Spare Laptops

[HPlum78]

This maybe a strange question to ask! How many of you out there have spare laptops available?

 

I ask this as I have a constant stream of requests for 2 or 3 spare laptops for this meeting and that meeting, now I have worked in Schools, Colleges and Unis over the past 20 years nearly and I have never seen the spare laptop or indeed spare ICT kit cupboard in any institution I have worked in. I am curious to see if this is now something that schools have as when I say to SLT we don't have such a resource as spare laptops I am looked at like my head has fallen off. And made to feel I should be keeping them along with the spare set of Encyclopaedia Britannica and spare Mini Bus! This is then followed by a visit to the technicians office for them to pick up random laptops off the desks and saying this one will do only to be disappointed when they find out that our office is actually a graveyard or a work in progress!

Edited December 8, 2014 by HPlum78

[jaminben]

Nope, no spare laptops here... have you tried the boiler room?

[Oaktech]

I have 3 general spare teacher spec laptops. 2 core2duo toshiba's and a lenovo thinkpad edge 13.

 

I also have the 'Top Gear Laptop of Shame' which is a tosh sat pro, but it's been very lovingly painted neon orange. If you are seen with it it basically shouts "I'm an idiot, I've left my laptop at home."

[bladedanny]

We have one or two, mainly for if visitors need to use one or for Ofsted to use etc...

 

They're just some of the old supply laptops when we had laptops run our IWBs

[3s-gtech]

We have a pair of IT laptops which are used for assemblies etc, and a Core i3 tablet. No actual spares - if it has a use in school, it gets used!

[X-13]

I also have the 'Top Gear Laptop of Shame' which is a tosh sat pro, but it's been very lovingly painted neon orange. If you are seen with it it basically shouts "I'm an idiot, I've left my laptop at home."

 

I have a Dell Latitude D630 sitting in my office... I think I just found a use for it.

[tmcd35]

Yes and no. We refresh staff laptops each year. The old ones returned are given to part-time/cover staff. The old ones from part-time/cover are used as "spares" for as long as they last. Considering the laptops are over 5 years old by this point it's unsurprising they don't last long. In reality of pile of spare laptops are a pile of scrap laptops waiting for collection by some WEEE agency or another.

 

I also have the 'Top Gear Laptop of Shame' which is a tosh sat pro, but it's been very lovingly painted neon orange. If you are seen with it it basically shouts "I'm an idiot, I've left my laptop at home."

 

Oooh, I like!

[win]

I have one barely usable laptop, but usually i tell them to borrow from another department who has a rarely used one.

[CamelMan]

I keep 5 spare laptops set for dual boot system & standalone to cover hall presentations (we have 2 halls and sometimes the gym that need them), sudden classroom failures, unmentioned presentation and general "we have a meeting.." scenarios.

 

We used to have more but they tend to grow legs..... come to think of it we must have some orange paint around here somewhere......

[plexer]

We occasionally had the odd spare one mainly when teachers had left although I see it as a bit of a waste of resources so never liked it.

 

I did have a stack of about 20 dead ones in my old office.

 

Ben

[Techykev]

No spare "laptops" here, we do keep 6 netbooks for loaning out when a student has a poorly arm/wrist/finger etc. Theyre currently all out on loan as they never seem to get returned (not in working order anyway) and I still keep getting calls asking for more for students that have "had a little accident" at the weekend or similar.

[Theblacksheep]

There's no such thing as leftover crack.

[Chris_]

We don't give teachers laptops. We have a few laptops around in school for presentation setups, use in the hall, exams etc. We keep a couple that can be borrowed when needed.

[HPlum78]

Like Cman we have two hall projectors and a mobile unit for the Gym to use, but like others I do not consider these "Spare" as in the most part they have bookings. Also like TechyKev we have two netbooks that the students who fall though the asbestos factory roof at the weekend can use (These netbooks seemingly have the same fate as his!). I am known for my ability to fit kitchens and fix cars of a certain Defender type and I have never turned up to do this sort of work and then started asking if I can borrow a Chop Saw or a 1/2" socket set from the customer (freind)! so why is it seemingly ok for third parties to turn up to our School without the tools they need? if students start to turn up without pens and the like should we as schools keep supplying these spare resources as well? maybe this has changed since I left school and this is now the norm, I ain't sure that this is a good thing mind.

 

 

Anyhow with that said I am thinking about resurrecting some of this kit from our graveyard here and going with a take on the orange paint idea but using vandal grease instead I think the demand for "Spare" kit will tail off over the coming weeks!

 

 

Thanks to all who have responded

 

 

H