Refurbished laptop supplier recommendations

[plumyeti]

Hi all,

 

I’m currently gathering quotes for a project to replace our staff desktop PCs with laptops across the school.

 

I’ve already contacted ICT Direct, VeryPC and Converge, but I’d be interested to hear which other refurbished laptop suppliers schools have used and would recommend.

 

Suppliers offering warranties, education pricing and trade-in or cashback against our existing desktop equipment would be especially welcome.

 

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

[johnfermor]

We've had many dealings with RDUK in Kent.

 

https://www.rduk.co.uk/

 

They provide remanufactured desktops and laptops and provide generous warranties.

 

Their laptop branding is fantastic too (no cost!).

 

Edited Monday at 13:34 by johnfermor

[plumyeti]

Thanks for the suggestion!

I’ll get in touch with RDUK for a quote.

It would be particularly nice to use a local company, as we’re also based in Kent.

 

21 minutes ago, johnfermor said:

We've had many dealings with RDUK in Kent.

 

https://www.rduk.co.uk/

 

They provide remanufactured desktops and laptops and provide generous warranties.

 

Their laptop branding is fantastic too (no cost!).

 

 

 

[johnfermor]

7 minutes ago, plumyeti said:

Thanks for the suggestion!

I’ll get in touch with RDUK for a quote.

It would be particularly nice to use a local company, as we’re also based in Kent.

 

 

Sounds ideal then.

 

They are also happy to drop in with a (your school-branded) laptop sample or two so you can actually see what the quality is like. Also, a choice of laptop keyboard (normal or dyslexic) at no extra cost. A good local company with a real feeling for what schools need. 

 

Here's an example ..

 

Edited Monday at 14:02 by johnfermor

[JazzFlute]

1 hour ago, plumyeti said:

Hi all,

 

I’m currently gathering quotes for a project to replace our staff desktop PCs with laptops across the school.

 

I’ve already contacted ICT Direct, VeryPC and Converge, but I’d be interested to hear which other refurbished laptop suppliers schools have used and would recommend.

 

Suppliers offering warranties, education pricing and trade-in or cashback against our existing desktop equipment would be especially welcome.

 

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

Can I ask whether your staff currently have laptops as well as desktop PCs?

 

I'm just wondering, apart from the cost savings, what the benefits are of replacing desktop PCs with laptops. At my school, I can't really see how it would improve things.

 

We have desktop PCs in every classroom, which are fast, reliable, and easy to manage. Every teacher also has a laptop that they use for working at home, PPA time, meetings, and when they are out of the classroom.

The way I see it, if a teacher is absent, on a trip, attending training, or out of class for PPA, there is always a networked classroom PC available for whoever is covering the lesson. This means lessons can continue without needing to swap devices around.

 

Perhaps I'm missing something, and there's a good way of making a laptop-only setup work smoothly that I haven't thought of. I'd be interested to hear how you plan to manage it and what benefits they've found in practice.

 

If its purely cost i understand 

[plumyeti]

1 minute ago, JazzFlute said:

Can I ask whether your staff currently have laptops as well as desktop PCs?

 

I'm just wondering, apart from the cost savings, what the benefits are of replacing desktop PCs with laptops. At my school, I can't really see how it would improve things.

 

We have desktop PCs in every classroom, which are fast, reliable, and easy to manage. Every teacher also has a laptop that they use for working at home, PPA time, meetings, and when they are out of the classroom.

The way I see it, if a teacher is absent, on a trip, attending training, or out of class for PPA, there is always a networked classroom PC available for whoever is covering the lesson. This means lessons can continue without needing to swap devices around.

 

Perhaps I'm missing something, and there's a good way of making a laptop-only setup work smoothly that I haven't thought of. I'd be interested to hear how you plan to manage it and what benefits they've found in practice.

 

If its purely cost i understand 

That’s a fair question.

We’re an independent primary school, and due to the way devices have been deployed over time, we currently have considerably more computers than members of staff.

 

We have fixed desktops in classrooms, offices, PPA areas and hot-desking rooms, but most staff do not also have an assigned laptop.

 

Staff, particularly new starters who are used to having a laptop at their previous schools, are increasingly asking for more flexibility.

 

Rather than purchasing additional laptops and increasing an already oversized device estate, we’re exploring whether issuing one laptop per member of staff would be a better long-term model.

The laptop would follow the member of staff and connect to the classroom or office equipment, ideally through USB-C or a dock.

This would be particularly useful for staff who move between rooms, work in different areas of the school or work on a hybrid basis.

 

Around 90% of our cover is handled internally, so the member of staff providing cover would normally have their own assigned laptop. We would still retain a small pool of spare or cover devices for external cover and other exceptional circumstances.

 

I’ve worked at a previous school where this model worked extremely well. Staff had the same device, applications, settings and files wherever they worked, rather than depending on a particular room or computer.

Cost is certainly a consideration, but it isn’t purely about saving money. It’s about reducing unnecessary duplication while providing staff with a more flexible and consistent setup.

[StephenPink]

Recently gone through Procurement Services to get refurbished hardware; LOT 2 here: IT Hardware, ITAD & Associated Services

The framework was quick and easy to use. Definitely easier than trying to get like for like quotes with refurbished kit - quick spec sheet, RFQ out and short turnaround - ended up awarding to BornGood and Tier1 - so far so good.

Cheers

[JazzFlute]

16 hours ago, plumyeti said:

That’s a fair question.

We’re an independent primary school, and due to the way devices have been deployed over time, we currently have considerably more computers than members of staff.

 

We have fixed desktops in classrooms, offices, PPA areas and hot-desking rooms, but most staff do not also have an assigned laptop.

 

Staff, particularly new starters who are used to having a laptop at their previous schools, are increasingly asking for more flexibility.

 

Rather than purchasing additional laptops and increasing an already oversized device estate, we’re exploring whether issuing one laptop per member of staff would be a better long-term model.

The laptop would follow the member of staff and connect to the classroom or office equipment, ideally through USB-C or a dock.

This would be particularly useful for staff who move between rooms, work in different areas of the school or work on a hybrid basis.

 

Around 90% of our cover is handled internally, so the member of staff providing cover would normally have their own assigned laptop. We would still retain a small pool of spare or cover devices for external cover and other exceptional circumstances.

 

I’ve worked at a previous school where this model worked extremely well. Staff had the same device, applications, settings and files wherever they worked, rather than depending on a particular room or computer.

Cost is certainly a consideration, but it isn’t purely about saving money. It’s about reducing unnecessary duplication while providing staff with a more flexible and consistent setup.

Cheers for the reply. I was just curious, as it's something I've thought about before. I know of schools that have moved to laptops and later wished they still had desktop PCs in every classroom.

For me, desktops are generally more reliable and just get on with the job. Depending on the laptop specification, the amount of wear and tear can be much higher than with desktops, which may mean replacing them sooner. That could potentially offset any savings, although every school is different.

 

My concern is that once you start down that route, the funding may not be available in the future if you decide to switch back, leaving you committed to that way of working.

In my experience, I tend to have far more issues with laptops than desktops, and I can see lessons being disrupted more frequently if staff rely solely on laptops rather than having a dedicated desktop machine in the classroom.

[Cat_Jam148]

53 minutes ago, JazzFlute said:

 

Cheers for the reply. I was just curious, as it's something I've thought about before. I know of schools that have moved to laptops and later wished they still had desktop PCs in every classroom.

For me, desktops are generally more reliable and just get on with the job. Depending on the laptop specification, the amount of wear and tear can be much higher than with desktops, which may mean replacing them sooner. That could potentially offset any savings, although every school is different.

 

My concern is that once you start down that route, the funding may not be available in the future if you decide to switch back, leaving you committed to that way of working.

In my experience, I tend to have far more issues with laptops than desktops, and I can see lessons being disrupted more frequently if staff rely solely on laptops rather than having a dedicated desktop machine in the classroom.

 

This is my exact line of thinking too. On average here our laptops last about 4 years, while our desktops can last 10 (as long as MS doesn't move the goalposts on minimum supported spec). Having a permanent workstation in our classrooms and other dedicated learning spaces is a definite benefit: no panic when a teacher has forgotten their laptop, no weird config issues due to differences in hardware, plenty of machine availability for other staff use, software updates and maintenance easily accommodated and automated...etc

 

Laptops work fine, they just aren't as easy or convenient to support in my opinion. Even with the various tools available (Action 1, remote desktop etc...)

 

Staying on topic: I know you mentioned them in your opening post, but ICT Direct is my go-to these days. Never ever had an issue, and if I did, I'm sure it would be promptly solved.

Edited yesterday at 07:57 by Cat_Jam148

[Dan2025]

19 hours ago, plumyeti said:

Hi all,

 

I’m currently gathering quotes for a project to replace our staff desktop PCs with laptops across the school.

 

I’ve already contacted ICT Direct, VeryPC and Converge, but I’d be interested to hear which other refurbished laptop suppliers schools have used and would recommend.

 

Suppliers offering warranties, education pricing and trade-in or cashback against our existing desktop equipment would be especially welcome.

 

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

 

I've used Re-com who are affilated with Green recycling I believe, bought 40 odd laptops and 40 iPads. 

Mostly Dell Latitude 9430's which are lovely, i7 12th gen 16gb for £349

[JazzFlute]

1 hour ago, Cat_Jam148 said:

 

This is my exact line of thinking too. On average here our laptops last about 4 years, while our desktops can last 10 (as long as MS doesn't move the goalposts on minimum supported spec). Having a permanent workstation in our classrooms and other dedicated learning spaces is a definite benefit: no panic when a teacher has forgotten their laptop, no weird config issues due to differences in hardware, plenty of machine availability for other staff use, software updates and maintenance easily accommodated and automated...etc

 

Laptops work fine, they just aren't as easy or convenient to support in my opinion. Even with the various tools available (Action 1, remote desktop etc...)

 

Staying on topic: I know you mentioned them in your opening post, but ICT Direct is my go-to these days. Never ever had an issue, and if I did, I'm sure it would be promptly solved.

Yes for all these reasons too i stick with Desktops and touch wood never have downtime and the laptop teachers have also are the back up if there is a desktop problem and they just wirelessly connect to the screen.  This set up being working well for 10+ years.

[tom_newton]

This lot are thoroughly good eggs in my experience: Home | ICT-Direct