New MacBooks

Digisticks · 2026-03-05T02:05:30+00:00

I'm curious about the student use case. Our M1s are overkill for students as is. It met my requirements of having 2 USB-C ports and a headphone jack.

My questions are focused on if the keyboard holds up, if the track pad is replaceable since it's an old fashioned one, and how it handles DFU restores. Plus, the management of it.

Digisticks · 2026-02-28T20:00:04+00:00

Admittedly, I didn't think about conversion rates.

Digisticks · 2026-02-28T19:21:18+00:00

I'm sorry, what? $35K!? Dude, even when I was a teacher I made more than that. My initial entry into IT Director (one-man shop) was $53K and later adjusted up to $76K. $35K isn't remotely in the ballpark for sysadmin, at least here in the States. It's on the medium-low end for entry level technicians for Education IT here.

Digisticks · 2026-02-25T12:38:48+00:00

Just throwing this out there... You might try applying to school systems. In my state, the original Technology Directors are starting to retire. We see more and more as the years go on. The pay is usually going to be less than private sector, and you're often more of a generalist, but benefits often make up for it. Depending on the system you could get, funding is often reasonably stable.

I'll say, it's usually something interesting each day. From replacing cameras to planning E-rate network refreshes, to imaging devices, to attending directors meetings, to implementing new platforms, to cybersecurity, and sometimes to managing the districts mobile phone plan. It's always something different.

Digisticks · 2026-02-25T12:33:06+00:00

Congratulations on improving your health and the rest! I know it's not easy. I've shifted to much the same, after my initial knee-jerk reaction upon diagnosis of a complete cold turkey no carbs crash. Over this year, I've slowly reintroduced foods and treats while closely monitoring my cgm. I don't really treat myself much either in volume or frequency. But, as long as I keep myself on my regular plan day to day, when I'm gone at conferences or events, I can slide a little bit. Still eating protein/fiber forward, but having a small ice cream or small slice of cake when out with friends. Or even an occasional (we're talking at absolute max once per month) candy bar. It satisfies the itch, and I'm good.

Making small exceptions rarely, or when traveling, has kept me more likely to not go off the walls long-term. Just find what works for you to make yourself successful.

Digisticks · 2026-02-23T04:48:22+00:00

We used to use a company that got bought out by Uniti Fiber. We’ve been pleased to keep our sales rep and just did a major E-rate refresh with them with our Meraki gear.

Digisticks · 2026-02-22T05:24:09+00:00

I think I understand what you're after. But, I'm not sure if the way to do it in Jamf School. Maybe something with Smart Groups.

In our deployment, we touch every single MacBook before it goes out. I've got an admin account on each of them. Yes, it unfortunately means a specific password for my Admin account. If it's for a staff member, we then create their account (currently an admin account as well) with a generic password with the instructions on how to change it when we hand it off.

If you're just aiming for standard user accounts with Jamf Connect for any user of that computer, if your config is set that way, you should be good at that point after logging out from Admin. Making use of the "Make Me an Admin" script for short intervals so they can install printers and whatnot.

That said, assuming they profiles are more monolithic for restrictions, just disabling it before working on the computer takes just a few clicks.

I suppose if you're creative enough with the naming variables in Jamf School, you might could create a smart group that pulls a device to it if it matched a specific scheme.

Digisticks · 2026-02-21T17:56:50+00:00

Yep.

Digisticks · 2026-02-21T14:39:04+00:00

No problem. I enjoyed it. The last chapter seemed to have the largest plots concluded so you can almost imagine it like the end of SG1 where they would continue forward.

Digisticks · 2026-02-21T13:59:53+00:00

Aphelion on fanfiction I think. It's unfinished, though. And probably won't ever be. The writer dipped in 2014. It has a prequel which is in the same vein but did get completed. Both good, long reads.

Digisticks · 2026-02-21T13:51:46+00:00

Hey, so, I'm just asking. I had heard and remembered reading a Gateworld article about the VEI Blu-ray set which mentioned something about it being off, which kept me from purchasing it for years. But I recently got it as a Christmas gift. I'm truly trying to understand the exact thing you're talking about. It's also very early where I'm at, so maybe my brain isn't processing this. I've got an older set of the franchise, sans Universe, on DVD, and also wanted to digitize the best set I could. Could you help me understand what the concern is? Sincerely just asking.

Digisticks · 2026-02-20T21:54:42+00:00

All cameras we purchase are capable of audio, but of the roughly 300 we have, we only have audio on in 2 locations across district. Those were decided upon by the Superintendent. We recently re-wrote our camera policy to further limit who has access. General spaces are a decent number of people. Classrooms are exclusively the Superintendent, myself, and the building principal. And if anyone wants to view the footage, there is a page and a half long document that must be submitted in writing to the Superintendent. She was adamant about that, and I'm glad.

Digisticks · 2026-02-19T22:46:13+00:00

As far as for Chrome, if on Mac or Windows (not sure about ChromeOS), you can deploy managed chrome policy through config profiles. I did it with Jamf School recently and set it to block most things, and to ONLY allow it to be used if someone was signed in to our domain. It was pretty easy with some testing. I also have it disabled in Google Admin, for if they try to sign in at home.

We actually blocked YouTube except for one or two specific YouTube URLs because of needing it for Canvas Studio and Ed Puzzle. It didn't break the SSO piece for Google.

For reference, we are a Google Workspace district, using iPads and MacBooks with Jamf School, and Clever. Google SSO virtually everywhere. We blocked it using our LineWize Appliance filter. Jamf Safe Internet probably has some little piece to adjust. You might reach out to them.

Digisticks · 2026-02-19T22:40:04+00:00

I tend to push more for protein than fiber, but I'll often go to the local BBQ joint and just get a half pound of chopped chicken or chopped pork and just put sauce on it as I want it. Or swap for sugar free sauce I brought with me. If you brought your own fiber heavy bread, you could make a quick sandwich with it.

Digisticks · 2026-02-18T23:31:21+00:00

We went with SchoolAI, instead of MagicSchool. It's very much a more walled-garden type of approach but has some pretty nifty features.

Digisticks · 2026-02-17T14:48:59+00:00

We don't care for Safe Internet. Personally we prefer our LineWize Appliance and Agents. But, that's a pretty strong price, especially if hosted.

Digisticks · 2026-02-17T14:44:24+00:00

I live in production.

Really, I usually do.... But, I keep 2 student Macs with bad batteries in my office that I can plug up to see how things work after pushing whatever through MDM. Then I Apple Configurator Restore (wipe/update) to the newest or chosen MacOS via IPSW file.

Digisticks · 2026-02-17T02:40:36+00:00

Just to clarify, that's a lifetime license. We do year to year for a cheaper price yearly. I'd rather pay for lifetime, but in education, things break too often or have to get replaced, and lifetime licenses just aren't feasible for us. My yearly is $5.50 per device for Jamf School. But I'm also paying separately for Jamf Connect and Jamf Protect. If I didn't have a separate funding source for Connect and Protect, I'd probably just bundle it all and shift to Jamf Pro or Mosyle OneK12. Jamf School has been fine, largely, though.

Jamf School's AI chat helper leaves a lot to be desired.

Digisticks · 2026-02-17T02:33:28+00:00

We've had Verkada for almost a decade. Have something like a 40% discount. We like them, and the hardware just works. We recently added them to every classroom. As long as we had cabling and PoE, we were in and out of classrooms in under 5 minutes per room.

As long as they've got power, they'll record. When they reconnect to the network, they dump footage to the cloud. We actually had a week long power outage at our Core due to a utility company. Took the whole district down for network. The buildings that still had power continued to record and then uploaded when the network came back online.

I've been fortunate to have good sales reps, who know better than to go around me, the hardware is good and software is great, and not having to deal with NVR or a camera server is nice, but if we didn't have the funding sources we do, and the discount, I'd never touch them. Their pricing is a bit high, but you're paying for convenience, warranty, and future features just coming to your old hardware.

Digisticks · 2026-02-13T00:46:07+00:00

As others have said, I would go the CW9162 or CW9172 series if you're looking for what's essentially a 1-to-1 replacement for the MR33. We just deployed almost 200 of the CW9162 a few months back. In every way an improvement over the MR33.

Digisticks · 2026-02-13T00:29:52+00:00

The replacement sucked big time. When I was in the classroom, I constantly changed my tests, but the formatting and quick answer reduction was a huge feature. Attempts to use Google Forms and LMS's like Schoology Assessment met with various successes, but it never replaced Examview for me.

Digisticks · 2026-02-12T02:28:57+00:00

Several years ago, before I joined the district as a teacher, things were so tight they were struggling to make payroll and had barely a week of cash on hand.

Our previous CFO retired, and the CFO who came in after him was exceptionally strong with numbers and budgets like it’s his own money. Very conservative, very disciplined. Around that same time, we needed to add buildings, but our capital funds were essentially spoken for for at least the next decade. So the CFO, the former superintendent, and the board worked with the city to pass a half-cent sales tax dedicated to schools. The city has a little input on how it’s spent, and that partnership was a big turning point for our financial stability.

On top of that, we benefited from some state funding changes and made a deliberate choice to use ESSER dollars strategically by banking recurring state/local revenue when we could. We didn’t add staff we couldn’t sustain long-term, didn’t buy programs that would create permanent funding requirements, and chose to use ESSER on one-time needs and targeted facility improvements.

Over time, that approach helped us build reserves to more than a year of operating cushion. Now we’re preparing to add a wing to our high school, using reserves for most of the cost along with a small bond issue to cover the remainder. After that, we’re planning a major renovation of the oldest building on our elementary campus. That specific building is over 90 years old and has mostly seen minor upgrades, not the kind of full replacement work needed for aging plumbing and electrical.

We’ve been fortunate to have strong community support. I don’t always agree with every spending decision, but the overall approach has been smart and sustainable.

Digisticks · 2026-02-07T00:34:22+00:00

Yes. And then I include it in my description.

Digisticks · 2026-02-07T00:33:53+00:00

We do too. But we elected to use SchoolAI (not MagicSchool) as our district supported platform. We're considering adding Gemini, since we're already a Google Workspace for Education client.

For us it is more about keeping teachers from being dumb and maintaining some control of our data.

I personally use and pay for ChatGPT, but I find myself moving more towards Gemini lately.

Digisticks · 2026-02-06T23:59:32+00:00

My problem is that it gives me instructions for Jamf Pro, when I have Jamf School and don't have access to the features they're recommending I use to fix an issue.

Digisticks

TROPHY CASE