Teacher Laptops and USB-C Docking Stations

[SpankyMo]

Hi All,

 

We are looking to kill 2 birds with 1 stone and issue all teaching staff with new laptops (USB-C Power Delivery capable) and replace all of the teacher workstations in classrooms with a USB-C docking station. The idea is the docks will stay in the class and be wired in to visualiser, touchscreen, ethernet that sort of thing, the teacher can just roll up and plug their laptop in via USB-C and get power and port replication.

Has anyone had any experience with going in this direction? How did it work for your school?

 

Cheers.

[synaesthesia]

Yup, works well for us - we've stuck with Lenovo kit all round and find it reasonably reliable, except when people invariably lose cables despite being told never to unplug them, general vandalism and spilled things!

Spend the money and don't buy cheap.

[bald_pig]

We went with Surface Pro 7's and Surface docks, after some initial bedding in issues, it's been working well.

[SpankyMo]

Surface Pro's would be great, but I don't think I have that sort of money.

It more than likely going to be a Stone, HP, Lenovo - that sort of thing.

[SpankyMo]

Which model of Lenovo did you go for?

We have about 130 Lenovo PC's and 40 Lenovo Laptops at the minute, I think I've had an issue with 2 in 4 1/2 years.

[synaesthesia]

L13 & L14 here

[psydii]

+1 Lenovo 'Think' series.

 

Make sure firmware and drivers are all up to date. https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht508988-critical-intel-thunderbolt-software-and-firmware-updates-thinkpad

 

Very occasionally (like twice out of about 62,000 dock/undocks) we have seen a usb ports on a (fully patched) device just appear to die. Recovered by stripping down and disconnecting battery and holding hardware reset buttons, and then using the in-box USB-C power adapter to bring the device back to life.

 

Slightly more common though have been damaged USB-C ports on the laptops requiring repair - or more often than not, 'early' retirement of a four year old device.

 

We had a spate of windows audio issues, whereby Windows would lose all knowledge of audio devices attached to the sytem. Again, this went away once we'd updated firmware, drivers and uplifted to W10 2004.

[mullet_man]

We have HP laptops and HP USB C Docks, they work fine but we've had about 5 docks that have died for whatever reason. I have one laptop that I need to see why but it's stopped working when connected to a dock, the port looks fine so not sure what's up.

 

Am worried how well they will hold up as it's only been a year and a half so far so not sure how well the docks and ports will hold up. Currently staff are moving every lesson so thats putting more stress on the ports with the cables being plugged and unplugged every lesson.

[chazzy2501]

We also have the new HP Probook 440 G7 with 13 HP G5 USB-C docking stations. The docks are connected to interactive boards, mice keyboards, vga and hdmi projectors all works well. BUT and big but, USB-C is sensitive, with all the cleaning and hand sanitizers in use around, some docks have occasionally stopped working. No amount of plugging and unplugging or wiggling will work and they to the eye look immaculate....

 

Here is the key! we have a can of circuit cleaner I have on 2 occasions seen a totally borked dock act fine after spraying the inside of the usb-c male cable. (whilst off)

 

My feeling is that USBC is the future but fussy, so also buy a can of circuit cleaner.

[DalekSec]

Teachers have Surface Pros and Surface Docks (Pricey)

 

Admin and Support staff who require portable devices have a HP Laptop with a USB-C StarTech Dock that also works with the Surface Pro 7 if needed : https://www.startech.com/en-gb/cards-adapters/mst30c2dppd

[MatthewL]

We use Lenovo P24H I think off the top of my head monitors, just plug in USB C to either our Dell or Lenovo laptops and away we go, USB ports on the back of them for keyboard/mouse etc, no more random docks but all in the monitor.

[gumbygaz]

HP Laptops (Probook x360 440 G1) and HP USB-C Docks here. went for the G4 not the G5 as the cable is moulded to the dock so if gets damage it's expensive replacement. G4 you can just get a new USB3.1 cables, means we can get longer ones too for the odd classroom setups.

Works great, glad we got the HP warranty though, have had 2 USB-C ports replaced on the laptops due to them wearing out, getting knocked or wearing out and loosing connection. This is probably my main worry going forward how robust the usbc ports are. But we've had the setup for a 18months now and teacher love them.

[mullet_man]

I had a teachers laptop that refused to to accept a dock via the USB-C port and I've left it off for about a week and tested it today and it's working fine.

 

Frustrating but glad it's not a broken port, I guess it's some sort of electric discharge that happens or something random like that?

 

We've had similar with the docks, they refuse to work wait a few days and they then work fine.

Edited November 16, 2020 by mullet_man

[SpankyMo]

I've got some samples coming from Stone, Lenovo and Dell. We will see what they are like but it doesn't seem like anyone can match the price/spec of the stone devices.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Forgot to add, thanks to everyone who replied.

[mdrabble]

I've got some samples coming from Stone, Lenovo and Dell. We will see what they are like but it doesn't seem like anyone can match the price/spec of the stone devices.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Forgot to add, thanks to everyone who replied.

 

Would be interested in hearing your thoughts when comparing them and also which make/models you tested.

[SpankyMo]

For those interested, the first test device arrived yesterday.

Its a Stone Stonebook lite - 14 inch FHD, 10th Gen i5-1035G1, 8GB DDR4 2666, 240GB WD Green M.2 2280 SSD, Intel 2x2 AX200 Wi-Fi, USB-C PD, TPM 2.0.

 

The laptop itself is black plastic, if you have used one of the older Stone laptops or something like a Lenovo E50-80, its a similar feel. It is a bit of a fingerprint magnet though.

Reasonably lightweight but doesn't feel flimsy, the hinge feels solid and the lid closes with a satisfying thud.

The screen looks good, nice, clear and bright, does 1920*1080.

They keyboard feels good, keys have a nice little click to them, there are 3 little lights above the keyboard for power, caps lock and num lock. The trackpad is nice and big which I really like, there also isn't one of those stupid little red joystick things in the middle of the keyboard.

Built in camera is good, more than adequate for teams.

It has 1 x HDMI, 1 x USB-C, 1 x USB 3, 1 x USB 2, 1 x 10/100/1000 RJ45, 1 x MicroSD, 1 x 3.5mm dual purpose mic/headset port and a Kensington lock bit.

 

 

Overall I really like this. Its going to be tough to beat at this price point.

I just need to test it with a USB-C dock now.

[mdrabble]

Just got a StarTech MST30C2DPPD dock to test on an Acer TravelMate P2 (P214-52)

 

Works well so far.

[Primus]

For those interested, the first test device arrived yesterday.

Its a Stone Stonebook lite - 14 inch FHD, 10th Gen i5-1035G1, 8GB DDR4 2666, 240GB WD Green M.2 2280 SSD, Intel 2x2 AX200 Wi-Fi, USB-C PD, TPM 2.0.

 

The laptop itself is black plastic, if you have used one of the older Stone laptops or something like a Lenovo E50-80, its a similar feel. It is a bit of a fingerprint magnet though.

Reasonably lightweight but doesn't feel flimsy, the hinge feels solid and the lid closes with a satisfying thud.

The screen looks good, nice, clear and bright, does 1920*1080.

They keyboard feels good, keys have a nice little click to them, there are 3 little lights above the keyboard for power, caps lock and num lock. The trackpad is nice and big which I really like, there also isn't one of those stupid little red joystick things in the middle of the keyboard.

Built in camera is good, more than adequate for teams.

It has 1 x HDMI, 1 x USB-C, 1 x USB 3, 1 x USB 2, 1 x 10/100/1000 RJ45, 1 x MicroSD, 1 x 3.5mm dual purpose mic/headset port and a Kensington lock bit.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]59926[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]59927[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]59928[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]59929[/ATTACH]

 

Overall I really like this. Its going to be tough to beat at this price point.

I just need to test it with a USB-C dock now.

 

Roughly what is the price point for that Stone?

[Wubbalubbadub]

We went with Surface Pro 7's and Surface docks, after some initial bedding in issues, it's been working well.

 

Wow! I would say that must have cost some bob!

 

We used to have Surface Laptop's here in the IT department, but we found them somewhat unreliable, especially with the Dock's. So we went back to DELL.

[Primus]

We've just bought some Dell Latitude 5410 - they're really nice, the fingerprint scanner built into the power button is a lovely touch.

[jmak]

We've just bought some Dell Latitude 5410 - they're really nice, the fingerprint scanner built into the power button is a lovely touch.

Can you use biometrics for domain login yet?

 

(Not a criticism, just something I think should happen and wondered if MS had fixed yet.)

[Primus]

Can you use biometrics for domain login yet?

 

(Not a criticism, just something I think should happen and wondered if MS had fixed yet.)

 

We allow staff to use biometrics to log in to their domain account.

[bald_pig]

Can you use biometrics for domain login yet?

 

(Not a criticism, just something I think should happen and wondered if MS had fixed yet.)

 

You can use Windows Hello to log in to your domain account with your fingerprint, but it's setup per machine.

[Primus]

You can use Windows Hello to log in to your domain account with your fingerprint, but it's setup per machine.

 

Yes it is per machine.

[SpankyMo]

Roughly what is the price point for that Stone?

 

for 60 units I've been quoted £425 with the Stone 3yr NBD on-site warranty, its £60 extra to upgrade to an i5 and £35 to upgrade to a 5yr warranty.

 

All in all £510 for the i5 with a 5Yr warranty that cover the battery and PSU.

 

I really, really like these stone laptops. The only issue for me is the placement of the USB-C port, its on the right hand side and most of the docks I have been looking at need the port to be on the left.