Laptop Replacement

[JonnyAlpha]

Hi,

 

Our fleet of 60 Fujitsu LifeBook Laptops used for pupils are around 6 years old and keyboards are failing left, right and centre.

We recently upgraded the Server and upgraded everything to Windows 10 and since then moved to Teams for remote learning.

The Laptops just aren't up to it anymore.

I have asked out offsite IT support to stop Teams loading at startup as it's easier and quicker to use the Web version.

 

I have spoken to the SLT on a a number of occasions suggesting that they need to start planning for a replacement but unless I start this off it is not going to happen.

The SLT have suggested that we will continue to use MS Teams, but a number of year groups have migrated back to Smart Notebook and storing files on the Server!!

 

I am now looking for upgrade ideas, the HT has and I am sure will mention ChromeBooks again and I will have to explain why this would mean a complete change in the way we currently operate and to do this properly would need a complete business review which no one would do.

 

So what would be a cost effective upgrade to retain a Windows 10 Server / Client setup?

 

Open to any other suggestions?

[Dos_Box]

Moving to the Hardware forum.

[StoneGroup_JackW]

@JonnyAlpha, have dropped you a PM

[ict-direct]

Hi @JonnyAlpha - I've just sent you a message.

 

Regards

 

John

[dhicks]

Our fleet of 60 Fujitsu LifeBook Laptops used for pupils are around 6 years old and keyboards are failing left, right and centre.

 

Are these easy-to-replace keyboards, the kind where you can pop the keyboard off the top of the case with a flathead screwdriver, disconnect one ribbon cable and swap in a new one? If so, it might be worth replacing keyboards and upgrading to SSDs (if you haven't already) to give you refurbished machines. We have some 8-year-old laptops that just about manage to run Windows 10 - they're fine once they get going, but they can take a little while to boot and they tend to slow down rather when updating.

 

If you want to stick with Windows devices, maybe start looking at having devices logon via Office 365 accounts rather than from a local Active Directory server. Have your local AD server sync with Office 365 to set up the accounts, users should wind up with the same login details. You'll probably find your Microsoft license agreement covers you for the basic Office 365 tier - something to check with whoever provides your Microsoft licensing.

[jmak]

Also don't despair if you are forced to look at Chromebooks - they work well with Office 365/Teams/SharePoint online. You can also use an official app to access network shares, although I haven't deployed that, so can't comment on how will it works. No Smart Notebook though.

[JonnyAlpha]

Are these easy-to-replace keyboards, the kind where you can pop the keyboard off the top of the case with a flathead screwdriver, disconnect one ribbon cable and swap in a new one? If so, it might be worth replacing keyboards and upgrading to SSDs (if you haven't already) to give you refurbished machines. We have some 8-year-old laptops that just about manage to run Windows 10 - they're fine once they get going, but they can take a little while to boot and they tend to slow down rather when updating.

 

If you want to stick with Windows devices, maybe start looking at having devices logon via Office 365 accounts rather than from a local Active Directory server. Have your local AD server sync with Office 365 to set up the accounts, users should wind up with the same login details. You'll probably find your Microsoft license agreement covers you for the basic Office 365 tier - something to check with whoever provides your Microsoft licensing.

Keyboards are getting hard to find, doesn't help when you place an order and find that it got 'mislaid' somewhere in school!!!

I have just found another 20 from various suppliers and have sent this to our school admin so hopefully this will get us out of the current situation.

 

We (I) have been replacing the teachers devices with SSD drives which has improved them dramatically (but they are newer / better LifeBook A 357s). The pupils devices are A512 (I believe) Core i3 4GB Ram. SSDs may be an options for these.

 

Pupils usernames and passwords are mirrored to O365 but I believe we still boot through the AD and it is this that causes the problem I guess as every time a pupil uses a different device, thier profile has to be downloaded.

I'll speak to our offsite IT provider to look at some options.

 

Many thanks

[JonnyAlpha]

Also don't despair if you are forced to look at Chromebooks - they work well with Office 365/Teams/SharePoint online. You can also use an official app to access network shares, although I haven't deployed that, so can't comment on how will it works. No Smart Notebook though.

 

We were trying to wean teachers away from Smart Notebook by using Teams, but that didn't stop them and now that they don't have to setup remote learning most have drifted away from using Teams altogether - a backward step sadly!!

[jmak]

We were trying to wean teachers away from Smart Notebook by using Teams, but that didn't stop them and now that they don't have to setup remote learning most have drifted away from using Teams altogether - a backward step sadly!!

Microsoft: Check out Teams. It's a brilliant way to bring all of your productivity to one place. Share files, send messages, collaborate, even have video calls

 

The World: Ah yes Teams. Like Zoom but not as good...

[JonnyAlpha]

Microsoft: Check out Teams. It's a brilliant way to bring all of your productivity to one place. Share files, send messages, collaborate, even have video calls

 

The World: Ah yes Teams. Like Zoom but not as good...

Yes in the 6 months or so that we have been using it, they bolted on Class Notebook and rolled it out for education!! Teams itself is OK, but Class NoteBook is a pain, when it works it's 'OK' but it seems they threw the Microsoft Software guide out of the window and decided to do everything differently and ended up with a very 'CLUNKY' piece of software.

We also found during lockdown and high usage, buttons and functionality would suddenly disappear, causing no end of frustration!!

 

What is the main problem is that we can't seem to find anything that gives us the basic functionality of Smart Notebook in the way of a decent digital chalkboard - Microsoft WhiteBoard is just a whiteboard with a few freehand pens, if it had even a straight line or simple shapes and maybe a ruler / protractor it would be a %100 better than it is!!

[Norphy]

 

The World: Ah yes Teams. Like Zoom but not as good...

 

Not really a fair comparison. Zoom does video conferencing and not much else. Video calling is just one small part of Teams.

[jmak]

Not really a fair comparison. Zoom does video conferencing and not much else. Video calling is just one small part of Teams.

I agree - my point was about how the average user perceives it. From what I've seen, people mostly seem to prefer attaching files to emails and sending them around. Therefore the only thing people think it's useful for is video conferencing.

 

I've seen some excellent implementations and maybe things are improving - but I'm happy with my tongue in cheek sweeping generalisation.