laptop trolley

[chrbb]

I've been asked to get quotes for 2 sets of laptops and trollies for one of my schools, after a lot of frowning and trying to dissuade smt I'm now getting quotes!
One of the ideas suggested was to use the laptops that staff currently have for the pupils and to invest in new ones for the staff. The laptops are mainly 2-3 years old, average spec. Any help with the following greatly appreciated and any more advice that may help;

Will a standard charging trolley take any make/mix of laptop?
Will a standard laptop battery suffice?
Do you use standard (as in cheap!) laptops for the pupils or try to locate ones that are more durable?
The idea is to have 2 sets of 6 to be used in 2 classrooms so will one wireless access point be enough, no roaming profiles?

I was going to set up 6 laptops in a classroom the other night and get people to logon print etc to test current access point, but now working at slight disadvantage having (to quote my husband), pulled a fetlock and trying to sort this out at home whilst trying to master a pair of crutches!

[Joanne]

here we have 3 trolleys of 16. Most trolleys will have any laptops, the only factor is dimentions of laptops. We just replaced all the trolleys with some cheap as chips toshibas and acers. No problems so far! We have 2 AP for each trolley, but for what you need one will be plenty.

I would buy new ones for the kids though, because you will have less hassle with them.

[Pete10141748]

I agree with Joanne. Get new laptops for the kids, let the staff carry on using what they have.

The last thing you want to is be giving the pupils 6 laptops, each with a different model / make / spec. They'll spend the first 20 minutes of each lesson fighting over who gets what laptop for whateve reason (look, spec, "I used it last time!" and so forth). That'll be waaaay more trouble than its worth!

Also, im my experience, give a new laptop to a member of staff, and within a week it'll be looking worse than it should. (In my case, last week a new laptop was given out, on Tuesday it had coffee stains on it, and today we were informed that last night it has been "lost" ).

Give the pupils those same new laptops, and aside from the obvious wear & tear they'll take from being handed out, swapped around etc. the kids will look after them better than most staff members will (in our case, do ).

Pete

[dhicks]

Will a standard charging trolley take any make/mix of laptop?

How do you mean by "standard charging trolly"? Lots of trollies I've seen are basically cabinets with wheels on - you place the laptop's power brick in the back somewhere, plugged in to a power distribution strip, and bring the lead around so it can be plugged into the laptop. If you have different types of laptop with different types of power connector (or, even more fun, same power connectors, different voltage...) then confusion might ensue.

You can get more expensive trollies that have a self-contained charging mechanism, but I think those require you to use identical laptops.

Get a trolley with decent wheels, not the sissy little castors. The little ones rattle and fall off after a few weeks.

Do you use standard (as in cheap!) laptops for the pupils or try to locate ones that are more durable?

I tried the RM Mobile One a couple of years ago when it first came out, and it proved not to really live up to its billing. Sure, the screen might have been more robust, but the keys came of the keyboard if you opened the case too fast. I did speak to the people on the RM stand at BETT this year and discuss this, and they said that this had been fixed for the new generation of Mobile One's.

--
David Hicks

[chrbb]

Thanks

When I say standard I mean the cheapest! Good reason to insist the pupils don't have staff old laptops certainly less hassle to have idential laptops as no-one will bother to put laptop back in correct place for correct charger!

Anyway on plan back burner now for a week or so Ofsted coming in next week! Me and my crutches are going in tomorrow and my limp will be pitiful next week.

[eean]

Another reason to not to use staff laptops is that their batteries are probably knackered. I don't know about your school, but at mine every single staff laptop, over 2 years old, has a completely useless battery. I take them out now, because they're just a dead weight. The pupil laptops are over 4years and still going strong.
Is that because of the way the staff treat them, or is it because staff laptops are Ergo and pupil ones are RM?

[rprice]

Buy New ones. Otherwise you are starting with unreliable Kit.

We purchased New HP units.
Partly from reputation but also needed 802.11 a radio.
HP are running some very keenly priced deals on decent laptops.

Laptop trollies, following a theft, we replaced a 30+ bay horizontal loading trolly (with tendancy to get uncomfortably hot) with two Bretford LAP16EPM-AR units. So far these are better, (manageable weight) and by shopping around got at a price comparable to the more basic original unit.

[alena]

We got a laptop trolley with 30 laptops. This is very heavy and difficult to move especially when the kids are in the corridors between lessons (which is when it gets moved). If you want my opinion, get two 16's and make two journeys...lol