In my school district, everyone is given free rights to tech and all students are given computers free of charge. (Not to keep of course.
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I don't know when it started but until two school years ago everyone used 4th generation iPads. The school liked it because they were cheap and less complicated for the students. However, they were lacking in the ability to supervise what the students were doing on the devices and the versatility of the devices. So everyone got 2016 11" MacBook Airs. The students loved it but it came with the cost of installing the Sophos Web-Proxy and LanSchool. I enjoy it in school, as Microsoft has very good tools to sync data with Mac and my school doesn't prohibit downloading games or other software, as long as it is not illegal, a vpn, or it's a game and you use it during school hours. It comes installed with Sophos anti-virus but people still manage to install viruses. They come to me all the time looking for help on how to un-install a virus because they don't want to get introuble, and I ended up being the tech genie of the school, and the tech admin of the school generally is very lenient with me with my downloads because they know I use it for the good.
We don't have any regulations on text editors. We mainly stick to things like Google drive because we invested a lot into google's services as we have unlimited storage on their servers. It makes it very easy to share and collab with other students and teachers. I stick to good old office though. The teachers all have it installed on their Mac's. I find it more feature-rich than docs.
They have a couple of windows desktops and laptops scattered through the school for people who don't use a laptop from school, or are prohibited from using one for one reason or another. They aren't remotely monitored, but keep well documented log files of who used it last, because in order to sign in, you need to use your own school account. (The sophos web-proxy login)
As for the requirements, it largely is based on the school requirements and their level of strictness. We don't have very many people in my school so it's pretty lenient.
If you are looking at college, then I would say that it is all up to you, and having to be as versatile as possible. If you only have a windows computer and they want a Mac, there are ways to be compatible, but it is much harder. But if you are on a Mac and they want windows, then all the software is there for you to use. Office, OneDrive, etc. If you needed to buy one for someone, thenit pains me to say it would be the best to buy a MacBook air.
Oh Well.
Anthony