RM Mobile One - Worth the extra cash? Or got a better idea.

[eean]

Please think 'primary school' for a second here:
We've got a trolley of laptops - 12 are RM-branded Compal laptops and the other 3 are RM-branded Samsung laptops. To be honest the Samsung ones are shite - Main problem being a very weak power connector, which has been reparied too often at a cost of £120 a go. So we need to replace the 3 Samsung. The Compal's aren't too bad - except the kids seem to eat the keys off the keyboard (£80).
So, anybody had experience of the RM Mobile One - supposedly the first laptop designed for education (and there I was thinking that RM had been a specialist educational supplier for the last 15 years). At £569 for a 1.5 ghz Celeron with 256MB (yes, that's just two hundred and fifty-six) it's about £100 more than the normal RM version (nbook 4100). Is the nbook a Compal? Any good?
(There would be an advantage of sticking to compals because they may use the same power connector, which would stop the idiots trying to ram the wrong socket in!)

Now, I hate RM as much as the next man, so are there better offerings?

P.S. I've just spotted our Compal laptops on nusystems.co.uk for £325 (+OS, I think) - similar spec as above - ever heard of this company?

[Norphy]

I got a mailshot from EuroPC advertising NEC "Schoolproof" laptops the other day

Details here: http://www.europc.co.uk/pages/filter...efId=nec-email

[plexer]

Unless that has captive key caps that can't be prised off then it's no better than any other. The RM One with the hard glass screen is a good idea but our biggest issue has been keycaps being pulled off.

Milspec needed I think.

Ben

[meastaugh1]

keys off the keyboard (£80).

A replacement keyboard should be around £10 from Compal.

[plexer]

We just paid £25 for new keyboards for our novatech laptops.

Ben

[eean]

I got a mailshot from EuroPC advertising NEC "Schoolproof" laptops the other day

The SchoolProof features just seem to make it Theft Proof. - Etching, fingerprint scanners, internet locators and the like.
PC Pro review says:

For a notebook designed for people who aren't paying for it, and so are less likely to look after it, the Generation isn't as solid as we'd like.

@Plexter.
Yes milspec is the way forward - Panasonic do one that can be dropped from 90cm (my kids are generally quite short, so that should be ok).... for a mere £2100.

@meastaugh1
Did you get those directly from Compal? I've never managed to find a UK number for them. Do you have one?

So no one's heard of nusystems? (Sent them an email yesterday, and they haven't replied, so that doesn't bear well). Any other places that sell Compal? or any other contenders?

[meastaugh1]

Hi eean,

Yep, from Compal Europe UK (www.compal.co.uk): 01204 799100. You'll have to pay before you receive the goods. By default they will quote in USD, so probably best to ask for a GBP conversion.

ps I'm fairly sure the nbook 4100 is a Compal.

[plexer]

You'll have to pay before you receive the goods.

Bugger that then.

Ben