Windows tablets for students

[timbo343]

I was wondering if any schools have gone down the windows tablets, say 10" versions for students as an alternative to Apple iPads.

 

We have been to visit 2 schools who have gone down the ipad route with the 1:1 scheme and we will be targeting sixth form first. We are thinking of charging students on a monthly basis until its been paid off, and then the device is theirs.

 

We are currently looking at the Linx1010B and have / getting some loan units (the lenovo, asus, hp and dell competitors ans possibly a samsung one if they do one.)

 

Would be great to hear from anyone who has gone down this route as oppose to iPads.

[free780]

Going down the linx 1010b route at the moment.

1. Takes a lot of work GPO wise.

2. Disk storage is limited so you have to be careful of profile size.

3. It is a multi-user device unlike ios/android.

4. You can't pxe boot to image. Use USB stick for boot.

[timbo343]

Going down the linx 1010b route at the moment.

1. Takes a lot of work GPO wise.

2. Disk storage is limited so you have to be careful of profile size.

3. It is a multi-user device unlike ios/android.

4. You can't pxe boot to image. Use USB stick for boot.

 

In relation to your statements...

 

1. a. How does it take a lot of work?

b. Are you configuring them like they would be on the domain?

c. Are you letting them on the domain? If so, how do you let them login at home?

2. I understand about disk storage, i would buy 64gb sd cards for them and change the install drive for programs to point to D via the registry

3. Multi user device is a valid point but if its a 1:1 program it doesnt really matter

4. Oh! I didnt know about the pxe boot. I thought we could buy some ethernet to usb connectors and boot that way.

 

5. Are they linked to MDM in anyway? We have meraki (the free version) but heard they are stopping development on this. I understand InTune might be an idea but not looked at it, ive only seen bits of it.

[free780]

They are on domain largely as they won't go off site. But if they do the profile is cached on the device. It does seem to be a fair bit of work. I think it's because I don't have win 10 the way I'd like it yet. I've had to gpp the start screen layout XML and the file associations xml.

[mthomas08]

We are using Windows Netbooks, which in turn allows us to do certain things e.g. Imaging, Support and put all software that's needed.

 

There's some department software which we are legally able to install, full version of office and of course Staff/Students are used to it.

 

Tried Android Tablets from the likes a Google Nexus/Lenovo models but even after months of Staff using/attempting and even us going out of way to find "App" alternatives they were not a success. Other than Internet Access and basic word we simply chose to revert back to Netbooks.

 

We are currently reviewing what we are doing for next year, there is 50/50 chance we've simply had enough of all the problems and pull the plug.

Edited January 28, 2016 by mthomas08

[Garacesh]

I was wondering if any schools have gone down the windows tablets, say 10" versions for students as an alternative to Apple iPads.

 

We have been to visit 2 schools who have gone down the ipad route with the 1:1 scheme and we will be targeting sixth form first. We are thinking of charging students on a monthly basis until its been paid off, and then the device is theirs.

 

We are currently looking at the Linx1010B and have / getting some loan units (the lenovo, asus, hp and dell competitors ans possibly a samsung one if they do one.)

 

Would be great to hear from anyone who has gone down this route as oppose to iPads.

 

I own a Linx 1010B and I rate them rather well. Not fantastic, I'll be honest, they won't be replacing laptops any time soon, but they're a good little all-rounder, if a tad slow sometimes. Worth the £140/150 price point, though, especially if you can get the keyboard docks thrown in. I wouldn't recommend getting the docks if you decide against 1:1, though.

 

Windows tablets in general is a decent idea. We have two sets of Dell Venue 11's here and they're not bad. The issue we've been having with them though is people see 'Windows' and think 'Content creation', they see 'Apple' and think 'Content consumption', so a lot of people have been trying to use them as a laptop and it just does not work to use a tablet that way if you don't have a physical keyboard. You can't write an essay when 50% of your screen is keyboard, and typing on them for any length of time without a keyboard is difficult, as you either lay the device on the desk, hunch over it, and do your back/neck in, or you try and stand it up, and it falls over a lot, or you hold it with one hand and type with the other, which results in hand pain and drastically hampered production capability.

 

Deployment is a pain, as the lack of network port means you have to install an image from a USB. You may be able to attach the device to a powered dock that has an RJ45 jack on it, but often the environments they can PXE boot to are severely limited. The idea, I assume, is they only PXE boot once (at the factory).

 

Given that they're full-fat Windows, GPO-et-al all works fine, albeit usually at a slower rate. If they're going off-site, though, updating restrictions or installing new software could to be an issue, depending on how you have them set up and if they can 'check in' from outside.