eeePC possible problem

[localzuk]

I was just having a poke at the eeepc and it appears that the keyboard only clips in with 3 tiny little silver clips. These can be undone with anything pointy like a pencil. I can see kids poking them and breaking the ribbon cable that attaches the keyboard to the laptop.

Anyone else see a potential problem with this?

[saundersmatt]

It's no more of a problem that any keys on a laptop being removable.
You've just got to educate the kids not to do it, and get the staff to watch them.

I know it's not easy. I spent this whole half term hot gluing blanking plates to fascias. God help the first kid I find doing any vandalism.

Matt

[j17sparky]

and get the staff to watch them.

lol Good one

[dhicks]

You've just got to educate the kids not to do it,

These PCs - and the EeePC, the XO, the HP UMPC and the Stone UMPC - are being sold with individual ownership by pupils (or their parents) in mind. They aren't designed to be used by many different users, it is assumed that the user will take a reasonable amount of care of the device. To be honest, the devices on the market aren't quite there yet - but give Moore's Law another year or two to work its magic and the UMPC will be the same price as a mobile phone (or mobile phones will be the same size and capabilities as the UMPC). Having schools buy wodges of UMPCs / laptops / whatever at the moment probably isn't the answer.

--
David Hicks

[tech_guy]

We've been trialling the EEE and so far the initial feedback from our students is:

• The screen is too small to use over a long period and some users reported tiredness after using the machine for a long period (up to an hour). Working with applications such as PowerPoint & Publisher was found to be difficult.

• The cramped keyboard lead to discomfort in the arms/hands/shoulders by a number of users if used for protracted periods of word-processing.

For Internet use, email and messenging the EEE does however score a big thumbs up. As an electronic planner, diary, and complimentary tool in the classroom it's a winner.

We've put a cut-down version of XP Pro on ours along with Open Office. Thanks must go to:

http://www.mobilecomputermag.co.uk/2...ing-nlite.html

for this.

We're hoping to get our hands soon on the Elonex One so we can evaluate it as well.

[Dos_Box]

We're hoping to get our hands soon on the Elonex One so we can evaluate it as well.

I'm down for an evaluation version soon
Apparently the main order of 200,000 will not arrive in the UK until June and most have already been sold. I'm awaiting it with interest.