Computer labs are on their way out at The Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles. The private school is in the fourth year of a MacBook deployment, and when they’re done the school’s three computer labs – two held Gateway PCs, the third iMacs – will be closed down.

“It’s not necessary anymore, all the kids already have a laptop,” says Rick Benfield, the Director of Finance & Operations at Archer.

As private and public schools alike increasingly put laptop and tablet computers into the hands of students, this is the way of the future. But to get there, schools must overcome two obvious hurdles: financial restraints and inadequate wireless infrastructure. Archer started its program in 2009 by giving each of their 65 faculty members their own MacBook. In 2010 they began giving MacBooks to students, and this year every student in grades 6-10 has one; next year high school juniors will get them and by the 2013 every Archer student will have a MacBook.