Netbooks - useful or not?

[silver]

The head is looking for a 'wow' solution to a whole class being able to log on to the internet in their classroom and he likes the idea of netbooks rather than laptops. We would need XP on them so that they can be networked and be on the domain etc.

Is this really a good idea? Have any of you got a whole set of netbooks that you use on your system and if so do they work well?

[steveg]

We've just got a set of 15 netbooks for our year 1 class, previously we had always used laptops. Netbooks seemed to have a lot of advantages for us, mainly the price, easier to carry, and easier to get a model with a 5 hour + battery life. We didnt need optical drives, and the small keyboards and screens aren't an issue, so was a logical choice. The wireless seems pretty robust on them as well, although until we let the kids loose with them after the easter break we wont know for definate!

 

Steve

[broc]

Most(all?) netbooks are sold with XP Home or Linux on them, so you would also have to budget for XP Pro to run them on a domain.

 

We found the biggest problem was screen size. Our students (Secondary) soon got over the 'wow' small form factor, the original Asus EeePC with 7" screen was judged too small, something like an MSI Wind with 10" screen was judged much better but not as useful as a regular laptop.

 

We are sticking with regular size laptops for the moment.

[featured_spectre]

We got 30 netbooks from CP-LTD (using linux), and just have them online with the proxy, and pointing to our VLP and to a networked drive on the server. It does the job nicely. It helps with the fact that the students save the work to the drive, and to the VLP so there is no excuse for them not to have it on whatever machine they go on!

 

Hope that helps.

[steveg]

I'd agree that the 7" ones are too small, even in a primary setting. We went for the Acer Aspire one d150 model, which has a 10" screen and 6 cell battery, so we get around 5 hours battery life. As a rough guide, we got 15 of them, 15 copies of xp pro, office, pub and server CAL's, a trolley, 3 year extended warranty, and 4 years of insurance so the kids can take them home for a bit under £7500.

 

Steve

[Bigape]

We're running about 50 of various makes. The only problems that we've come across is the smaller screen size on the first batch of HP machines we put in. Everyone has complained they're too small, so now we make sure that the screens are at least 10 inch.

 

Our next project will be to issue all year 12 & 13 with netbooks (about 120), so it's a toss up between the EEEPC netbooks and the new line of Toshibas due out at the end of the month

[mattmoo]

We are going to buy 120 and stick Vista on them, we have been trialing the Toshiba and Samsung one with the bigger screened samsung coming out as favourite.

They work fine with vista and should fit nicely in our network.

 

Matt

[rolfea]

Touch typing hell!!

 

For huge office documents i really don't recommend them, but for general web browsing and research they're pretty good

 

We have about 10 Asus EEE Pcs, mainly for PE to register on. We also use XP Pro which we have cut down to the bear essentials.

 

My mum has one at home also, the linux comes with a selection of AWESOME Tux games!

[Quackers]

Our plan is to have every student in Years 9,10 and 11 to have their own Netbook.

 

Between now and July is our testing phase with a class of 30 using them and taking them around with them instead of using the laptop trolleys which are loved by both kids and teachers.

 

Were going for the Asus Eee PC 1000H because of the 10" Screen, has a 1024*768 mode of those odd apps that just need a little more space, 93% full size keyboard so easy to type on, the 6 Cell battery lasts ages, comes with XP Home so just a £30 payment per machine to upgrade to Pro with Select agreement. Hate the mousepad, Samsung NC10 has a much better one, but NC10 has no Wireles 'N' support which a lot of Netbooks seem to be missing.

 

I'm sure the first company who releases one of these netbooks with a 12.1" (1024*800 support) Screen, 6 Cell Battery, and ABGN Wireless support will have schools flocking to buy. As these little books seem to be able to take drops that regular laptops cannot, are lightweight, so ideal for schools.

 

Levono say the are releasing a new model later this year with A and N support, maybe they will do a 12" version