Kansas City purchased more than 4,500 MacBook Neos for its students

Kansas City Public Schools announced it was becoming “an all-Apple district.” 9to5Mac learned that to achieve the nickname, the city’s education system would replace “more than 30,000 Windows PCs and Chromebooks” with Apple devices over time. Notably, the district acquired more than 4,500 recently released MacBook Neos for students in grades 8 and up. Younger grades will use the district’s existing stock of iPads and MacBook Airs.

The already cheap (and pretty impressive) MacBook Neo laptops are getting an even bigger discount for education users, with students and teachers getting a $499 deal on the budget computers. A bundled deal like this could have been offered at an even cheaper rate for Kansas City. It’s just one city’s public schools, but the arrangement could signal a shift toward Apple more aggressively courting education buyers.

Shortly after the Neo was announced, Microsoft made its own pitch to students getting a discounted software bundle, but that may not be as appealing to older grades who might already have access to programs through their schools or universities. If Apple has already made a deal of this size, Microsoft may have been right to be concerned about competition, especially if it’s a sign of what’s to come under new CEO John Ternus.