[nabs-l] Does anyone use a MacBook or MacBook Pro for school?

[Steve Jacobson]

Sally,

Please allow me to both agree with Darrell and maybe muddy the waters further.  It the school uses MACS, it may still be wise to see what software they are using on 
the MACS to determine if it is accessible.  For example, if a school makes heavy use of Microsoft Office on the MAC, a blind student might be better off with a 
Windows computer with Microsoft Office installed as Microsoft Word is, to my knowledge, not accessible on the MAC.  In other words, the hardware and the 
software must both be considered.  What is the school using for class web sites, and can web sites be used with one computer better than the other?  These are 
not questions that will necessarily give MAC or Windows the upper hand, but they need to be explored since he'll be in that school system for a few years to come.

I don't think any objective person would try to say that either MAC or Windows are flat out better because it is more complicated than that.  At this point, there are 
more accessible applications running on Windows, but one doesn't run "all accessible applications" only the ones they are interested in, so if what he needs to do 
on the MAC is accessible, then it may not matter.  Apple, on the other hand, has more control over the applications written for the MAC, so in some cases, 
accessibility is probably more stable.  I say all this only to illustrate the complexity.  

VoiceOver is included with the MAC as has been said.  However, when buying computers for my kids, I found that MACBooks were substantially more expensive 
than Windows laptops.  One can argue correctly that you might get more, but the fact remains that you will probably pay more.  A Windows laptop with a screen 
reader will likely cost you more, though, than a MACBook, in all fairness, but at least when I looked, the total costs made the fact that VoiceOver was included 
somewhat less significant.  This may have changed, though.  

These are not the kind of clear answers you are looking for, but please ask if you have more questions.

Best regards,

Steve

On Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:45:41 -0700, Darrell Shandrow wrote:

>Hello Sally,

>As with many things inside and outside the assistive technology arena, a
>judgment of which solution is the "best" for any particular application can
>be subjective. 
> 
>If your son is able to complete his school work on terms of equality with
>his sighted peers, then the solution is best for his needs. If he is not,
>then, perhaps, some modification is in order.

>Many schools continue to rely on Apple for all or most of their technology,
>so your son's ability to use the same computer as other kids at school is
>probably a big help to him, his teachers and the school's support staff.

>On the other hand, if the school relies on Windows, then he might want to
>consider switching to a screen reader like System Access, Window-Eyes or
>JAWS.

>Hope this helps.

>Regards,

>Darrell

>-----Original Message-----
>From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
>Of Sally Thomas
>Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 6:34 PM
>To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>Subject: [nabs-l] Does anyone use a MacBook or MacBook Pro for school?

>Hi,

>I'm the parent of a blind 13 year old.  He tells me that the screen reader
>on the MacBook is great and that it is better than using a Windows computer
>with JAWS.  I'm curious whether or not this is true.  Have any of you used
>both?  How do they compare?  Which do you prefer?  Any insight you have
>would be greatly appreciated.

>Sally Thomas
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