(Another) recommend a laptop for teachers thread...

[Koldov]

Hi All,

 

As the title suggests...

 

We have just looked at upgrading our old stock of teacher laptops to SSD's and in the discussion, the possibility of having sufficient in the budget to enable us to provide new laptops for the teachers was mentioned.

 

So, I am looking for suggestions/recommendations. They don't need to be fancy (they don't have to do yoga, be light as a feather or have detachable keyboards), in fact they need to be fairly solid (even rugged), decent screen size, reliable. However, we are still looking at fairly legacy options such as VGA and Optical Disk Drives.

 

As we have the budget, I'm looking for new, good quality, big brand, decent warranty for around £500 (not sure if this blip in our budget will ever be repeated!).

 

 

TIA

 

EDIT: Well, I have just been sent a link from the HT... Says they come 'highly recommended'...

 

2016 HP Spectre 13-v021nr

 

What planet do they breed these guys on? Honestly.... Pretty much goes against EVERYTHING I just said.....

Edited February 8, 2018 by Koldov

[FN-GM]

Would you be open to HDMI to VGA adaptors? I haven't seen anything in a good while that has VGA.

[Koldov]

Would you be open to HDMI to VGA adaptors? I haven't seen anything in a good while that has VGA.

 

Yeah, of course! If that's the way it is.

 

I haven't bought a new laptop in quite some time (as if you couldn't tell)...

[FN-GM]

I will dig out the model number of some recent ones here.

 

Even our desktops we got in the past couple of years didn't have VGA. luckily for us we don't use it anymore.

[Koldov]

I will dig out the model number of some recent ones here.

 

Even our desktops we got in the past couple of years didn't have VGA. luckily for us we don't use it anymore.

 

Sure, it's the way to go.... Just trying to hold off ripping out trunking and ceiling tiles to replace it all for as long as I can...

 

Maybe this is the opportunity to refresh everything in one go?

 

Just had a thought though... I'm guessing you can output to HDMI and separate speakers at the same time (I've never tried)?

[FN-GM]

Just had a thought though... I'm guessing you can output to HDMI and separate speakers at the same time (I've never tried)?

 

You can do that yes. Need a little fiddling in the sound settings though.

[DalekSec]

Latitude 3480 14 Inch Small Business Laptop | Dell UK

 

That has a VGA, going to be hard pressed to find one with VGA and CD Drive, 2 years ago when i was tasked on updating the Laptops we only managed to get CD drives as dell had some leftover end of life stock which had CD Drives and VGA.

 

Fast foward to new place, we all use surfaces and if they need a CD drive we just let them borrow a USB one.

[XiJ]

Our schools seem happy with the Fujitsu we use. a555 models, usually upgraded to SSD.

15” dvd, hdmi and VGA as standard.

[Steve21]

Any of the HP Pros will too, example (and just get a HP care pack):

 

https://www.ebuyer.com/793851-hp-250-g6-i5-laptop-1wy59ea-1wy59ea-abu

 

There are cheaper ones if you don't mind doing SSD part yourself.

 

https://www.ebuyer.com/769989-hp-probook-450-g4-laptop-z3a37ea-abu

 

Steve

[Syman_a]

We use HP 450 G3s here. Seem quite robust, not had many major issues in 2 years ( 1 faulty keyboard replaced under warranty)

[ADMaster]

I'm all Lenovo here so I'd go for a thinkpad e570 or e575.

My current batch is e550 and I think it was the last with VGA.

[Blue_Cookeh]

Lenovo X series for those that like small and light, Lenovo T series for standard deployment, and Lenovo 13 for support/TA staff.

 

I <3 my X270

[HTCPCP]

VeryPC - their kit is lovely, and you can get branding on there too! - You can then chose what specs you want for them too!

 

If not another +1 for the X270s - (I have an X260 at home which has taken a battering, and they have been showing off durability a fair bit).

 

Optical disk wise - how much are they actually used? I used to buy new laptops in my old schools, without optical drives and then get a USB drive in each year group (more than 1 form entry) or a couple in each key stage if not

 

Screen size - What do you class as a decent screen size? I have used anything between 12.5" and 17" depending on staff member, how it's going to be used, and how much staff move around - Staff who take their laptops home a lot/move classroom to classroom will thank you for a smaller laptop than a staff member who leaves their laptop at work, and stays in one room except for PPA!

[Hydra]

I've heard VGA cable are better for transferring sound.

[Primus]

I've heard VGA cable are better for transferring sound.

 

Seems unlikely since VGA doesn't carry sound.

[Arthur]

I've heard VGA cable are better for transferring sound.

Must be the analogue wires!

[davethetekkie]

The VeryPC Thinbook G7s are very nice, the quality has improved even more since I got my Haswell-based Thinbook (which has been solid) and hopefully there will be a G7 coming my way soon! The branding options give it that something extra and the level of service you get is something you’ll struggle to get from Tier 1 manufacturers (its the difference between spending a half hour on the phone jumping through hoops according to a script or a straightforward email...).

[Meldrew]

For our teachers, we buy laptops from Stone. They don't admittedly have an optical drive (instead we purchased a few USB DVD drives for loan), but do have VGA, 15.1" screen, are quite rugged, have a TPM module, so you can bitlocker them (my most important criteria these days), from memory, costs just under £500.

 

Meldrew