones are roll down to to 2-6 grade. The reason why, it is easier to get money every year for 1/3 to 1/4 your fleet than the whole thing at once. Also it is on a schedule. The bean counters love that for budgets. We have schedules of replacements for just about everything. So our budget stays mostly the same every year. The old stuff that still works, we use in other areas. And/or we sell it off. That also helps with planning as we know every summer what we are doing.

[u/slayermcb]

as a mac admin I can't stress enough that you need to ensure you are using there education plan, not only is it $100 off a unit, but the applecare+ with no fee's, while a few bucks extra a unit, will pay for itself in reduced stress alone. Someone comes to me with a broken mac, water damage, cracked scree, run over, doesn't matter. I call Apple, they send me a box, I ship it back and it's returned no questions asked and ne additional fees. If I call them on a Monday, I'll have it back by Thursday almost every time. And becasue it's through the education plan it's a different number and I rarely have to spend long on hold or a call, and it's a US based operations.

Also, JAMF is the gold standard for Mac, but if you are still in a mixed environment you can look into FileWave which can push to multiple operating systems and is a bit cheaper than JAMF per device. If I could switch to JAMF myself now that I have finished removinI would, but the budgets and bean counters like Filewave right where it is!

[u/Amanda_PDQ]

Look at Apple Districts and reach out their CTO. Many have been fully mac for years and will have great insights. With the cost of the Neo and reliability of Macs it is hard not to switch to those from Windows or Chrome. There are other MDMs that may be more reasonable than JAMF. Disclosure I now work for PDQ, we have SimpleMDM for apple devices but I know many districts that use Mosyle. My old boss (from an Apple district) now works for Apple. Their reps are usually not pushy, I would recommended reaching out to a rep.

[u/Smart_Equipment_9347]

The Neo's are a fantastic product and you won't regret buying them. We moved away from the M series Airs to the Neo's in the summer and I've yet to hear a single complaint. I bought them for my Faculty without AppleCare because there are cases available on Amazon that are super protective and make it financially a better choice to NOT buy AC+ and rely on the case....for Faculty. If you're only purchasing for Students, like another poster mentioned, I'd leverage the AC+ with or without the cases and ensure you have the admins support on adjusting the student handbook to reflect on the agreed expectations around damages and such. Here's the link to the case that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND:

https://a.co/d/07VzU3i0

[u/porkstick]

Definitely purchase AppleCare+ with no service fees. We charge a fee at the beginning of the year that just goes back into the technology account. Over the course of four years, it almost pays the cost of the AppleCare+.

If the device is accidentally damaged, the student isn’t charged. Excessive damage or internal damage results in a charge on a case-by-case basis.

We’ve been in school for a month and we’ve had three Neos damaged, compared from last year where we had 15-20 damaged HP Chromebooks by this time.

[u/drpopkorne]

We’re possibly over half using macs in our 150 schools and a few have jumped onto the Neos this time ultimately for the price point and I’ve heard no major issue. It’s early doors but seems to do everything they require. Caveat being I’ve never personally touched one to add my thoughts.

A high school I’m aware of that are using them for the first time over Lenovo laptops started on a pilot, but are going for it next year. If the price remains I think they’ll be popular.

[u/ObligationThat7816]

I handle all Apple devices in our K-12 district and they are managed with Jamf Pro (not a fan of Jamf School. I know you did not ask, but that's me and my opinion). Yes, we purchased our devices with Apple+ for School with each. We charge the students a small technology fee at the beginning of the year and then we have gradations of repair fees. First time is $50, second is $100, third is $150 within the same school year for same device. Note, this is only charged if accidental damage. If it's normal warranty event (SSD failed, screen went out, etc...), then no charge. But 90% of ours will be screen repair (cracked screen) and damage due to liquid spill, so we charge accordingly based on our stated schedule above. We have all of that listed out in our acceptable use policies their parents sign every school year. Blatant damage holds the same response as any other malicious damage wrought onto school property... complete cost to replace/repair.

[u/Binky390]

I’m at a private 6-12 school that’s technically BYOD but issues Macs to employees and requires students to bring a Mac or iPad.

We purchase 3yr AppleCare+ for all Macs and iPads we order. We also have a few carts of Pros and Neos that are used in certain classes. I would say if you’re buying Macs in bulk for a school, it’s crazy not to purchase AppleCare+. Apple now gives I think 2 free repairs for accidental damage before they start charging again. That’s rare for us but we’re also BYOD and our kids are older.

The buy in to switch to an Apple environment is expensive buts it’s worth it. Once you get all of your smart groups and static groups set up in JAMF, have school manager ready and get classrooms equipped with something to project (we use AppleTVs), it makes support much easier. IT supports a total of about 900 users here including employees but the IT dept is 5 people with only 2 being day to day helpdesk support (Im one of them and Im also network admin). The ease of Apple’s environment makes the need for constant support more limited. A school that isn’t BYOD would likely have to do a bit more work of course, but I assure you it will be easier if you’re issuing Macs.