Is £700 too much for a SMT laptop?

[reggiep]

I was asked to get a member of the SMT a decent spec laptop with a 17" screen for his dodgy eyes.

 

I found a good spec toshiba for £700 and put the order in BUT the head had a look at the order and questioned me as to why and spending that sort of money on a laptop?

 

What sort of cash do you spend on latops for SMT?

 

Thanks

[elsiegee40]

The last one here (good spec HP) came in at £692 incl VAT

 

EDIT

 

I should have said that was all-in - including licenses, CALs, bag...

Edited June 4, 2008 by elsiegee40

[jcollings]

Same as any other member of staff here. Being SLT doesn't get them a different laptop if the standard one meets the need. Our timetabler has a 17" laptop so he can have more on screen at once but it wasn't £700. It's an Acer and I think it was around £500 - seems to be fine.

[DSapseid]

I recently bought our head a new laptop and he wanted an uber light VAIO so he told me to order one for about £1000 and he said that he will pay the difference himself for what i normally buy laptops for!! So he has paid £600 out of his own pocket!!

[localzuk]

Depends who... Our head's tablet cost £1400. My Macbook pro, and my boss' cost £1400 each too. (my boss is bursar). Other SMT members have our stock laptops which come in about £450 each.

[sparkeh]

Everyone gets the same laptop for around £450. Oh except me who needed a high spec for all the intensive jobs I have to do. *ahem*

[Joanne]

think I picked up a 17" acer for around the £500 mark several months ago...

[witch]

The head here has decided that we are no longer obliged to provide laptops - so now, although we do, they are low spec recon or refurb and cost us about £300 each

[Pottsey]

Seems about right to me as long as that includes software price’s. It might be a little on the high side but I wouldnt want to go below £600 and for sure not below £500. I aim for £600 to £700 with software.

 

We like to get high end laptops then when teachers are due for a replacement the laptops are hopeful still good enough to be handed down to TA’s.

Edited June 4, 2008 by Pottsey

[reggiep]

Cheers guys. I'll go away and have a think now.

[mullet_man]

Same laptops/pc here no matter who you are.

[srochford]

Same laptops/pc here no matter who you are.

 

Have you considered the implications of the DDA?

 

If someone is telling you that they have a disability then you need to assume that they are disabled in the way they tell you and you need to respond to that. That doesn't necessarily mean buying £700 laptops - it might mean just pointing out how to change font sizes, contrast etc - but it does mean you can't ignore it.

[Sylv3r]

The head here has an HP tablet which was around £1,000 mark. For teachers and the LMT I generally spend around £600 including software + accessories.

[mullet_man]

Have you considered the implications of the DDA?

 

If someone is telling you that they have a disability then you need to assume that they are disabled in the way they tell you and you need to respond to that. That doesn't necessarily mean buying £700 laptops - it might mean just pointing out how to change font sizes, contrast etc - but it does mean you can't ignore it.

 

Sorry srochford I totally misread the original post, and didn't see the bit about the eyes

 

Having re read the post, if a certain member has a disability we would make sure the appropriate equipment was purchased to suit their needs.

 

But if there was no disability then the staff member would get no more spent on them than another, the head and smt all have same laptops as teachers.

[srochford]

No problem :-)

 

It's always difficult to decide whether a more senior member of staff should get a better PC. They generally get (eg) better offices, better desks, better support (eg PAs) and so on, so why not a better PC?

 

I don't know how much SMT members get paid but I'd guess it could be in the region of £50k. If the laptop's going to last for 3 years then you start arguing over "is this person worth an extra £150 per year" The time it takes to decide either way can cost more than the potential saving of not giving them the better machine.

 

It shouldn't be necessary to give in on things like this but sometimes it just makes for an easier life all round - and I like the easy life!

[torledo]

No problem :-)

 

It's always difficult to decide whether a more senior member of staff should get a better PC. They generally get (eg) better offices, better desks, better support (eg PAs) and so on, so why not a better PC?

 

I don't know how much SMT members get paid but I'd guess it could be in the region of £50k. If the laptop's going to last for 3 years then you start arguing over "is this person worth an extra £150 per year" The time it takes to decide either way can cost more than the potential saving of not giving them the better machine.

 

It shouldn't be necessary to give in on things like this but sometimes it just makes for an easier life all round - and I like the easy life!

 

IF they earn 50k+ they can bleedin' well buy their own laptop....

 

sorry, the trotskiest in me comes out from time to time.

[sparkeh]

Everyone gets the same laptop for around £450. Oh except me who needed a high spec for all the intensive jobs I have to do. *ahem*

 

Oh forgot to say, its usually the case that when new laptops come in, the Head and Head of ICT cast their eye over the specs and perhaps nab a new one and pass theirs on

[bondbill2k2]

depends if they will use it, just wait till its ipads and macbook airs as standard.

 

IF they earn 50k+ they can bleedin' well buy their own laptop....

 

sorry, the trotskiest in me comes out from time to time.

I agree, I don't get a laptop or any extra equipment, just a standard PC the same as teachers classroom workstations and on near a quarter of their wage *not jealous*

[featured_spectre]

In my previous place everyone had the same budget for their equipment, but they chose whether to have a PC or Laptop.

 

If it was a laptop, it would have almost certainly been a Toshiba (good build quality, nice and reliable, great service, decent price)

If it was a PC, it would have almost certainly been a HP (as above, good build quality, nice and reliable, great service, decent price)

 

Prices we allocated

 

£400 for the hardware (laptop+Carry case, or PC+Monitor+Keyboard+Mouse)

£200 for the licence (Windows 7, Office 2010, Server CALs, Exchange CALs etc)

£60 for 3 year warranty

£60 for 3 year all cover insurance (from water damage to full on smashed in a car to theft etc) - This was paid upfront by the school, but taken out of the teachers wage at a rate of £20 per year (something like £1.66 per month taken out for the insurance).

 

This is the base rate we worked on for the staff. If they wanted anything better in terms of equipment, we funded up to that point, and they paid the rest on top (with the understanding that after the 3 year period they funded all repairs, and costs etc to run the device and they could keep the device)

[TheScarfedOne]

We went the other way - all staff where bought a new laptop from central funds...all identical. £349 each - Stone i3s with 3GB RAM, 160GB HD, Usual Mod Cons, 4yr onsite, TPM for Bitlocker encyrption

[Blue_Cookeh]

Usually spend about £500 on staff laptops, seeing as our staff generally look after their laptops and tell me when literally anything goes wrong with them. I got one for £750ish though so I could spec it up to test lab VMs.

 

We're an all Dell place in terms of laptops/workstations apart my laptop (ThinkPads ftw ) and networking gear.

 

Must admit, when our LA gave us a Toshiba laptop to trial I was put right off, their build quality certainly didn't feel as good as they used to be.

[glennda]

Toshiba have some good deals on 15.6 inch ones atm on misco, core I3 4gb ram, 320gb hdd at about 340 plus 100 quid cashback

[Arthur]

I was asked to get a member of the SMT a decent spec laptop with a 17" screen for his dodgy eyes.

If there eyes are that bad, maybe a separate 20"/24" LCD (and docking station) to go with the laptop would be better?

 

Also, does it have to be a laptop? A desktop PC would be much better value for money if they don't need to move around. A lot of our SMT spend most of their time in one place, so a laptop is a bit pointless.

[jamesfed]

SMT get the same notebooks as everyone else about £450 a go for the HPs we get. Some of our staff have elected to buy their own which we happily provide as many network services to as we can.

 

The only exception to the rule is the HT - after all what is the point in being the head if you cant be a little diffrent so in that case he got a £450 Lenovo with a Solid State upgrade.

 

Now in your case.....most screens now adays are 15.6" widescreen - ramp that down to 1024x768 pixles and it will be more than viewable for anyone.

[Cue]

Must admit, when our LA gave us a Toshiba laptop to trial I was put right off, their build quality certainly didn't feel as good as they used to be.

 

You obviously haven't owned a Dell Studio, mine is literally falling apart from general use.

 

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I have to ask, why do they need £700 spent on a laptop? Do they plan on playing Team Fortress 2 on it or something? Because that's what my £700 laptop can manage.