The PHS library will receive 33 new iMac desktop computers after February break, replacing the four-year-old PC’s that are falling out of date, technology coordinator Jana Branisa said.

The Piedmont Parents’ Club has put forward 60,000 dollars from their general fund to pay for the 21.5-inch computers, which were ordered Tuesday, Feb. 5.

The district ordered iMacs because they are easy to manage and relatively virus-free, Branisa said. The majority of teachers already use iMacs, computers that handle most educational applications.

“Most of the teachers on this campus have iMacs, so they’re already familiar with that platform,” she said. “So transferring from their usage of their laptops to the iMacs will give them the confidence to be a helper. If I put PC’s in there, I would disenfranchise 75 percent of the staff.”

After years of using the same desktop PC’s in the library, it was time for an update, Branisa said.

“It’s four-year-old motherboard, four-year-old CPU, four-year-old hard drive, so there are so many points of failure,” she said. “It makes them unpredictable.”

Branisa said the iMacs will last for four to five years. The computers will be loaded with software including the Adobe Suite, which includes Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, and more, as well as Geometer’s sketchpad and other apps designed for science labs.

Both Branisa and Librarian Susan Stutzman said students learning to use the Mac interface will not be a problem. According to a survey, about half of the students at PHS use iMacs, said Stutzman.

The high school tech team will distribute the current library computers to other classrooms in need, she said.

“We still have a number of very old machines that are not performing up to par,” Branisa said. “Most of them are in learning resources, so I would like to move some of them down there.