FORT WALTON BEACH — Laptops are coming back to Okaloosa County teachers.
More than a year after the Okaloosa County School Board voted to give all teachers desktop computers rather than laptops, the board has changed course.
At that time, the board made the change to cut costs. But after receiving pushback from teachers, the school district started looking for ways to purchase laptops.
Eric Mitchell, who oversees the district’s computers, told the board earlier this week that the district can get a laptop or desktop for $49.80 per month. The price is a $23.47 drop from the cost of laptops in November 2010, when the board decided on desktops.
“We’re still making our savings,” Mitchell said. “We just now have more options to have our savings.”
The ability to give teachers the option between a laptop and a desktop is relatively new. It was driven by tablets forcing down the price of quality laptops, Mitchell said.
“The laptops need to be able to withstand the teachers’ use … we can’t just get any laptop,” he said. “We were really happy with the devices we were able to get at this price range with their processing power.”
Before bringing the proposal to the board, Mitchell and his team put the laptops through performance, battery life and burn tests — which literally tax the processor to see if it will catch fire.
The new laptops will be available this summer to teachers who recently received a desktop computer but would prefer a laptop.
The swapped desktops, which teachers received within the last year, will be used to replace student machines that were up for a refresh.
“For us, it’s price neutral,” Mitchell said.
Teachers up for new computers in the fall also can choose between a desktop and a laptop.
The brand of laptops teachers will receive has not been selected yet, but Mitchell said the district is looking at three options.
Cheapest Laptop Deal news and reviews brought to you every day by Cheapest Laptop Deal
