Inexpensive Laptops For MakerSpace

[JonnyAlpha]

Fellow Tech Peeps,

 

I am kitting out a MakerSpace for STEM education / projects at school and will be open to the public once a month at weekends and open at times during holidays.

In the MakerSpace we have / will have a Prusa i3 3D Printer, Hobby Lathe, Hobby Pillar Drill, Scroll Saw, Vinyl Printer and Vinyl Bender, Raspberry Pi's.

We will also have hand tools / electronic and wood work.

 

The workshop will accommodate up to 10 children at a time.

 

Although we do have Laptops in school (Fujitsu i3 SATA HDD), as they are about 5 years old, I was planning on buying 5 more up to date devices. I had settled on these, but they are now currently unavailable.

 

The Laptops will be used to SSH into the Raspberry Pi's, low level 3D design using TinkerCad, web access, coding (Scratch, Python).

 

Could anyone recommend any decent spec devices for this purpose?

 

I had also considered getting the Raspberry Pi 4 Desktop Kit 8GB version, which I can get for £113 (Educational Account) and then add a monitor? This would save on buying the additional Raspberry Pis, but understand that these are not as capable as a Laptop and would also need SSD drives if I wanted more storage.

We are considering a separate NAS box, so the Pi's could use that as storage.

 

 

Thoughts

[3s-gtech]

How inexpensive?

[JonnyAlpha]

How inexpensive?

I would have said around the price of the one I linked, but as its currently unavailable there is now now price :-)

They were £350 when I looked.

 

I have found these [h=1]ASUS VivoBook R465JA Full HD 14.0-inch Laptop (Intel Core i3-1005G1, 4GB RAM, 128GB PCIe SSD, Windows 10)[/h]

For £399.

[3s-gtech]

I’ve been banging on about the Dell Vostro 3001s I just got for £375 (including VAT). They’ve now come, and seem very decent for the price. i3, 8GB, 256GB NVMe SSD. That was on a special offer, but may still be of interest.

[JonnyAlpha]

Can't find them anywhere for anywhere near that price?

[3s-gtech]

I think that was a sale price - this is the right time of year for another sale though so worth keeping a look out.

[dhicks]

The Laptops will be used to SSH into the Raspberry Pi's, low level 3D design using TinkerCad, web access, coding (Scratch, Python).

 

Maybe the new Pi 400, the Raspberry Pi integrated into a keyboard? I don't know what the physical setup of the room is, but I'd vaugly guess benching with defined work areas. If that is the case, cheaper screens (£60-ish?) and Pi 400s with mice might be just the thing - the 400 has the standard Pi I/O pin accesible right on the back of the keyboard, so you'd have workstations you could plug stuff straight into.

[JonnyAlpha]

Maybe the new Pi 400, the Raspberry Pi integrated into a keyboard? I don't know what the physical setup of the room is, but I'd vaugly guess benching with defined work areas. If that is the case, cheaper screens (£60-ish?) and Pi 400s with mice might be just the thing - the 400 has the standard Pi I/O pin accessible right on the back of the keyboard, so you'd have workstations you could plug stuff straight into.

 

That is another option I am considering.

 

Either Pi 400's, Pi 4 Desktops (both with external SSDs, or Pi 4's in an Argon One M.2 case and M.2 SSD Card, then adding a decent low cost monitor, like this.

 

If I have done my sums correctly, one of each setup would cost:

 

Pi 4, PSU, Kbd, Mouse, SSD and Monitor (buying all bits separately): £164.06

 

Pi 4 Desktop, SSD, Monitor: £190.99

 

Pi 400, SSD, Monitor: £179.23

 

Pi 4 Argon One M.2, SSD Card, Monitor: £218.82

 

Yes this is a workshop involving Kitchen Units with worktops to act as work benches, when sawing and cutting the Pi's and Monitors will be away in the cupboards. Laptops are easier to put away / get out though.

[HTCPCP]

Speak to your account managers at the big few computer makers and they can often give you better prices than what they show on the website. That being said, I'm sure if you hit up VeryPC/Stone they will be able to set you up with some decent pricing too for kit.

 

Another thing to look at would be to speak to ICT Direct, and see what Dave could hit you up with. A 7th or 8th gen i5 will offer a good step up, and if you go for a latitude and (this is based on old thinkpads as I haven't bought any for about 6 years now) Thinkpad X series, then should be easily serviceable and be really well built.