New netbooks(?) for Year R/Year 1

[LeMarchand]

Have just been informed that there are still somewhat amorphous (but needing to be actioned sharpish) plans to buy 60 new machines for the Year R/Year 1 kids at one of my schools. It's leaning towards netbooks mainly on the size/cost factor - they've worked out that when they're that small, lugging around a full size laptop (or even opening the lid!) is a chore.

 

Needless to say the budget remains shrouded in mystery, but has anyone got any recommendations? I see that the Samsung NC10 is highly rated, and should be in what I imagine the budget would be, but it would be nice to have a couple more to look at.

 

If any suppliers see this, feel free to chime in !

 

On a tangent (and maybe this should be a separate question, but I wasn't sure which category), has anyone used Ubuntu/Netbook Remix/Edubuntu or any other non-Windows OS in a similar situation?

 

I'd quite like to use something that isn't Windows, mainly because most of the problems we have had have been down to rubbish/legally dubious/HDD-filling software being loaded on by the kids/families and I figure that they might find it all too much of an effort to learn a new OS. (Though maybe the lack of an optical drive might alleviate some of that). However, the project is very much based on the idea that the families use the machines at home, and I am dubious about how easily they would be able to connect printers, wireless and the like. (Not to mention teachers not being able to cope with the unfamiliar).

Edited February 25, 2009 by LeMarchand
Corrected model number

[jamin100]

Reception & Year 1 children taking netbooks home!!!!

Sounds like a disaster to me - I couldnt even imagine our Year 6 taking them home, we'd never get them back!

[featured_spectre]

Acer Aspire One Linux versions (A110L is coming end of life but next model is also good). 16GB SSD, 1GB Ram, Linpus Lite Linux which is just point and click, has open office, wireless connectivity and a whole stack of drivers for printers.

 

Works a treat here for my boss and we are looking to bring 110 into the school.

[LeMarchand]

Reception & Year 1 children taking netbooks home!!!!

Sounds like a disaster to me - I couldnt even imagine our Year 6 taking them home, we'd never get them back!

 

The scheme has been in place for Year R to Year 6 (with HP NX6325s) for a couple of years now and (now I've gone and blown it!) so far, none have gone missing unless you count the one that was reported as "left on plane on holiday" but turned out to have been "seized by police in raid on family home".

 

There have been a few physically abused machines, but again not as many as you'd think. The biggest problems have been P2P and rubbish toolbar installation and a very high percentage of power bricks needing replacement, along with a fair number of batteries dying.

[JJonas]

I also came up with the NC10 as an option but it may be out of our price range.

 

here is part of what I wrote on netbooks following my visit to this years BETT

 

Battery Life

 

When thinking about netbooks for use in school one of the things we need to consider is the amount of use they are going to get during the school day. If students are going to be using these machines every lesson then battery life becomes paramount. So we either need a netbook with a long battery life or we need a way of charging a set of spare batteries. When I asked the different manufacturers about the possibility of a battery charging station It was something they were looking into. Having looked into this after BETT I am aware of at least two battery charging options from HP and RM for their laptops/netbooks. There is also the possibility of approaching Lapsafe for a bespoke solution but this could prove expensive.

 

Solid state or hard disk

 

If they are going to be bounced around in students bags then the best option would be to opt for a solid state disk, but this a newer technology and would add to the cost and solid state drives are also smaller capacity than their hard disk counterparts.

Operating system

 

Choice of Windows or Linux.

 

Windows will integrate easily with our existing hardware but increases the possibility of students installing unauthorised software and bringing viruses into the school.

Linux in a cheaper option it will not be so easy to integrate with our existing system, but students will be less likely to install unauthorised software and there are fewer virus problems on Linux machines. Having a different operating system on the student laptops means any viruses the do come into the school on these machines are less likely to infect the schools desktop computers. If the goal of these machines is that students can access the VLE then all they will need is web access and the problems with integrating them into our existing infrastructure become not so significant.

 

 

hope this helps

Edited February 25, 2009 by JJonas

[steveg]

For our latest lot of laptops for kids (year 1 they will be for) we are looking at the Acer aspire one. If you wait a couple of weeks the new model with the 10 inch screen will be out, which is only about 100g heavier than the exisiting one (1.1kg total) Some of the new models also have the option of a 6 cell battery as standard, which gives 5 - 6 hours battery life.

 

We've never ventured away from windows so far, and will probably stick with it for these. If you have prolems with them being abused, look at something like Deep freeze for them - We've never had a single problem since installing it on all of our laptops that go home.

 

Steve

[LeMarchand]

If you have prolems with them being abused, look at something like Deep freeze for them - We've never had a single problem since installing it on all of our laptops that go home.

 

Steve

 

The latest image of the existing laptops does have SteadyState (as it's free). Locking them down too much goes against the ethos of the project, but (with some help from the folk here) it looks as if it will at least provide a "teacher friendly" way to reset the machines back to the original image. Of course, only 2 machines are currently "in the wild" so far, so it's a bit too early to tell if it will work.

[dhicks]

plans to buy 60 new machines for the Year R/Year 1 kids at one of my schools.

 

Might want to simply go with whatever is cheapest - I shouldn't think there's much point in worrying about stuff like half-decent keyboards at that age.

 

I keep on getting email about how great PSPs are in education, might want to consider those.

 

I say avoid Windows on netbooks - you can only get XP Home, anyway, which misses out on any of the advantages of having a managed Windows system and just gives you a bunch of random machines floating around that need constant attention.

 

--

David Hicks

[Mandy]

We can supply Asus EEE, Samsung NC10, HP mini, Acer , all with special educational discounts.

 

PM, email or call me with quantities and more info and I will get a quote to you!

[SimpleSi]

The NC10 is a great machine - its the Mercedes of its type

 

I'm using one as my work laptop - battery life is so good, I leave the charger at home and just charge at night

 

I'm sure that in the near future, the other manufacturers will catch up/surpass its ability but for the moment it can't be beat in terms of price/usuability.

 

Search for eeePC to see all threads on using Linux SSD netbooks - pros and cons.

 

regards

 

Simon

[LeMarchand]

I keep on getting email about how great PSPs are in education, might want to consider those.

 

I say avoid Windows on netbooks - you can only get XP Home, anyway, which misses out on any of the advantages of having a managed Windows system and just gives you a bunch of random machines floating around that need constant attention.

 

How does the PSP idea work? (Though I think that those would be much more likely to be "borrowed permanently" by older siblings). Mind you, I think the idea is for them to start to learn basic keyboard skills and dabble with Dazzle/Tux Paint etc so possibly not what they want.

 

The current fleet is XP Home (don't ask) so it wouldn't make much difference. Besides, if the SteadyState idea works it should be fine.

 

I have "sort of" permission to replace the teachers' laptops (mainly Dell D600s!) with some of the now "spare" HPs. AFAIK our license should allow us to upgrade them to XP Pro, but I can foresee a struggle getting that past TPTB as I'd also like each teacher to have an individual logon and the machines to be joined properly to the domain.

 

We can supply Asus EEE, Samsung NC10, HP mini, Acer , all with special educational discounts.

 

PM on way, but bear in mind that up until yesterday afternoon they still had me refurbishing the Y6 leavers' laptops to go back out - so they could change their mind about specs etc at any time until the order is placed!

[dhicks]

How does the PSP idea work?

 

Not actually sure, I just keep getting spam-like email about them. Read that post about SteadyState after I'd posted, sounds like a good idea.

 

--

David Hicks

[brooker101]

Hi All,

 

Noticed the thread and not sure if the following reviews may be of interest to people looking at netbooks ? (Think I did link this somewhere else on the forum also).

This site reviews 4 products currently such as the Asus eee, MSI Wind, Acer Aspire and Dell 9".

 

Saab Electronics Netbooks

[LeMarchand]

Cheers, I'll take a look later.

 

Worryingly, one of our governors is pushing for a certain well-known retailer's own brand .

[SimpleSi]

I say avoid Windows on netbooks - you can only get XP Home, anyway, which misses out on any of the advantages of having a managed Windows system and just gives you a bunch of random machines floating around that need constant attention.

 

You just don't have the necessary skills to manage the un-manageable

 

Remember - one user logon, no password, full admin priviliges and no network profile in sight makes for the easy life

 

Maybe not fully suitable for a secondary school but works fine in a primary

 

regards

 

Simon

[warface]

The NC10 is a great machine - its the Mercedes of its type

 

I'm using one as my work laptop - battery life is so good, I leave the charger at home and just charge at night

 

I'm sure that in the near future, the other manufacturers will catch up/surpass its ability but for the moment it can't be beat in terms of price/usuability.

 

Search for eeePC to see all threads on using Linux SSD netbooks - pros and cons.

 

regards

 

Simon

 

 

Have you found anything you can't do on the Nc10 Si?

 

I'm obivously not expecting to be able to render a 3d film intro or anything like that, but have you stumbled across anything in typical day to day use?

 

Would you recommend them for pupil (Y7-11) use?