For the 2017-2018 school year, all students and teachers will receive brand new Apple laptops. BSM plans to buy the most recent edition of the Macbook Air with new and improved features.

The school hopes to buy laptops for over 1,100 students, 150 faculty members, and a few extras for purposes outside of academic use. “We’ll end up buying somewhere between 1,220 of the 11-inch model and then we’ll give the teachers options to buy the 13-inch model. All together, I want to say we’re looking at about 1,250 laptops. That gives us a large number of loaners for when we do things like testing or Red Knight Roundup. There are so many events where we have needs for extra laptops, so that will be nice to have,” Bill Cheney, technology help desk staff member, said.

A major benefit to the upgraded laptops is the faster speed. The Macbook Airs will accelerate the pace of simple websites such as Google Docs. “I am hoping everyone sees a big speed upgrade when using things like Photoshop, InDesign, Final Cut and some of those larger apps. I do expect to see a little bit of a speed upgrade with guys surfing the web and some of the more basic things,” Cheney said.

The new laptops will also include updated and new applications. One application that will be included is the Creative Cloud App, which gives people the power to update their own applications. “[Students and faculty] will be able to update [their] own Adobe app, and be able to choose which Adobe app [they] have on [their] computer; this will save some people 20 to 30 gigs of space. For others, it will allow them to download and play with other apps that they may not be able to use in class, but want to spend some free time exploring and seeing what they can do with it,” Cheney said.

In addition to the new laptops, students and faculty will also get brand new laptop cases. BSM currently plans to buy the cases from Brenthaven, the company that they’ve previously bought the cases from. However, the school hopes to create custom-made BSM cases. “We are looking into customizing the bags this year. We are looking into putting some Red Knight logos on there, maybe putting the shield on there, and giving it a little bit of a BSM touch,” Cheney said.

At the end of this school year, any student will be able to purchase their old laptops, cases, and chargers for a total price of $380. However, the hard drives of each laptop will be completely wiped. “When you receive your laptop back, it will act like a brand new machine. You’ll open it up and it’ll ask you what language and what you want your usernames and passwords to be, so then you can update the computer freely and install whatever you want…. and then you won’t be restricted by [BSM] passwords,” Cheney said.

Although students can buy the old laptops, BSM will not be able to assist with any mechanical problems. “Any support that you need for that device, [such as] buying a battery or if you break the screen, we won’t support it, but Micro Center or any Apple store in the area will be able to help you out with it,” Cheney said.

Although most students don’t usually buy the old laptops, some students want to take advantage of the affordable deal. “I will buy my BSM laptop because it’s nice to have another laptop, and they’re selling it for so much cheaper than an Apple store would,” senior Joey Simpson said.

Overall, most students and faculty members look forward to receiving their new laptops in the fall. “I don’t think I will miss [my laptop]. The new update will be similar and a welcomed improvement,” senior high math teacher Max Johnson said.