Laptop Trolleys, WSUS and Uplinks - Help!

[Beggar]

I know this question has probably been asked before but can anyone tell me how they keep their laptops up to date with WSUS?! I have many members of staff who don't use the laptops as they are 'too slow' to get going. This is just as much down to the age of the laptops as it is windows updates though. I am in the process of researching new laptops (which will probably be SSD) as well as new laptop trolleys.

 

Has anyone used anything like these uplinks to keep laptops updated? LapCabby Plus - LapCabby

 

I was wondering whether they actually work, as they claim to update the laptops overnight via the inbuilt gigabit switches... Surely they would have to be able to wake the laptops which will be stored (lid closed) in the trolley overnight. WSUS is fussy at the best of times so seems like a stretch too far to think it would be able to do it this way!

 

Just wanting to hear peoples opinions, especially as the uplinked trolleys would cost around £2500!!!

[Steve21]

Waste of time all the wired ones in "my" opinion. As you said, first laptops need to power on automatically (most won't WOL over wireless), then be charged during updates, then auto-restart to finish installing etc. Also we had a full networked cable one before and no-one plugs them back in

 

Depending how many trolleys you're thinking of, either just set it to install daily (not auto restarting) so there's only a few to deploy out. Or just re-image the trolleys over half-terms etc

 

Steve

[Gurtlush]

Our laptops are in a separate group in wsus (Client Side targeting in gpo) and we never set updates for them during term time.

During holidays (depending on time of course) we either tidy the laptop trolleys and do the updates or as already suggested reimage.

 

I found by doing this we find out about cracked screens and broken keyboards (and missing laptops) otherwise problems tend not to get reported.

I can check and update all our laptops (170) in a long day . It's great for checking the wifi as well!

[Beggar]

Depending how many trolleys you're thinking of, either just set it to install daily (not auto restarting) so there's only a few to deploy out. Or just re-image the trolleys over half-terms etc

 

Steve

 

Well we have 4 trolleys split over 2 sites. Around 160 laptops. Second site has terrible internet connection so normally have to leave those overnight... At the moment I do have them deploying daily but when they don't get used for a week (sometimes much longer!) of course the updates stack up - which I've pointed out doesn't help!

 

Our laptops are in a separate group in wsus (Client Side targeting in gpo) and we never set updates for them during term time.

During holidays (depending on time of course) we either tidy the laptop trolleys and do the updates or as already suggested reimage.

 

I quite like this idea of ensuring they're in a separate group and update during holidays... could spend a day at each site to get them sorted. Would have been great if I could have got the system to be more autonomous though...

 

Still open to other suggestions or other opinions on the uplink from people... Or are most people thinking the same way me and Steve do - WOL issues and unreliable so not worth it?

[Steve21]

It depends on your site if I'm honest. If they plug everything in, and remember to stick them on charge etc it'll work fine. But from normal experiences with people never the case

 

Steve

[mavhc]

I just put SSDs in every single computer, no need to buy new laptops until the batteries wear out now

[Beggar]

I just put SSDs in every single computer, no need to buy new laptops until the batteries wear out now

 

I will be doing this most of the time from here on out but I've not been at this school long and they have a batch of laptops which are about 7/8 years old... Want to replace these with i5 SSD models then I will go through the other 60 or so that are newer with SSDs to keep them going... Or at least that's the plan!