Netbooks

[sloughman]

Hello

 

I have been asked by SLT to look into getting a few (2 or 3) Netbooks for student use. I have no experience of Netbooks in a Network environment (Windows 7 Server 2008R2). I understand there are potential issues with KMS licensing, is this correct? Do other folk use them without problems ? Which model do you use if so ? Will they load image from WDS sever via PXE boot ok ? Any other potential pitfalls ?

 

Thanks in advance.

[FN-GM]

Can you still buy them?

 

With any computer you may have KMS issues if you buy a consumer device. You need to make sure you purchase a device that is from a business range.

[Little-Miss]

They're hard to get hold of...

 

Pretty sure someone told me Toshiba had released another set though. I like the Toshiba ones. I've got 60. First set bought in 2010 perhaps...

 

I do all of the above KMS, WDS....PXE boot....

 

Edit: The only issue i have with licesning is i think they're sometimes not on long enough, so i do get the occasional "this is a non geniune version of windows blah blah"

Edited February 5, 2014 by Little-Miss

[sted]

there were some sort of netbooks on tosh stand at bett 10/11 inch iirc nb 10 http://www.toshiba.co.uk/innovation/jsp/news.do?service=UK&ID=nb10&cnt=NEWS&key=nb10&display=T

 

closest ive seen in a while

[Arthur]

I wouldn't bother looking for netbooks when you could just buy a laptop like the Dell Latitude 3330. They start from £324.47* + VAT.

 

* Price from Premier page.

[Duke5A]

We have about 500 netbooks in the district - Dell Latitude 2120 and 2100 models with 6-cell batteries. They've been great devices with the rubberized exterior and are easy to fix when the need arises to crack them open. Problem is the netbook ship has sailed and Dell axed the line. If I was starting over at this point I wouldn't look too hard for manufacturers that still make them; the form factor is all but dead now.

[sloughman]

Ok, thanks to all. Basically SLT want a few small/light and of course cheap laptops that a few students need. Any ideas/experience of particular models anyone ?

 

Thanks

[salc]

How about the Asus X102BA. I have been quite impressed with Asus devices recently.

[pcstru]

Ok, thanks to all. Basically SLT want a few small/light and of course cheap laptops that a few students need. Any ideas/experience of particular models anyone ?

We have 100 old Stone Neo's which have done good service in our library loan stock. I'm buying some Stone N120's to supplement them. The are only slightly bigger but sadly, shockingly more expensive.

[Linfit]

We have used the small Lenovo S models and found them very good, less than £300. 11" screens but perfectly usable.

[3s-gtech]

We went for Lenovo E145s in this category - much more expensive than a traditional netbook (try finding them at netbook prices now!) but much more powerful too. Nice little machines, not had them long but impressed with them. Edited February 5, 2014 by 3s-gtech

[Phrygian]

Had a couple of problems with some Samsung NC10s and KMS licensing, but it's nothing a BIOS update didn't solve. I hear Acer had that issue, too; bear in mind that they were XP Netbooks, though, and those issues are most likely resolved OoB now with new netbooks.

[witch]

The Tosh ones at BETT looked good. I will be looking into them again as our labcabby has several gaps and nothing much bigger than a netbook will fit

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Netbooks are getting harder to get hold of these days. Well cheap ones anyhow.

 

However I have some lovely Dell Latitude E4300 13.3" notebooks that should fit the bill. PM me if your interested. They're lovely & Cheap and come with win 7 pro

[witch]

@Millgate tell me they have lots of the Acers which looked good at BETT

[gavins38]

The problem I found with netbooks was that the users complained they were slow. Everyone expected them to be as fast as normal laptops, which they weren't. The best mini-laptops we found were the Lenovo X121e. I don't think they make it anymore but looking at their website they do other a new 11.4" mini-laptop with an AMD processor. Alternatively have you considered chromebooks? There's quite a few small and cheap ones made by samsung around for just under £200.