Laptops for students - any recomendations

[Symbiosis]

Hi - looking to replace our 2 banks of student laptops and wondered if anyone has any recommendations. Needless to say, they need to be hard wearing (we have a particular problem that our students like to swap the keyboard keys around and can break them in the process), lightweight if possible and have good warranties

 

Thanks

[FN-GM]

Our standard laptop is the Dell Latitude E5530. Pretty robust and good value. Also just changed a keyboard after I had an accident. Was really easy to do! Dell warranty is brill, using them for years. They are a business machine so are designed to be worked hard.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

My Lenovo T410's!

 

They're superb machines! Well made, and quick as a flash too as several members here will attest

 

And whats more, becuase they're high quality business refurbs, they're less than £300!!

[robjduk]

Anything with a Lenovo sticker on it will be fairly hard to damage. When you buy, make sure you look at things like how easy the keyboard is to replace (some modern ones are glued on as we came to find one day!)

[hallb15]

Depends on your budget.

Get demo units in - its the best way to tell how robust they are, and also the best way to get leverage with 'da management'

 

For new, try Stone or VeryPC.

For referbs try ICT Direct.

[pcstru]

The only problem with the Lenovo's is they are not immune to kids picking the keys off. It's very much down to classroom supervision but in the absence of that ...

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Yeah there are very few laptops that the kinds wouldn't be able to rip the keys off of. Thinkpad keyboards though are very easy to replace / fix

[VeryPC_Colin_M]

Hi - looking to replace our 2 banks of student laptops and wondered if anyone has any recommendations. Needless to say, they need to be hard wearing (we have a particular problem that our students like to swap the keyboard keys around and can break them in the process), lightweight if possible and have good warranties

 

Thanks

 

Hi there, the VeryPC Thinbook could suit. Floating keyboard so you cannot remove the keys and spares for repairs are relatively inexpensive compared. https://www.very-pc.co.uk/products/laptop/thinbook or you may want to go down the Classmate route?

[Symbiosis]

Must admit our last batch were Lenovo G530's and in 5 years of service we have only lost one out of 34 (and that was only due to being unable to find a replacement UK keyboard). On the negative side, the only real PITA was the disable keypad button - lost count of how many "its not working" visits we have had due to that "handy" feature......

[Hawkeyez]

Our main issue is battery life, as they would be needed for the whole school day. We currently have now aging RM Mobiles that have the spare battery banks, but not found much of a replacement (Dell Latitude 3340 maybe)

 

Any ideas?

[robjduk]

I know stone do a 3 year warranty on their batteries but was never personally impressed with the hardware. I would be aiming for a 4th gen i series CPU to get the best out of the battery life. Shame you don't have Chromebooks though as they last 8ish hours.

[Fazza]

If you want hard-wearing then a Lenovo business laptop (not one designed for home use) is your answer. Something like a Lenovo T410 (T's are business grade so they have roll-cages in them and meet military grade standards etc) should suit your needs. For a Core i5 they're around the £700 mark or you can pick up a refurbished one with a 2yr warranty for around £250.

[josiahe]

We use HP Elitebook Folio 9470m at my work. There pretty good about 3-4 hr battery life and are pretty durable. Although could be a bit expensive, i think we paid $1200 AUD each.