Mr Wood,

Imagine this! While the Mac's may have a slightly higher initial price-tag they have a significantly lower cost of ownership. I can't tell you how many friends I have who have PC's where this or that is always crapping out on them. I on the other hand have had a Mac since around 1989. They've always performed great and never once have a had a serious hardware failure. Yes, the prices are a bit higher, but you're paying for quality. Kind of like when you buy a Mercedes or a Rolls Royce.

none or few of the posters here have even bothered to read the entire thread of comments posted here... it is obvious

Compare the iMac against a comparable Dell. The prices come out the same. The Dell seems cheaper, 'cause it leaves off a bunch of features. Match features against features, and the iMac is over a hundred dollars less: $1298 (iMac 500 MHz + airport card), and the Dell (Dimension 4100, CD-RW, with ethernet and wireless networking, MS Mouse and Keyboard; is the intelliMouse optical, or is that even more?) is $1406.

Steve Wood's brain has obviously not matured past the ganglion state. I guess $1200 is steep when you get all those features. But the worst part is how is that VA school district going to maintain all those iBooks? I mean, 23,000. That means 2-3 I.T. techs per every 50 computers. At least 100-150 skilled repair techs and so on...wait, I'm sorry, I was thinking PC support. I guess when you're only going to need 5-10 Mac people tops, it DOES add up to a GIANT rip. Woodhole!!!

Mr Wood, what is the yearly salary of your "Evil NT Techie"?

How many iMacs (or books, etc) could you have purchased instead?

Why do you completely ignore TCO?

Alright, I thought I'd seen all the dumb reporters over at WIRED, but this is worse. This is some aging man sitting in the back of a very old classroom in some rural school hiding away in the middle of nowhere. He's on the 'technology cadre' which means his IT guy hears what he says and then, wisely, ignores him realizing he's a teacher - there's hardly any computer knowledge there, no matter how you look at it. Sure, you can say I'm being harsh.. but, this guy has machines running system 7.5.3? my god - those aren't even PowerPC, hardly 604 or 603! I kinda wonder how he's on the internet.. his 33.6 modem might die in the next couple seconds. Mark my words - this guy killed his reputation on May 4th, 2001.

Unfortunately, this clown MAYBE right, given how radically the move towards widozzzz has been moving towards Dells this last year at our school district. Try as she may, our Apple Rep can't even get in the door to be seen no matter how good the deals she proffers are. It sickens me! Still, this clown is an idiot for suggesting that the new iBook isn't revolutionary on its face and PRICE POINTS. Christ, Apple can't give them away and nothing on the market currently touches this lttle beauty in features and price. The Districts IT people, like most Educators, demand JOB SECURITY over that of anything else; never mind well reasoned purchases that would cost less in the long run. With Windozzz, they've got JOB SECURITY in SPADES, because it's nothing but a headaches without a bevy of FULL TIME support people babying their precious little platform woes. The many Macs we still do have in place are left inoperable by miscreant, UNSUPERVISED children sticking gum and food in the CD trays and any thing else the little monsters can conceive and do get away with unscathed. That's fine with administration and certificated staff. The tax payer will always be there to get soaked for new computers or anything the little UNSUPERVISED so called students wrought upon the tax payers of it's hard earned purchases. It's time to think different... It's time for school vouchers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone keeps complaining about Windows v. Mac laptops. The fact is that most of these kids will be using 3rd party software packages, education software that they run to learn with. They're not going to be exploring the depths of any operating system; they'll be using Word or a math program or a science program. It won't matter what OS they use. So . . . education departments have to evaluate other criteria: assuming the software is available for Windows and Mac OS, how does the hardware stack up? In that respect, the iBook and iMac both are very competitive. iBooks are designed to be easily moved (lightweight) and tough, so they won't break when kids drop them or bang them into the storage cart. No little port covers to break off, and small footprints to fit on desks but still allow room for books, notes, etc. And it's a full-featured notebook w/CD-ROM minimum, unlike a Vaio or other subnotebook. The author was complaining about a $200 difference between what he believed to be a good price and actual price. I defy anyone to price a Dell, Compaq, Gateway, etc. to meet the iBook's price and feature content. Also, if most of their software only requires OS 7.6 to run, certainly a 500 MHz G3 is plenty of horsepower for many years of happy computing.

anyone who thinks computer education is about learning how to use the computer is an utter moron.

"An outside player like Apple needs to offer dramatically more functionailty/features at a dramatically lower price than competitors, or they have no significant value to offer. The author is just expressing his frustration that Apple seems incapable of providing this formula for success."

If only it were as simple as wishing it were so.

Unfortunately, Apple has to actually buy the parts which comprise the computer, have to pay for manufacturing, etc.

Because Apple builds higher-quality computers than Dell and doesn't do the volume Dell does, Apple's costs are higher. If Apple could build the iBook and still make the profit they needed to for $600, don't you think they would?

I suppose Apple should sell at a loss?

Wade