Opinion on SLT final choice of laptops.

[tosca925]

Our currrent 3 year rental agreemant is nearly up on our laptop scheme. We currently have a laptop from Evesham but will not be going there again.........!

SLT have rounded down to Dell, a Samsung form Stone Computer or a ACER Laptop. We currently have around 20 Dells which we had from the DfES scheme and in September 05 we got 20 Acers. Both have been ok really but i hear all sorts of mixed reports all the time. We have had the offer of 3yr next day OS waranty on the Dell and Samsung from Stone but are still waiting on a couple of quotes for the ACER's.

Any advice or experiences greatly appreciated.

[john]

I say Acer, I see many types, model etc of Laptop and the Acers always seem the nicer product so would recomend them. Cannot comment on the warranty angel, but in terms of the products build etc... Acer is the better out of them

[GrumbleDook]

Have you considered Ergo? We are including them in the list this year.

[tosca925]

Never heard of then Tony.....but I have now..........!

Any particular reason why your looking at them?

[GrumbleDook]

They do a nice little 12" model that is light, has a good battery life and still packs quite a punch.

I hate to make up my mind about what product we will choose for large schemes like LfS, but it is more a case of seeing if there is anything to compete with it.

From talking with others the support is of a similar level to Stone ... which I have always thought to be good.

[john]

As we are mentioning other makes, I prefer the HP NX6125 - http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en...-12225406.html or the NC6120 http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en...-12095430.html

Both are lightweight, and offer exceptionally good battery life

[Dos_Box]

Acer customer support is pap BTW. As has been mentioned before Evesham (I am typing this on an Evesham) make nice laptops (rebranded chassis naturally) but their warrenties are not to good. We had one year on site and 3 years RTB and we pick up the postage costs. Not nice. For my money I would choose either Dells or HP's. At the moment I am holding back with my recommendetions as I know Dell has a new one in the pipeline (We are due a test model at work) called the D520 to replace the current D510. This is due in the summer, and with Vista on the horizon I would want to be sure that my new laptops would be fully complient.

[mac_shinobi]

Just stumbled across this thread and its making me think about my ibook lol, cant wait to get it

[kingswood]

Stick to your iBook young man. Vista. Pah!

Paul

:-)

[mac_shinobi]

I aint got it yet but I will be sticking to it hehehe

Vista Shista lol :P Cant wait to get it, Will be calling pc world tommorow and see if they have the 14" version of the ibook cos I saw the 12" version on there website

Gotta get the 14" version

[Norphy]

Dell.

We have been getting Dell laptops for the past four years under the Laptops for Teachers scheme. We've had a few go wrong admittedly (faulty hard drives, broken power ports and the like) but Dell tech support for education is fantastic. I always get a rep who is willing to listen to me and doesn't make me jump through hoops to get a return. If its something simple a courier arrives the next working day to swap the part, if it isn't an engineer arrives to fit it. They even gave us three year warranties on the batteries!

Can't recommend them enough.

[_Rob_]

I have some strong feelings on this subject, we use Ergo corporately and I wouldn't touch them, I have found the quality and support shocking, and we have hundreds!

We use Stone for LfT scheme etc and have done for 3 years now, and whilst the Samsung laptops may not be the prettiest they are certainly robust, when we do the helpdesk stats for the last 3 years LfT Laptops make up a tiny percentage, and on the occasion when one does go down Stone offer us on-site repair and even bring a loan laptop out with them, they simply swap the hard disk which allows the teacher to keep working etc.

I looked into Dell last year and ran a pilot scheme to see if we should switch and I must admit I loved the laptops, however, an alarming amount failed and the support was without a doubt the worst I have ever come across! It has sickened me from Dell, and the regional account manager is still trying to make up for the terrible service.

These are of course my personal opinions, but for me it's Stone (Samsung) every time - Robust and excellent support, which is what counts in education IMHO.

Rob.

[woody]

We have been getting dell for the last three years through a contract negotiated by Cumbria LEA. We too have recently had one laptop which twice on the run has had problems with the HD dying. Coincidence or something the teacher is doing? I'll leave that upto you. But anyway on both occasions there was no fuss about "well is it really the HD". The first time they ran a few tests over the phone, then sent a new HD out. The second time, I ran the tests first, then rang them up and told them about it. No fuss - a new HD on the doorstep next day.

BTW I saw Ergo at BETT and I like the thing they do where the whole of the back casing of the tft on the laptop can have the school logo imprinted on it. I had a good look at it to see if it would easily come off, and it seemed to be well done. Could be a good deterrant from theft. Take a look:

http://www.ergo.co.uk/services/screenbacks/index.html

This is the kind of thing that will impress the teachers! You specify the guts so you get what you want, and the teachers get what they want!

[_Rob_]

Samsung can do the same thing with the Logo on the laptops through Stone.

The problem with Dell is they send the HDD out in the post, this was unacceptable for me, as the high schools can have one of their lads there to sort that out but the primary schools don't have full time technicians so they need it to be replaced, and that's where we see the real benefit of Stone.

Rob.