witch Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 The boss has finally decided to go with a wireless solution for the school and now he is trying to decide what sort of portable computer-type things we should have to go with it. I know that there has been a lot of discussion here about what is best, but I would really like to pull it all together here so that I can put some useful options to him. I have persuaded him away from lapsafes and the like (I have two in my other school) but he doesn't really know what is out there and what is useful. This is a junior school and we wouldn't be able to afford huge numbers of anything - probably an absolute max of 30 so I think we need something that we can network to save the children's work on - or isn't that necessary - or ridiculously expensive? What do you think? He is talking about eesus or even ipod touches. If you like or don't like something please tell me why so I can give him all the info he needs.
bossman Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 @witch: I do believe that these are the pick of the crop at the moment: Samsung NC10 review - PC Advisor Samsung NC10 review | T3.com And look at Ruckus for the wireless solution. :) Have fun you wicked lady..... :)
witch Posted June 11, 2009 Author Posted June 11, 2009 We are going with Ruckus, actually - if I EVER get my promised Ruckus dog from Mark! (I dunno, no prize, no mug, no t-shirt and now no Ruckus doggy - what did I do??) Thanks for the tip The redhead (mousy? MOUSY! - there ain't nothng mousy about me)
bossman Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 @witch: I would second that ;-) Nothing Mousey at all ;-) Redheads do it for me ;-) ;-) GGGGGrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaa....................
Haptic Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 The Samsung NC10 and the Dell 2100's are both superb solutions, I would stay clear of the NC20 as performance against the NC10 is lower,
bossman Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 @CPLTD: Awwww just when me an witch are getting aquainted you have to go an spoil it by talking about computers!! :)
Haptic Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 @CPLTD: Awwww just when me an witch are getting aquainted you have to go an spoil it by talking about computers!! :) you tart you lol
witch Posted June 11, 2009 Author Posted June 11, 2009 Hmmm..Behave all. Bossman, you and I are well acquainted all ready - given the several hundred miles between us. And Simon - when you ring me, I am told that it is 'one of my men' on the phone! Back to topic What I want is someone who is actually USING this kit. Recommendations are all well and good but I want to know what things are like in the real world
Ric_ Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 @witch: We have a LapSafe with 30 HP laptops running as Citrix XenApp clients. Works well... minimum fuss, quick logons, minimal bandwidth use, etc. General Dynamics make mobile Sun Ray clients now too... they look really cool! Probably slightly more money than you are after spending though - it is a tried and tested solution though which will serve all your computing needs.
steveg Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 We have a lapbank with 15 Acer aspire one D150's in and they have been very good. None have been broken or damaged after a term of use both in school and going home every night, and out of all the laptops we have they seem to have the most reliable wireless connection. They are currently being used by 5 and 6 year olds! We are just starting to get quotes in for the next lot now, looks like we'll be getting another 60 or so of the same model. Steve
MarkPower Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 We are going with Ruckus, actually - if I EVER get my promised Ruckus dog from Mark! (I dunno, no prize, no mug, no t-shirt and now no Ruckus doggy - what did I do??) Thanks for the tip The redhead (mousy? MOUSY! - there ain't nothng mousy about me) I promise the dog was sent last week......:-( dont know what has happened to him, hope he turns up soon............poor thing all alone in a post office some place :-(
Haptic Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 We have a lapbank with 15 Acer aspire one D150's in and they have been very good. None have been broken or damaged after a term of use both in school and going home every night, and out of all the laptops we have they seem to have the most reliable wireless connection. They are currently being used by 5 and 6 year olds! We are just starting to get quotes in for the next lot now, looks like we'll be getting another 60 or so of the same model. Steve Hiya Steve, Be sure to pm me your details if you would like a quote for the 60 laptops fella,
john Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 Fine its only 1, but I have an NC10 and love it use it all the time at work, and I know cookie monster (grant) has one on here as well and loves it Well worth the money
SimpleSi Posted June 11, 2009 Posted June 11, 2009 I have an NC10 and just waiting for 2 schools to actually give go-ahead to buy 30 of them. (unless something else comes out thats cheaper and just as good) regards Simon
witch Posted June 12, 2009 Author Posted June 12, 2009 Presumably these netbooks are used as stand-alones and not networked machines? If so, how does it work with different children using them all the time and not being able to save work onto their space on the network?
jcollings Posted June 12, 2009 Posted June 12, 2009 We're using a set of 16 NC10 in Geogrpahy and they are very happy with them. They were in the other day saying how much faster & better they performed than a standard laptop trolley. Battery life seems good to. We are currently ordering another 5 sets of 16 to use across the school as they are so good. FYI we have an HP managed wireless solution as it fitted in with our core switch.
steveg Posted June 12, 2009 Posted June 12, 2009 Presumably these netbooks are used as stand-alones and not networked machines? If so, how does it work with different children using them all the time and not being able to save work onto their space on the network? All of the netbooks we use are on the network, and are generally very reliable. - There is no problem with 15 being switched on at once and all logging in at the same time, and all save to the network and browse the internet fine. In our younger year groups the machines logon automatically with a shared user account - we found this can cause issues as it never gives the network a chance to start. To get round this the user account doesn't have a logon script, instead there is a batch file on the local machine that runs in startup, which waits a few seconds, pings the server, if it gets a response it then calls the logon script from the network, if there s no response it assumes the laptop is at home and stops. We use an HP procurve managed wireless network. CPLTD - I will pm you details once we've finalised the exact numbers and accessories etc. Steve
RTi Posted June 12, 2009 Posted June 12, 2009 The Samsung NC10 and the Dell 2100's are both superb solutions, I would stay clear of the NC20 as performance against the NC10 is lower, Thats kinda thrown a spanner in the works for us.. as we are looking at buying 60 NC20's .. We ordered 1 to begin with (which arrived this wk) and first impressions are very good.. i think the 12.1" screen is perfect. I know it runs on a VIA CPU as opposed to the Atom on the NC10 .. but Office 2k3 runs great.. and it handled kar2ouche over wifi no probs. It couldnt/wouldnt play bbc iplayer back in full screen though. espresso video clips played back fine aswell. I settled on the NC20 because of the screen size. A member of staff is testing it out for a week.. and if all goes well.. we will stick with them. There are 2 things I dont like about the NC20 at the moment... and that is ther mouse button.. its just one long button and the second is the price.. £330 is bordering on laptop land.. anyone else using the NC20's ??
witch Posted June 12, 2009 Author Posted June 12, 2009 All of the netbooks we use are on the network, and are generally very reliable. - There is no problem with 15 being switched on at once and all logging in at the same time, and all save to the network and browse the internet fine. Steve I see they appear to come with XP home - did you take it off and put pro on them then?
p858snake Posted June 12, 2009 Posted June 12, 2009 (edited) For the ones looking at the NC-10s, TheAngryTechnician (A Member here), has written a little blog post/review/complaint rant of them after "school use", you can read it here: Samsung NC-10: just not tough enough for school The Angry Technician Edited June 12, 2009 by p858snake
steveg Posted June 12, 2009 Posted June 12, 2009 Yea, we re-installed them with xp pro, just needed to buy an upgrade licence. Steve
Busybub Posted June 12, 2009 Posted June 12, 2009 (edited) Recently replaced my Acer Aspire One with a Samsung NC10, but if it were me I would go with the Acers for student use. In terms of build quality, there isn't much you can do about kids picking off keys, but the keyboard on the Acer is at least pretty easy to swap out. The main weakness of the NC10 is that the cover around the display tends to flex a lot more and is thinner, whereas the Acer is much more solid. The Acer also has a significant cost advantage for what is essentially the same spec machine. With what you save with a Linux unit (you would have to upgrade both to XP Pro anyway) you could cough up for a spare extended battery for each unit and still save money over a Samsung solution. Wireless on the Acer appeared to be slightly more sensitive than the NC10, I certainly preferred the interface. Only thing that swung it to the NC10 for me was the matte screen and slightly bigger keyboard, 2 things the kids are not likely to appreciate mcuh. Edited June 12, 2009 by Busybub
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now