Schools & Fujitsu

[apoth0r]

Afternoon all,

 

I was hoping to find a 'poll' function, but gave up looking so just wanted to find out a little feedback on what people think of Fujitsu and their current products.

Just looking to begin some market research into the Fujitsu brand and whether it would be something you'd welcome through your doors, or if the sour taste of the laptop debacle from some time ago has made it an unwelcome brand?

 

Not trying to influence or push anything, I'm just intrigued to see whether Fujitsu is something people have had a look at recently, if so / if not, if you can elaborate on why?

What do you current vendors provide that keep you attached, or is it just the case of upping sticks and moving to another vendor being far too much work on your images?

 

As I say, not looking to push anything I'm just intrigued to see what questions can arise from a simple subject

 

Thanks

 

Steve

 

 

*Edit* - Also if you have decent reasoning, would I be able to quote you anonymously? Cheers

Edited November 9, 2015 by apoth0r

[NB9457]

Last on current job I've been at, everyhwere runs on Fujitsu servers reliably, couldn't comment on their server support as it hasn't been needed, but maybe that's saying something there?

 

As for desktops, my last school use to run them everywhere until RM took over and started putting in their kit. Put it this way, the Pentium D and Pentium 4 Fujitsus went on to outlive their RM Core2Duo counterparts. Even on the old P4s, until they retire, drivers were easy to get they ran reliably, although a little slow on Windows 7, sent out via MDT.

 

I'e heard they've had a bad rep in the past, but having looked after 300+ fujitsu machines and only replacing the odd HDD, I must say, I'd be confident in buying any kit from them.

[sted]

not used the laptops in a long time. Still use the desktops they do the job not had any major issues though their support line can be trying (but ive only had reason to call it once in years). Tried to get one warranty repaired had a duff hdd asked me to run so many tools on it that took so long I gave up and pulled a drive out a dead computer

[Patrick]

@witch looked like she had an absolute mare with a set of them. Kinda put me off. silly i know as it can just be a fluke but i can't help it.

[Oaktech]

I'm not a huge fan of Fujitsu laptops, they've been awkward for me and lots of other people. They seem to use lots of hardware that is peculiar to them and not widely supported.

 

Their desktops however are pretty good. My my friend is in charge of desktops for our local NHS trust, he buys them exclusively and has no complaints - his department is currently supporting almost 150,000 of them.

[apoth0r]

Thanks for the replies so far, seems very positive and not what I was expecting if I'm honest. I presume you are all educational? I've not seen the same legacy issues that the education arena had in the private sector.

@witch - are you able to elaborate on the issues you experienced?

 

Generally, it sounds like although warranties were in place there were very few issues as to needing to call them? However, when you did it was a little clunky in getting it resolved.....was this more recent or maybe a few years ago? The reason I ask as I understand investment has taken place in this side of their business and as such I'm hoping there will be more recent positive experiences.

 

Thanks

 

Steve

[NB9457]

From what people are saying it seems to be the laptops giving issues, but I've only ever had experience with the desktops and servers.

[MatthewL]

Had experience of their desktops which were a few year old when I started in around 2006 we kept them running for a few more years after and would have still kept going if the end user hadn't of needed a higher spec machine. Well built with no issues, we even ran 1 or 2 of them as server boxes at a later date for a few temporary projects we ran.

[apoth0r]

@Oaktech is this a particular model, I have found that their lower end models do have some oddities.

 

What kind of hardware are you referring to? IO ports?

 

Desktops do seem to have good feedback

[Oaktech]

@Oaktech is this a particular model, I have found that their lower end models do have some oddities.

 

What kind of hardware are you referring to? IO ports?

 

Desktops do seem to have good feedback

 

The hardware oddities seem to be things like biometrics, some of the additional HID hardware like scroll pads and touchscreens and some of the chipset drivers. I can't put my finger on a specific model but the machines I see most are lifebook E series.

[apoth0r]

Noted - I have found they have put a lot of 'tech' into some of their laptops without any consideration to the Operating System / software that will actually utilise it.

I understand they have put a lot of R&D into their biometrics and palm reading is definitely their thing over the next year at least, this is already in place in some of the higher end machines.

 

I appreciate where you are coming, has this stopped you from buying more of theses or is it something you have been easily been able to disable/get passed and continue as normal?

[mowgli82]

Can't fault their desktops personally.

[Oaktech]

Noted - I have found they have put a lot of 'tech' into some of their laptops without any consideration to the Operating System / software that will actually utilise it.

I understand they have put a lot of R&D into their biometrics and palm reading is definitely their thing over the next year at least, this is already in place in some of the higher end machines.

 

I appreciate where you are coming, has this stopped you from buying more of theses or is it something you have been easily been able to disable/get passed and continue as normal?

 

Budget has stopped me buying more of them... I've inherited a fleet of 10 of various models, they are now 18 months old. It would appear that a number of staff have also bought Fujitsu privately as part of the deal. I can't afford to spend £500 on a laptop now when I can get 2 and a half laptops from ICT Direct for the same money.

 

Le Edit... I've just had a shufty, we have 5x Lifebook e780, 2x e782vpro and 3x e752. Staff members have brought to me a couple of the e780 and 3x t725, so clearly someone did a deal before I arrived here...

Edited November 9, 2015 by Oaktech

[witch]

I have 33 Fujitsu PCs in the IT suite -= they are 15 months old and I haven't had any issues with them. The build quality is good too.

As for the laptops - @Patrick DON'T be put off the laptops

 

The issue I had wasn't actually the Fujitsu's fault in the end but something in my network. The poor things were blameless

 

I have A512s which were not affected anyway and have been fine, and A544s which are fine now I have sorted the network issue

Edited November 9, 2015 by witch

[Chuckster]

Several years ago the then business manager made an uninformed decision of purchasing 30 laptops for SMT and the teaching staff. Luckily it played out well for him as it was an unknown territory to be buying laptops without consultation, since all he thought about was how low the laptops were priced.

 

What I will say is the laptops worked brilliantly but they were sure as hell ugly and bulky.

[XiJ]

We supply a lot of Fujitsu - servers, desktops and laptops.

 

We moved the the laptops from Lenovo / toshiba. The build quality seems so much better on the Fujitsu.

 

Only had one problem that was a failed DVD drive - replaced under warranty.

 

No issue with desktops either. Again were at the bottom end here but all work well.

 

And the servers have been spot on too.

 

This is all in primary schools and used by pupils and staff. We've even started using the SSD models for staff at a competitive price. Normally for SSD and a bit more power we go for VeryPC thinbooks

[Patrick]

I have 33 Fujitsu PCs in the IT suite -= they are 15 months old and I haven't had any issues with them. The build quality is good too.

As for the laptops - @Patrick DON'T be put off the laptops

 

The issue I had wasn't actually the Fujitsu's fault in the end but something in my network. The poor things were blameless

 

I have A512s which were not affected anyway and have been fine, and A544s which are fine now I have sorted the network issue

 

Ahh good to know. I know the towers are good but the laptops i wasn't sure about after the issues you've had. Glad to clear that up. Hope all is running well now for you!

[clockend25]

First thought was....

 

http://www.golem.de/0501/35744-lifebook-artikel.jpg

 

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!

Edited November 10, 2015 by clockend25

[apoth0r]

Haha @clockend

Those the exact ones I was talking about with the 'bad rep' and you need a few more R's on your arrrrgh

 

Thanks for the continued feedback, much appreciated

@witch I'm glad the issues weren't related as personally I have found all their kit to be great, it's just some of them look a bit, as @Chuckster said, bulky. However, those tend to be at the lower end of the market, their Premium range is pretty nice, thin, light and powerful machines with some funky touch technology.

Thanks again everyone, it has provided a decent insight into where people sit with them!

 

Any questions please don't hesitate to get in touch

[GuyJD]

I've around 100 Fujitsu lifebook's 24 A512s and the rest are A544s the 512s are fine and never given me a problem the 544s are the bane of my life they are forever dropping off the wifi, I've replaced our aging Netgear managed wireless with a new managed Ubiquiti AC system and still I have the same problem.

 

It's got to the point that the teachers are reluctant to use them and opting to use the iPads instead, I had one teacher come up to me asking why she could get a flash game to work on the iPads, I told her she'd have to use the laptops instead and she decided to do a different lesson instead rather than use the laptops.

 

I've spent all last week and probably the next two running Fujitsu DeskUpdate on all of them to get all the drivers up to date, if that doesn't fix it I'll be getting rid of them.

[apoth0r]

Guy, sorry to hear that mate, odd that the 'better' version of the low-end laptops are the problem! Very strange

 

Do you have any technical details that have pointed you in the direction of firmware, I'd be happy to speak to someone to see if there is an exact resolution to this problem, definitely get the firmware updated but I can tap into someone at Fujitsu to see if this is a known issue and hopefully provide a resolution?

Let me know if you'd like me to ask

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[GuyJD]

Cheers for the reply Steve, When I went to Misco Expo last month I spoke to someone on the Fujitsu stand there and he suggested making sure all the drivers and firmware were up to date but they were as baffled as I am by this, we are overdue an ofsted inspection so I really can chance these laptops being used.

 

I'm waiting on a teacher being brave enough to use the laptop trolley I have updated to see if the update has worked, I'll let you know the outcome.