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Really, by cutting out paper we can affords to hand out $400 laptops? Plus support them, provide warranty service, etc.?

My local school district has about 4,000 students, and assuming an even distribution across the grades, that means we have about 300 students in each grade, or put another way, we have at least 300 graduates and 300 new students each yer. At $400/laptop, that puts us at $120K/year for 300 new laptops. Futher, assuming we only have laptops for students from 4th grade through 12th grade, that puts the initial buy-in at 2,700 laptops at $1.08M.

Exactly how much paper are we cutting out? Are we cutting out textbooks? You can get rid og paper textbooks, but you won't get away from paying for textbooks (DRM, subscription costs, etc.) in addition to the cost of the laptops.

Remember, I've not factored in related costs, like rolling out a WiFi infrastructure across campus, headcount to support several thousand laptops, and, of course, power outlets at every desk (do you really think kids will keep the batteries charged up for a full day of school?) and replacement power bricks. Oh, and assuming these units have typical laptop lifetimes, you are looking at a three-year lifecycle, which means each student will go through three $400 laptops while they progress through school.

Woo-Hoo! The savings are piling up!

Please, spare me from simple-minded "analysis" that is really litte more than a poor repeat of the "Underpants Gnome Business Plan": http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/151040

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