Replacement for an AlphaSmart

[ninglis]

Hi there

 

I've been asked to source a new device to replace some of our aging AlphaSmarts. I've been looking at various tablets and notebooks but just thought I'd ask and see if anyone has some suggestions? At first I thought about getting a Linx tablet in. But I've had 2 now, 1 for personal use, and found both to be very poorly designed and ended up sending them back. Had Geo Flux from Currys on trial and ended up purchasing one to test. Its ok although the CPU is maxed out when opening Edge.

 

Ideally I'm after a windows device that I can connect to my domain and manage. That will run office and a web browser, and maybe impero, but that's about it. So if you have any advice for devices you use in your school, then that would be great.

 

Thanks

[themightymrp]

Could you use a cheapy Chromebook? They can run Impero client too

[ninglis]

Thanks but not a massive fan of chromebooks. Struggled in the past to get a wireless connection. I'd also like to be able to allow access to the students home directories. We're a long way from going into the cloud yet and these will be used mostly by students who struggle so something nice and simple and familiar to the schools desktop machines would be better.

[FishCustard]

At my last school we used aging Dell D600s for this - shoved Win 7 on them, domain joined, installed Impero, but that was it. We used them for exams, and so locked them down with Impero policies so that they would only run WordPad, but you could have them do whatever you want.

[6Foot2]

I weaned our Learning Support department off AlphaSmarts a number of years ago. For our purposes, they had limited functionality while still requiring access to a PC/Word to transfer and print.

 

Also, our Learning Support wanted PCs/laptops for students undertaking other tasks. I was able to make the case that we could reduce the spend on IT for Learning Support while not reducing support for student learning.

 

This scenario may not be a good fit for all schools/other schools, but our LS department is happy (so far)