New Equipment - Laptop Trolleys

[Geoff]

WiMAX?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX

or perhaps 802.11n?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#802.11n

Of the two, WiMAX is much better.

[ChrisC]

WiMax, that was it, computing.co.uk newsletter/magazine thing had it.

Chris

[broc]

Setting aside the arguments about the merits laptops in schools, wireless network issues etc (all of which I agree with) we have 4 Bretford trolleys which each hold a max of 16 laptops. They are not as well engineered as Lapsafes but they are considerably cheaper. We have had no problems with them in over a years use. We decided 30 laptops in any one trolley were too big/heavy for anyone to manouver safely in a busy school.

We have ordered another 4 16x units, should be here sometime in the next couple of weeks.

[BooBoo]

To Broc

Cheers for bringing it back to the original question.

[alan-d]

I agree totally with Geoff on this one. Several years ago we tried to run a room of 20 PC's with wireless cards fitted connecting via 2 baseststions (all Buffalo 54g kit). It was a total disaster. AV updates, patch roll outs, software installations and all of the other things that happen in the background which we take for granted chew up any signal you may have had. In short, unless you spend many thousands on a decent bespoke wirless network the wireless will never be a replacement for a classroom LAN. Wireless should be used sparingly and in moderation only by staff in areas where having a LAN connection is inpractical, or by small groups of say 5 or 6 laptops in a light network usage situation.

The trick is planning and training

Updates are done outside classroom hours (mostly ) and after a few tantrums by staff initially they realised that whilst the kids were logging on they had time to do any prep work etc.

(Hang on this place is beginning to sound efficient - brb just going to check I'm in the right place :? )

[Geoff]

Unfortunatly I've had trouble distributing windows patches and antivirus updates to laptops that are switched off in a lapsafe alan-d. :P

Also, I notice they tend to never get used as it takes too long to unpack them and set them up from the lapsafe.

[eean]

I'm going to say something I thought I'd never say but: It would appear that, by comparison, our dlink wireless network is quite good.

No seriously, we have 15 laptops, all logging on at the same time. They all have dlink cards and it is set to super g (not turbo, just some packet resizing). Only adds about 10-15 seconds to wired logon time. We have enough APs to ensure that windows reports the strength as 'very good'.
(After 20 minutes, they all seem to freeze for a minute while they have a think).

Anyway, back to the topic:
We have the RM lapsafe and, yes, it is rubbish. If you are stuck with one, however, it is worth investing the time to velcro the power supplies to the back and use a load of self-adehisive cable ties from maplin so that there is just enough wire. I then stuck photos in each bay, showing how they should be stored, labels on each wire with a number and numbers on each laptop with a sticker saying 'This way up. This side out'.
(After that, I generally resort to bullying the staff - "If my 6 year olds can manage it, why can't you?" etc...)#

If you let the power adaptors sit near the laptop, the heat from the charger will warm the battery. Over a year (according to RM) the battery life can be reduced by 70% - that's why mine are glued as far away as possible! But I think the most expensive lapsafe has temperature control.

[ChrisC]

How robust have you found the RM trolley?

Someone found that if you bend the front tray down on the slide-out model, you can slide the laptop from the middle out, they broke the weld, which was pants to start with.

The model with the door front has had the latch buckled, the back is being held together by the padlock in the middle, where someone has ripped the whole top hinge-down section off nearly.

Chris

[Ric_]

I've yet to finish the config and setup of ourse.

The 30 unit Lapsafe looks very sturdy (took 4 people to carry it upstairs! - I was noticeably absent during this time ).

I will be able to give a review on all the gear October time I think but the Bluesocket APs should be capable of handling up to 30 clients with ease (Bluesocket reckon 64 isn't unreasonable). I also have an overlap of coverage so that the laptops are within range of two APs most of the time. The Bluesocket controller does some joggery pokery and makes sure the best signal wins.

If you have to use a trolley setup, I think the extra bit of money on the APs is probably worth it... after all you probably wouldn't spend £30 on a 24-port switch so why spend £30 on a AP for 24 clients?!?!?

[eean]

How robust have you found the RM trolley?

Ours is robust. It's just a bit pants.

[alan-d]

Unfortunatly I've had trouble distributing windows patches and antivirus updates to laptops that are switched off in a lapsafe alan-d. :P

Also, I notice they tend to never get used as it takes too long to unpack them and set them up from the lapsafe.

Don't talk to me about patches & laptops There is another thread about that here-abouts. We have about 250 of the things So big patches & installs we go around and switch them on but the small stuff we sneak in while the kids aren't looking The AV updates at the start of the first period and the last period. Only takes about 30 secs and it's back to normal. Over a week we find that 99% are up to date.

As for getting them out we found that the kids can't get them out quick enough. The staff have more of a problem telling the kids they can't use them

We use the Bretford trollies - basic security but suits us.