Disadvantaged children across England are set to receive laptops and tablets

[localzuk]

What are you folks doing with the devices you've had returned or yet to issue? (We had 60 turn up.. just before we returned) - They're just too weakly powered to use as general-purpose devices (My head toy'd with turning them into an IT suite (!!!)) but equally they're a bit of a waste being kept in storage.

Between our OA and the DfE devices, we are using them for our next year 5 1:1 provision in Sept, plus any spares will be going out to the children that most need them at home. Ideally I would have liked to buy the usual devices we had planned, but needs must in these trying times.

[atcoates]

Between our OA and the DfE devices, we are using them for our next year 5 1:1 provision in Sept, plus any spares will be going out to the children that most need them at home. Ideally I would have liked to buy the usual devices we had planned, but needs must in these trying times.

We're doing something similar. Where we had Dell devices we're trying to use these in school. The Geo books are going home to students that need something. The rest of our devices were Ipads so being used in schools.

[enjay]

We loaned over 150 laptops to students through lockdown but haven't yet asked for them back in case of another lockdown or students needing to self-isolate, so we've loaned some of the DfE laptops to students who were loaned particular school laptops we'd like back. Some will go to replace an ageing fleet of laptops we loan to particularly disadvantaged students. Others will be found a temporary home in school and then given to students who can't afford to buy in to the 1:1 scheme we're considering.

[Garacesh]

What are you folks doing with the devices you've had returned or yet to issue? (We had 60 turn up.. just before we returned) - They're just too weakly powered to use as general-purpose devices (My head toy'd with turning them into an IT suite (!!!)) but equally they're a bit of a waste being kept in storage.

 

I mean, they're not fantastic, but the HP G7's will do as general purpose, and the chromebooks are, well, chromebooks.

 

We're finding ways to repurpose ours, we've done a set of 20 G7's for music (probably mostly for musescore to be honest), we're waiting on a trolley so we can do a set of 30 G7's for art (though we've bought extra RAM* for those ones, just to be safe), and we've given a set of 20 chromebooks to maths. Plus another trolley on order for a set of 30 chromebooks that I suspect will just be 'generic use' and run as a bookable resource.

Once we've got that done, I'm going to take stock of what's left, and probably argue that we toss out maths' old aging set (a mix of utterly ancient Samsung XE303C12's and a few not-as-bad-but-still-not-great HP 11-v051na's) and give them another set of 20 new ones. That'll probably end up using the majority of devices we were given, as we're not asking for them back from the year 10's and 11's.

 

* Fair warning, the G7's only have one RAM slot, so you have to buy 8GB sticks and then just have a bunch of 4GB ones sat around doing nowt..

Edited April 29, 2021 by Garacesh

[enjay]

we're not asking for them back from the year 10's and 11's.

 

Not asking for them back at all, or just not until the students leave?

[TriggerHappyUK]

Not asking for them back at all, or just not until the students leave?

 

We're not asking for them back either. They can stay with the students. Even after they have left. We're not classing them as a school asset.

 

We have recorded who has what device, so can contact them if the Borough/DfE ask for them back.

[Garacesh]

Not asking for them back at all, or just not until the students leave?

 

On-paper? The latter.

In practice? Probably going to be the former.

 

That being said, the DfE filtering/etc dies in.. October? Was it? So they're going to have to come back to us sooner or later.

[enjay]

That being said, the DfE filtering/etc dies in.. October? Was it? So they're going to have to come back to us sooner or later.

 

That just means the filtering will stop, but the laptop will otherwise still work won't it?

[mavhc]

The HP G7s seem to require the rubber strips that act as feet being removed to open up, sigh

[Garacesh]

That just means the filtering will stop, but the laptop will otherwise still work won't it?

 

Probably. But if the filtering stops, internet access on those devices dies, no? Because they'll be trying to contact a web filter that isn't there any more?

And, as they're restricted accounts that can't even install software, that pretty much reduces the device to 'a doorstop that can play MP3s'

 

Well I guess it depends, they're set up via intune, right? So they could push an update that gets rid of the filtering, I think? Not sure. Don't have much experience with intune. Or any, really.

[mikeprice]

The HP G7s seem to require the rubber strips that act as feet being removed to open up, sigh

 

Yup - my home laptop is one of them

 

The sticky bit looses its stickyness once you remove it and I can;t find a replacement

 

I had some little round plastic things made to put on kitchen doors and stop them slamming - I stuck some of them on and they work better than the original!

[MrEprise]

The sticky bit looses its stickyness once you remove it and I can;t find a replacement

 

Double-sided tape?

[mavhc]

Finally opened it, I was amused by the massive empty space where a CD drive would have gone a few years ago. Not terrible inside, most just the feet that are stupid

[mikeprice]

Double-sided tape?

 

Actually there are 2 bits - a double sided sticky strip and the rubber bit - it is the double sided sticky bit that I needed a replacement for

 

I would have tried double sided tape except for 2 things

a) it is quite narrow and trimming it would have been a pain

b) it needs to be sticky enough to stick and stay stuck even if you move it around on a table top - but to release easily with no residue otherwise getting the screws out could be a problem

and the original version is clearly designed to be just right - substituting something else would be too sticky, leave residue or come off too easily

 

Honestly - I have no clue why hiding a few screws is so damn important that they implement such a dumb idea

[MrBitey]

What are you folks doing with the devices you've had returned or yet to issue? (We had 60 turn up.. just before we returned) - They're just too weakly powered to use as general-purpose devices (My head toy'd with turning them into an IT suite (!!!)) but equally they're a bit of a waste being kept in storage.

 

We got 40-odd Chromebooks, so I've set up a couple of sets to loan out for classroom use (we are a primary school). Delighted to have them as our class set of Nexus 7 (2012) tablets were very much on their last legs.

Only problem I have is humping them around the school - they are much heavier collectively than the tablets and we have lots of stairs. Numerous trips back and forth to the server room at least means I get plenty of exercise (which I desperately need after all the home working!)

[mikeprice]

We got 40-odd Chromebooks, so I've set up a couple of sets to loan out for classroom use (we are a primary school). Delighted to have them as our class set of Nexus 7 (2012) tablets were very much on their last legs.

Only problem I have is humping them around the school - they are much heavier collectively than the tablets and we have lots of stairs. Numerous trips back and forth to the server room at least means I get plenty of exercise (which I desperately need after all the home working!)

 

You need one of these

 

 

I think I posted this (for a similar reason) in one of my first ever Edugeek posts

I said I needed one

someone responded that I needed 2 - so we could have races over the hols!!

[MrBitey]

You need one of these

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]61710[/ATTACH]

 

I think I posted this (for a similar reason) in one of my first ever Edugeek posts

I said I needed one

someone responded that I needed 2 - so we could have races over the hols!!

 

Brilliant!

I will put in a purchase order for one right now!

[mavhc]

One of the HP laptop screens got punched, what's the best way to fix it? Buy another screen for £80 and fit it myself?

[enjay]

One of the HP laptop screens got punched, what's the best way to fix it? Buy another screen for £80 and fit it myself?

 

That's what we did.

[the_quick]

We do it every time it happens. Sometimes we are able to claim money back from students, but mostly we can't

 

I just got a Chromebook with not fully working keyboard. Can't replace keyboard on it's own, have to replace whole assembly - that is highly annoying

[jessica]

Does anyone know how to remove the MDM settings from these laptops if its been wiped and now has no local user? I have tried to enable the recovery partition to remove the settings but as it has been wiped this has not worked.

[ITGuyNW]

I've just had the email about licensing expiring on these devices and data stopping on the routers.

 

Did all laptops come with Intune? I've not seen one for ages. We personally don't user intune at School however I'm sure all the laptops we got were standard local/admin user?

[djm968]

 

Did all laptops come with Intune?

 

AFAIK only the DFE managed devices were supplied with an InTune license.

[mullet_man]

Question for anyone who might know the answer

 

Once the devices Intune and Umbrella licenses expire will the laptop still be usable? Still browse the internet?

 

The devices will stop getting Windows updates I think?

[Boredguy]

One the web filtering expires, they should revert back to normal unfiltered connection, but they have provided instructions on how to remove the DfE image if you've not already reformatted the device.