When the state announced its $180 million, 8-year contract with HP to provide laptops to students, the state said it cost $249 per student. The Spokesman Review’s Betsy Russell has been reading through that contract, and today writes, “[O]ne thing is clear: The state’s not getting the laptops for $249 apiece.”
According to the contract, the state will pay $292.77 per laptop per year under a lease, and they’re on a four-year replacement schedule. That means over the four years, the state will pay $1,171 per unit. At the end of the four years, the state is obligated to wipe the data from the laptops and let H-P pick them up, unless it wants to buy the units for $35 apiece. It also would have the option of buying them before the four years are up at various discounts: $147.56 after three years; $260.12 after two years; or $372.68 after one year.
Read more at: www.spokesman.com
