jmak Posted March 12, 2013 Posted March 12, 2013 For the classroom I would have thought i3s would cope, but personally I wouldn't have Toshibas again. Ours (Satellite pros) only just managed three years. I was nursing them along with spare bits and taking several apart to create one working machine. By contrast I've got some Dell D510s (retired - might use them for digital displays or similar) which can only have been mid-field performance when they were bought about 10 years ago. They ain't fast, but they still work.
Arthur Posted March 12, 2013 Posted March 12, 2013 Given that Toshiba don't want you repairing their laptops when they break, I would choose laptops from a different manufacturer such as Dell or Lenovo. Toshiba: You Can't Have Repair Manuals Because They're Copyrighted And You're Too Dumb To Fix A Computer The Shady World of Repair Manuals: Copyrighting for Planned Obsolescence « Wired
laserblazer Posted March 13, 2013 Author Posted March 13, 2013 Given that Toshiba don't want you repairing their laptops when they break, I would choose laptops from a different manufacturer such as Dell or Lenovo. Toshiba: You Can't Have Repair Manuals Because They're Copyrighted And You're Too Dumb To Fix A Computer The Shady World of Repair Manuals: Copyrighting for Planned Obsolescence « Wired Trouble is, they need to run Windows 7 Pro and looking at the prices, it will cost at least 50% more to get a Dell or Lenovo, so there goes our budget and no replacement projectors. To be honest and this may seem a somewhat selfish attitude, the Toshiba laptops come with free 3-year warranty. I'll be long gone by the time it expires. My intention is to do a report with pros and cons for Tosh and Dell and let someone else make the decision.
old_n07 Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 (edited) Don't go off the web pricing for Dell, speak to an account manager and they can do some amazing deals EG Lattitude E6530 15.6" screen on the Schools section with the Full HD screen and 8Gb memory is about £1200 where as though our account manager we got them for £650 with 4 year warranty buying 100 units Edited March 13, 2013 by old_n07
laserblazer Posted March 13, 2013 Author Posted March 13, 2013 Our LEA tell us they get the best possible pricing from Dell!
Michael Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 The Intel i3 is absolutely fine for most users and typically comes with 4GB of DDR3 which is more than enough. I'd only consider Intel i5 for admin users. Intel i7 is really nice, but is overkill for education. As for those who have suffered slow performance, make sure all the latest Intel chipset drivers are installed. It makes all the difference over Microsoft's own compatible driver.
sparkeh Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 Personally I think i3 is fine for most users, no noticeable slowness on our laptops. I have used Toshiba for years due to build quality and low failure rate but the latest batch appear to be made from paper, sticky tape and wishes. The keyboard I am typing on depresses into the case to a worrying degree. Not impressed.
localzuk Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 Having seen the speed requirement changes of Office from 2003 - 2007 - 2010 and now to 2013, and with SMART Notebook, I would go i5 with SSD, but I can understand the price issue. For 3 years, i3 should work fine. If that timetable is stuck to. We all know that these things change though and 3 becomes 4 or 5 years...
synaesthesia Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 Absolutely no issues ever with any i3 device, certainly when coupled with an SSD. That even goes for programs that far transcend any usage beyond "standard" such as Solidworks and Adobe CS. They're awesome for the money. We did go with i5's for our media machines anyway but in real life terms there's little to determine between them on day to day performance.
laserblazer Posted March 13, 2013 Author Posted March 13, 2013 I think the issue now is Toshiba paper and sticky tape versus brick toilet. Does anyone have any experience of Stone laptops as I can get a reasonable deal for an i5 version?
JJanisch Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 (edited) ... with a more modern OS (Vista or higher). Vis-what? Edited March 13, 2013 by JJanisch Failed quote
Norphy Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 I think the issue now is Toshiba paper and sticky tape versus brick toilet. Does anyone have any experience of Stone laptops as I can get a reasonable deal for an i5 version? We have them here. They're rebranded Clevo laptops, adequate but absolutely nothing special. They're reasonably easy to service though.
JJanisch Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 I think the issue now is Toshiba paper and sticky tape versus brick toilet. Does anyone have any experience of Stone laptops as I can get a reasonable deal for an i5 version? Stone laptops are nice, just as solid of a kit than any of their other products. All down to spec at the end of the day, all laptops can be pulled apart if a student tries hard enough! My old workplace used Stone workstations for years without any quarrels.
jmak Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 Stone reps were telling me at BETT that they're the biggest Samsung reseller too. My only personal experience of Samsung is a single laptop I bought for home use, but I have been impressed. Stone were also offering 5 year warranties on the Samsungs - might be worth having a chat.
witch Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 I was very impressed with the build quality of Fujitsus at BETT, and two of my suppliers have started recommending them.
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