Looking for some advice here as both a power user and a parent, and not trying to over-complicate my life or my family. My kiddos are at the age in school where they will need to have consistent computer access regularly. Last year, they were using my wife’s MacBook Pro for anything that required Zoom or Teams or Google Meet. If they had to watch a lecture, I would let use my Mac Mini. The Mac Mini was used the least because that’s my work machine. The usage of the MacBook Pro decreased last year due to schedules, etc.
My options…
Get each kid a MacBook Air? (or whatever the cheapest option is)
Chromebook provided from School
Background Info
We homeschool our kids (currently elementary grades), but there are few classes that they are enrolled in, that require weekly online meetings, turning in assignments via Google Drive. Teachers utilize Google Meet or Teams or whatever they decide on.
As a power user, I struggle between the choices of the invasive device into my home (yes, I am being dramatic on purpose) or a device that is under my care.
Anyone get into this? Thoughts?
Extra Credit: We have 3 old iPads that have been re-purposed for the kiddos to use during their ‘entertainment’ time slot of the day. Those 3 iPads share the same apple ID. Is that a good setup or should each kid have their own apple id?
Each kid should def have their own Apple ID. As soon as one of them wants to use notes they won’t want it shared.
I’d vote for MacBooks if they’re likely to do any long term personal type work (stuff they may care about post school) - as they can learn about e.g. Apple Notes, but chromebooks are the perfect device for students if they’re only going to have a single device and syncing / long term use is unlikely to be a priority for them.
I would create an Apple ID for each child and setup Family Sharing and Parental Controls. You can either control any purchases needed (as Organizer) or let them use Apple Gift Cards. The latter may teach them financial skills early on.
Not a fan of Chromebooks…
May I suggest refurbished iMacs instead of the MBAs???
Cost might be close but potential damage risk should be much lower.
I have more suggestions, but let’s see what other folks think.
I’ve not been directly in your situation. Only indirectly (asking about a computer for a grandson going off to college this fall).
Ask the school if they prohibit macOS. Perhaps you already have, hence your question here.
Ask the school (especially the teachers) if they support both platforms equally. By this, you should mean “My son/daughter is having trouble doing assignment XYZ using macOS Safari. I assume you, not me, are in charge to fix the problem for them”.
Ask yourself which platform will cost you more anxiety and time (and potentially money).
Finally, ask your kids whether they have a distinct or tending preference for one platform versus the other.
Balance your decision on your answers to the above questions. While this does not give you an immediate yes/no answer, I hope it gives you a useful analysis path.
Other folks seem to have the Extra Credit well covered.
Thank you for the feedback, looking forward to more thoughts on the discussion.
For reference and devices, my kids are in elementary (so think K-6th grade range), everything is done together. An example of kicks and giggles in this house…one of them got into Brawl Stars, now all of us (myself included) play the game. LOL
My kids always had Macs, either they used the family iMac, or when they needed their own I bought them a MacBook. One thing I hoped they would do with it is get into software development. You can do this easily on a MacBook, but not really on an iPad. I assume the ChromeBooks are not a good option for this either, but I don’t have direct experience.
It worked with one of my kids. She learned Python, Java, some web development, etc.
If the school is supplying and administering Chromebooks, I’d have the kids use them for schoolwork, and only for schoolwork.
Then I’d give them their own devices for personal use, and only for personal use. I’d never let a school or employer administer devices I or my child owns. And I’d never use a device owned or administered by them for anything personal or let my kids do it.
Probably getting them keyboards and pointing devices for the iPads they already have would be all they’d need for personal devices at this point.
I’m a bit of a geek, so I’d lean toward putting an easy to use Linux distro like Mint or one of the ‘buntus on not-new laptops for them to use. A Linux laptop can do everything a Chromebook can do and more, there’s minimal risk of malware, and if they’re inclined to poke around under the GUI, it would give them to opportunity to learn how to use a Unix-like operating system.
But do what feels right for you and your children.
I recommend MBA. We are a 1:1 iPad school. Every student has a school issued iPad in addition to a large number of MacBook computer carts available, and Apple TVs in every room. We also use the education license of Google Workspace. Our high end STEM classes (engineering and the like) use Windows machines.
I recommend the MBA for several reasons:
The student has access to and can use the applications from Apple, Google, and MS. Any other platform is limited to MS and Google
As you know, the hardware is better
Support by phone and a local Apple Store (assuming you have one reasonably close to you) is more readily available
True, but Apple-exclusive apps aren’t widely used in most workplaces, and even in fields where Macs dominate (like graphic design) they aren’t usually mission-critical.
I think it’s more valuable for young people to become comfortable using and switching between different operating systems and keyboard layouts so they can step into any job and start using whatever devices the employer supplies.
People who’ve used multiple OSs usually have a clearer and more balanced perspective than those who’ve only used Macs or Windows, and especially those who’ve only used Apple devices as full-time drivers. Since OP’s kids live in an Apple household, they’re going to learn how to use Apple devices and apps regardless of what they use to do their schoolwork.
There’s also the issue of durability. Chromebooks designed for schools tend to be built to withstand a lot of abuse, including being dropped or knocked onto very hard floors. A MacBook Air is pretty durable for adult use in offices and coffee shoots, but it isn’t particularly shockproof or ruggedized.
Agreed, but the advantage of Apple hardware is one can use the best in class apps from Apple, MS, and Google. This allows for the most options. Also, as I noted above, we make extensive use of Windows machines for our high end STEM classes.
I see your point, but I believe the benefit of learning to use multiple operating systems exceeds the benefit of learning to use Apple Notes and Pages, though again OP’s kids are going to have opportunities to learn to use Apple software regardless because they live in an Apple household.
In a homeschool environment with three kids, as long as they’re tolerably responsible and the environment is somewhat-controlled, I would do Mac.
I would strongly consider (a) whether or not all three kids need to be able to use the computers at the same time, and (b) whether or not the computers truly need to be portable.
Decoupling computer ownership from individual children would let you have whatever number and configuration of desktop/laptop options that make the most sense to you, as well as helping to avoid fights over “my” computer vs. “your” computer.
Then my action plan would be:
Get each kid an Apple ID in a family sharing plan, as @MacGuyMI suggested.
Have them store their files in iCloud Drive.
Purchase the number and type of computers needed for simultaneous use.
Have each kid have an account on each computer.
In that scenario, they log in, their iCloud Drive syncs up, and they’re good to go on any computer in the household.
I would also definitely advise looking at the Apple refurb store.
Wouldn’t they be more likely to fight over shared computers? If each child has their own, it’s always available when they need or want to use it. They can also all work at the same time on their own computers without worrying about whose “turn” it is.
For both of our children, the schools provided laptops. They were first Chromebooks and then moved to very limited Windows machines. Most of the work was done is the Google Universe…Google Docs, etc…. So, we gave them older, hand-me-down Macs. They were able to do all of their daily work on the Macs and accessed the school’s guest network to connect. We managed to avoid having them install anything on our devices since they were not printing or connecting to something inside the internal network.
We installed Chrome so they could login to Google Services and access their documents. For special classes, the school provided logins to things like Adobe products. It was all based on their school ID and email, so it didn’t matter what machine the license was on.
We ended up providing each child with their own device, but that was partially an excuse for my wife and I to purchase some new tech. However, since they were not doing anything major, the older tech worked just fine.
The only exception we found was testing. The schools required locked down browsers for the tests (I believe it was to avoid searching for answers during the test). For the tests, they used the school-issued machines or requested a loaner if they did not know about the test.
All worked OK and we did not have to add the school machines on our home network. The school machines could only be updated on the school network, so they had to remember to bring the machines in and update periodically.
That’s a parental concern though rather than a technical one. If the parents decide that each kid actually needs their own computer, that’s fine.
But based solely on OP’s summary, I don’t know that there’s a need for that - especially in a homeschool environment where they’ve been sharing a MacBook with Mom already.
Having accounts decoupled allows the computers to be shuffled around/deployed however they want.
For example, I can easily envision a scenario where there could be a 24" iMac for Zoom classes, and a MacBook Air for writing papers, and that would be fine for three kids.
This also allows the staggering of purchases so it’s not a huge hit on the family finances all at once. Budgeting $1000 for each of three consecutive years is easier than budgeting $3000 right now.
