The Palo Alto Unified School district will buy $1.2 million of  computers, mostly Apple, after the school board approved the purchase during a meeting in April.

This purchase is covered by the 2008 $278 million Strong Schools bond and will require no additional funding. This is the fifth technology purchase in an eight-year master plan of district computer purchases with one purchase each year, according to bond program manager Bob Golton.

The vast majority of the equipment will be manufactured by Apple. The PAUSD chooses to use Macs instead of non-Apple personal computers because Macs, though more expensive, tend to last longer and require less maintenance than PCs, according to Ann Dunkin, district head of Information Technology.

“We literally would not be able to support the amount of computers we have if we had PCs based on the maintenance required to maintain PCs,”  Dunkin said.

Approving the order in April should allow enough time for the computers to arrive in June and be distributed to classrooms in early August, in time for the 2013-2014 school year, according to Golton.