Disadvantaged children across England are set to receive laptops and tablets

[dcwhitworth]

I've just got an email from the DfE saying we have to order our trust allocation by 1st March and that iPads will no longer be available.

[simonw]

How did this work out for you?

 

We see the Lenove 300e offered only as Chromebooks...?

 

The only Windows laptops available appear to be these:

 

Dynabook Satellite Pro E10-S-10Q - Intel Celeron N4120 - 4 GB RAM - 64 GB SSD - 11.6" IPS 1366 x 768 (HD) - Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

 

It seems we need to use up our allocation by 5 p.m. today (or lose it?)... The BM is keen but from what I can see available (and from what I see in this thread it might not even be worth the hassle - even if they are 'free')...

 

There are no iPads available as that would have been our first choice, only Windows Tablets, Chromebooks and Windows Laptops.

 

Out of those choices I am leaning towards the laptops (as we don't use Google enough to be worth learning Chromebooks and I have no experience with managing Windows tablets).

 

Also, can I completely wipe them and will they take a full fat Windows install... and how repairable are they?

 

Delivery turned up today, Lenovo 300e Win 10. Seem ok.

[Koldov]

It seems despite my best efforts the BM and Head really feel the need to order something... they seem to be worried it might look bad if we don't...

 

Also despite my protestations about Chromebooks (as in we can't manage them), Tablets (as in we can't repair them), Laptops (as in I am pretty sure that the issues with Dynabooks will prevent them being any use beyond a month or so), it appears they will make a decision and I will have to deal with it!

 

I guess I had better make room in my E-Waste cupboard and just put them straight in there...

[Koldov]

Ok, well when I go onto the DfE Gov.UK 'Get help with technology' website and sign in I am directed to sign in to the 'Techsource - Computacentre' website... is that right?

 

On there it seems we can only order these as Chromebooks...?

 

Lenovo 300e Chromebook (2nd Gen) - 11.6" - Celeron N4020 - 4 GB RAM - 32 GB eMMC - UK

 

Or these Windows laptops...

 

HP 255 G7 - 15.6" - Athlon Silver 3050U - 4 GB RAM - 128 GB SSD

Edited February 1, 2022 by Koldov

[Andycat]

Ok, well when I go onto the DfE Gov.UK 'Get help with technology' website and sign in I am directed to sign in to the 'Techsource - Computacentre' website... is that right?

 

On there it seems we can only order these as Chromebooks...?

 

Lenovo 300e Chromebook (2nd Gen) - 11.6" - Celeron N4020 - 4 GB RAM - 32 GB eMMC - UK

 

Or these Windows laptops...

 

HP 255 G7 - 15.6" - Athlon Silver 3050U - 4 GB RAM - 128 GB SSD

 

I'd have loved the HP option. Booo.

[Koldov]

Haven't seen much about the HP offering.... any good then?

[StevieM]

I held back from the Dynabooks with 64GB eMMCs, last week, and I've just used up our remaining allocation by ordering 3 of the HPs as I doubt we'll be offered anything better than that.

[Andycat]

Haven't seen much about the HP offering.... any good then?

 

Can at least image them as they've a proper SSD. We ended up with Dynabooks that will probably get ignored.

[atcoates]

These weren't available earlier this morning but are now.

 

[FragglePete]

Just had the last 12 of our allocation of devices turn up. 12 x Acer Chromebooks 311 - which is not what was listed on the website, but, gift horse and all that. Just annoyed that I missed out on the iPADs on the last block.

 

Pete

[Garacesh]

We've just had an additional allocation... A whole twelve. Either Toshiba Dynabook laptops or Lenovo flippy things that seem to be essentially tablets with a keyboard attachment.

So I can only assume it's "We've got a warehouse full of devices nobody wanted.. Let's just try and foist them off on everybody"

 

Still at least it's not Geobooks with baked in malware..

 

Devices have arrived today, and been replaced with Dynabook flippy things instead of Lenovo ones.

Shrug

 

They don't seem awful at a glance. The tablet part feels sturdy enough, and has a MicroSD, a USB3-A, a mini HDMI, a 3.5mm headphone (does not have a mic symbol, just headphone) and a USB-C port.

Keyboard feels decent enough. Proper keys that actually press down and actuate, rather than just rubber pads akin to the early Surface keyboards (they might still do them, I dunno), and the hinged connector feel solid, as well as having an actual locking mechanism so you can't accidentally pull it off without holding down the button.

The charger is a 3mm wide by 9mm long DC pin that I can't help but feel is going to get snapped rather easily, though with this form factor I'm not sure you could do anything better without going magnetised.

Bottom-right-hand side of the keyboard is kind of annoying, too:

[big shift][Z][X][C][V][N][M][,<][.>][.com][ ↑ ][Tiny shift]

[Ctrl][Fn][Win][Alt][biiiiiig spacebar][Alt Gr][\|][Ctrl][←][ ↓ ][→]

 

Who needs a dedicated .com button? Seriously?!

I also hate dislike | and \ on the right hand side of the keyboard. Kinda dumb, but seems to be becoming more common.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Garacesh

[enjay]

It seems we need to use up our allocation by 5 p.m. today (or lose it?)

 

You've got 4 weeks still - it is 5pm on 1st March, not February.

 

I've been holding out for some of the HP 255s which other people on here are getting, but all that's available whenever I checked is the Dynabooks.

 

Edit - logged in just now, and HP 255 were available! I've ordered the rest of my allocation, let's see what arrives...

Edited February 1, 2022 by enjay

[Koldov]

Well, I didn't even see that (cunning plan by DfE to get us all to hoover up whatever rubbish was still sitting around - or just poor email scanning by myself...?).

 

Still it seems like the HP laptops are the best of a bad bunch and (as mentioned) possibly the best we are going to get (if that's what we get - fingers crossed).

 

What will be annoying is if iPads appear again before March...

[Rob_D]

What will be annoying is if iPads appear again before March...

 

Given how much trouble I'm having getting someone to sell me an iPad for actual money, I don't think that's likely.

[Garacesh]

The tablet [...] has a 3.5mm headphone (does not have a mic symbol, just headphone) [...] port.

[...]

The charger is a 3mm wide by 9mm long DC pin that I can't help but feel is going to get snapped rather easily

 

And I've just checked, out of curiosity (without plugging it into the wall!) and yep.. You can insert the entire length of the DC12 charging pin into the headphone socket

Edited February 1, 2022 by Garacesh

[seaweed]

May I ask how manageable are the Chromebooks? Our school never had any Chromebooks and we don't even have Google WorkSpace. Does it have to be logged in to a Google/ Microsoft account to be used? Thanks.

[Garacesh]

May I ask how manageable are the Chromebooks? Our school never had any Chromebooks and we don't even have Google WorkSpace. Does it have to be logged in to a Google/ Microsoft account to be used? Thanks.

 

A basic, unmanaged chromebook tends to be more of a one-user-device kind of deal, but it isn't explicitly, and can be signed in to by any active google account, download apps, etc. Pretty much operates like one of those 64GB EMMC 'obviously aimed at cloud-only' laptops (HP Stream, for example) or Windows S store-only-can't-install-exes (or whatever they're calling it now), only if it ran Android apps.

Once you enrol a chromebook into a google workspace, you get a lot of control over what domains can sign in, what apps are installable (or force-installed), what wifi it can connect to, the whole 9 yards. They're incredibly configurable and you can lock them down tighter than the royal jewels. It's a reasonable amount of work, but IMHO the payoff is worth.

 

There are really only three main 'problems' with them:

1. They can't run windows apps, obviously. They're not a Windows device.

2. They tend to be super lightweight devices, hardware-wise. Whilst I'm sure there are exceptions, you're not going to get much grunt out of your average chromebook. You remember how years ago, budget Android tablets were all the rage? Tesco Hudl, et al? Well now that's your Chromebook market. Do you want to just browse the internet, maybe watch some youtube, occasionally write a document or two (see the next point), and do some emails? Chromebook all the way.

3. Lack of local storage. So you're pretty much stuck using Google Drive for your files, Docs, Sheets and Slides instead of Word, Excel and Powerpoint respectively, etcetera. That being said, I feel like the integration with these servers is a bit more seamless than you'd get on a Windows device running Office Online and OneDrive.

 

Obviously I'm biased as we're a heavy G Suite school here, but realistically, I find Chromebooks tick the vast majority of the boxes the vast majority of school classes need. As with everything, there are always exceptions, though, and obligatory YMMV.

[LeMarchand]

Also, IIRC, you get the Workspace license thrown in*. If you don't have Workspace already it's fairly quick and easy to set up.

 

With the DfE devices!

[ITGuyNW]

We received our extra 11 dynabooks and just like the others they are 128gb ssd rather than the 64gb mmc as described

[enjay]

A basic, unmanaged chromebook ... can be signed in to by any active google account,

 

Unless you have MFA or SSO, when you can't log in.

Instead users have to create/sign in with a personal Google account then add a second profile in Chrome for their school account (then IME, get confused about the two Google Drives and end up not being able to find any documents).

[enjay]

So you're pretty much stuck using Google Drive for your files, Docs, Sheets and Slides instead of Word, Excel and Powerpoint respectively, etcetera.

 

Or Office365. We're launching a 1:1 laptop scheme here, and I'm oddly tempted by Chromebooks to keep the cost down, even though we're Office365.

[Garacesh]

Yeah, but then you're stuck using the sentence-buffery, unresponsive, feature-threadbare mess that is Office Online

(They might have improved it since, I dunno, it's been a few years since I looked, but from a few years ago everybody hated the online offerings and would always choose to open in local software)

[risherwood]

does anybody know when this scheme will end?

[Andycat]

We received our extra 11 dynabooks and just like the others they are 128gb ssd rather than the 64gb mmc as described

 

Yes, ours too!

[enjay]

Yeah, but then you're stuck using the sentence-buffery, unresponsive, feature-threadbare mess that is Office Online

(They might have improved it since, I dunno, it's been a few years since I looked, but from a few years ago everybody hated the online offerings and would always choose to open in local software)

 

It is definitely better than it was, but there are a few things I jump into "proper" Word/Excel to do because Online can't do them. Section breaks is one recent example; I have a document where I want the first two pages to be landscape and the rest of it portrait. Online is happy working with this document once set up, but it can't create it.