Jamf Blog

> Now the Mac market share is above 20%, because eventually the people using it in schools start using it somewhere else

Absolutely no kid says “I love these shitty Chrome OS laptops that I have to use in schools. Can I have one at home!” When they get to choose a computer for college at least in the US, they overwhelmingly choose Macs.

And Dell overtook Apple in schools in 1999.

Even back in 2010, 70% of students were choosing to buy Macs for college

https://www.asymco.com/2010/08/04/70-percent-of-college-freshman-are-entering-school-with-macs/

That trend has continued at least through 2020.

https://www.jamf.com/resources/press-releases/new-research-finds-71-of-students-in-higher-education-today-use-or-would-prefer-to-use-mac/

And saying that Linux grew from 1% to 5% in 10 years means it’s going to grow to 25% reads like every startup pitch. “We doubled from 1% to 2% in a year. At this rate we will have almost 70% of the market in 6 years!”

The “Year of the Desktop Linux” has been a meme for over 25 years.

https://www.howtogeek.com/676963/why-desktop-linux-still-matters/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Maya, 3DS, Premiere, etc., and running these on Windows is a quarter of the cost, or less, of running the same software on Mac.

I'd love to see a study on this; the total cost of ownership has always been far less for the Mac than Windows, especially when you factor in the amount of support Windows requires compared to the Mac.

Casual googling confirms this:

https://www.jamf.com/blog/total-cost-of-ownership-mac-versus-pc-in-the-enterprise/

https://www.endpointprotector.com/blog/why-macs-have-a-lower-tco-than-windows-computers/

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3452847/ibm-mac-users-are-happier-and-more-productive.html

An M1 Mac mini starts at $699, so there's no excessive cost. As usual, Adobe doesn't have it apps ready for Apple's latest and greatest… but other vendors are on the case and it'll be just a matter of time before all major video apps are running natively on the M1.

Of course, FinalCut Pro (and the rest of Apple's suite) is good to go; DaVinci Resolve (editing 4k, 6k and 8k RAW video) is also looking pretty great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxH3RabNWfE

Given one can only run Apple's software on their own machines, whether we talk about OS sales or hardware sales, we are talking about the same thing. Are you really prepared to argue 25 percent of the corporate computer market userbase are sabotaging their careers? I'd argue thats absurd, personally.

I'm not responding to the Samba critique because millions of people share files at work between virtually any OS and Macs, every day, just fine. Would I like Apple's Samba implementation to be better? Sure.

There are many studies that prove the opposite of your point, including one from IBM, and find the modern Mac significantly cheaper to support than Windows machines in business environments with less helpdesk tickets to boot:

https://www.jamf.com/resources/press-releases/ibm-announces-research-showing-mac-enables-greater-productivity-and-employee-satisfaction-at-ibm/

In addition to Google Workspace I believe Office 365 offers device management capabilities too. I know you said you’re on GW, and it’s basically the default choice for small companies at this point, but office 365 is worth a look especially if you’re hesitant about GW.

Since you’re using Macs (and presumably iPhones) then Apple Business Essentials[1] is worth a look. It’s device management specially targeted for small business, and seems pretty cheap. I think the max is 300 users but don’t quote me on that.

A step up from there is JAMF[2]. They’ve been doing Apple device management for years and companies both huge and small use them. They are probably more expensive than GW, O365, or apple business essentials though.

(No affiliation with any of the companies mentioned above.)

Good luck!

1 - https://www.apple.com/business/essentials/

2 - https://www.jamf.com/

I've been casually keeping an eye out for a 15" mid-2015 MBP and someone had mentioned in their ad that Apple still made them, and sure enough. If you're looking at 15", B&H has slightly cheaper offerings and they won't charge you tax.

Unfortunately I haven't seen anyone retailing the 13" 2015 MBP. If you're in the Bay Area, there's a fully loaded (3.1GHz i7 / 16GB / 1TB) 13" early-2015 covered by AppleCare until 2019.

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/sys/d/2015-macbook-pro-13-i7-31ghz/6520101562.html

If you happen to go the second-hand route, I highly advise you to check if the machine is still under some device management (MDM) by running:

sudo /usr/libexec/mdmclient dep nag

More info: https://www.jamf.com/jamf-nation/discussions/24774/dep-nagging

Google around - 'iphone mobile device management'. There's a service that's free for a couple devices[1]. Apple also makes a (terrible) app called Configurator. There are a bunch of others, but most of them are designed for (and priced for) corporate use.

You need to learn a little about what you're doing if you want to go this route, and there is some setup. But basically, you're taking on the role of a corporate IT department, pre-configuring and possibly locking down the phone.

I set up a profile in Configurator a few years ago and am a little afraid of touching it - that application makes iTunes look thoughtfully designed and stable.

[1] https://www.jamf.com/products/jamf-now/