Jollity Posted February 8, 2012 Posted February 8, 2012 Due to fairly severe lack of space, we are planning on replacing our aging ICT suite with (hopefully) two suites of netbooks or laptops. Anyone have any thoughts on the relative merits of netbooks vs laptops? In particular, how does the longevity compare? I am a little concerned that the low specifications of netbooks will go obsolete quicker, but perhaps that is not important if the hardware of either is only going to last three years anyway. I was interested by a couple of comments in this thread suggesting that netbooks got damaged less. Anyone else found that? Or the opposite?
difinity Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 We have several laptop trolleys here with laptops and a couple with netbooks. Although the laptops gets damaged more with keys getting pulled off, even our 3 year old Dell D510s are nicer to use than our new netbooks. The netbooks have Atom processors and 5200rpm hard drives. I'm sure if we upgraded the netbooks to SSDs then they'd be faster, but personally i don't like the smaller screens. 1
witch Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 I do find netbooks seem to get damaged less. However, there is another issue - the size of a netbook screen makes it unsuitable for some things - our tech teacher gets upset as he has been used to using the computers for designing things and the small screen size of the netbooks renders this impossible 1
EvLPhenom Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 Personally I would much rather use a laptop for anything that lasts more than 10-15 minutes worth of work. I find that the keyboards are too cramped for typing, and the screen is too small for working with. I can see the use for them with short term usage and for just internet browsing but other than that I'm not their biggest fan, this is not to mention the below average spec for what you would get for the same price of a laptop. Just my thoughts :-) 1
Mr.Ben Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 I would go with Laptops personally - and manage expectations that they may not last as long as the machines that are being replaced. 3-4 years seems to me the age at which laptops (or netbooks) need replacing. Ben 1
achedgy Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 I'd only ever recommend netbooks as an additional resource, they don't have the grunt for a lot of things (speed is a constant complaint) But, the battery life is good, they tend to be pretty robust and for a general research tool they're great. Price as ever always an issue, having a netbook per child isn't unachievable (careful of your wireless though) But if this going to be your primary ICT resource and if you can afford it, I'd go laptops every time, just remember to budget to replace batteries after 18 months to 2 years (seems to be less of an issue with netbooks in my experience) 1
Jollity Posted February 11, 2012 Author Posted February 11, 2012 Thank you to everyone who responded. I will definitely rule out netbooks for both suites, though I still quite like the idea of having one as netbooks. I can see I would need to make sure that the expectation for netbooks was that they were for web browsing and basic word processing only, though those do seem to be the main uses of the current suite. I have a theory that the extra portability and battery life would make them less hassle to integrate into a lesson: less weight to carry around, less desk space, less chance they need plugging in. Does that hold any water? We have several laptop trolleys here with laptops and a couple with netbooks. Although the laptops gets damaged more with keys getting pulled off, even our 3 year old Dell D510s are nicer to use than our new netbooks. The netbooks have Atom processors and 5200rpm hard drives. I'm sure if we upgraded the netbooks to SSDs then they'd be faster, but personally i don't like the smaller screens. I saw suggestions elsewhere about upgrading the RAM to 2GB, have you done that on yours? I overheard a conversation at BETT about the keyboards on some brands being harder than others to pull keys off. Anyone else had that experience?
3s-gtech Posted February 11, 2012 Posted February 11, 2012 I've compromised on this, with Lenovo X103e laptops. 11.6" screens so the units are small, but they're 1366x768 resolution. Good battery life, but they're not Atom powered (AMD E-450). 64GB SSDs and 4GB RAM. Will be coming soon so I can try them out, but I already have an X100e with similar spec and SSD and it's no netbook in use. 1
Jollity Posted February 11, 2012 Author Posted February 11, 2012 I've compromised on this, with Lenovo X103e laptops. 11.6" screens so the units are small, but they're 1366x768 resolution. Good battery life, but they're not Atom powered (AMD E-450). 64GB SSDs and 4GB RAM. Will be coming soon so I can try them out, but I already have an X100e with similar spec and SSD and it's no netbook in use. They do sound interesting. Have the actually come out yet? I cannot find them on the Lenovo site.
MYK-IT Posted February 12, 2012 Posted February 12, 2012 We've just ordered over 30 of them, been advised approx 2 week lead time. 3s-gtech Are you getting the SSD supplied ex-Lenovo or purchasing/installing afterwards?
3s-gtech Posted February 13, 2012 Posted February 13, 2012 Doing it myself. Our client PCs don't need much local storage (40GB disks still do us fine here), so I bought some 64GB Kingston V200s, they're not the best but apparently are pretty good for cheapies. SATA2 onboard limits the outright speed anyway. The Lenovo supplied 128GB SSDs made my eyes water. 1
Guest Guest Posted February 13, 2012 Posted February 13, 2012 Netbooks are too small and slow to be joined to a domain and to do anything other than research and typing up in word.
gshaw Posted February 13, 2012 Posted February 13, 2012 I'd either go for the x103 as mentioned above or if you can find the extra £££ the Edge series... 13" so in that nice middle ground between netbook size and laptop power... Professional-grade Laptops | ThinkPad Edge Series | Small Business Style | Lenovo (GB) Lenovo keyboards are the ultimate
3s-gtech Posted February 13, 2012 Posted February 13, 2012 *Where I typed X103e, I obviously mean X130e.* 1
Jollity Posted June 25, 2012 Author Posted June 25, 2012 The issue of finding a compromise between netbooks and laptops continues to trouble me, and I would appreciate any more views on my current thinking. Main question is whether the performance of current Atom based netbooks is good enough for the main computer for year 1-4 children. We are going for a proper 14" laptop for one of our laptop suites (mainly for year 5 and 6), but for the year 1-4s I have been looking at 11". When we tried laptops out with children, we realised the size and weight of laptops were going to be a significant problem for children that age to handle. The small screens would be problematic for some things the year 3s and 4s do, like graphs, but the teachers should be able to arrange to use the older student's laptops for some lessons. My main concern now is computing speed. I have been looking at the Lenovo X130e recommended by 3s-gtech, and they definitely seem like they would be up to the job, but Lenovo have been completely hopeless and have no demo units for us to try (something they took weeks to tell us). As I felt we must have a try of an 11" laptop before purchase, I got a trial of an RM minibook. Almost all of the teachers concerned really liked the Minibook. We tried it out with children. The case and screen seem very robust indeed, though the keys seem a little flimsy and prone to picking out. Best of all it has a handle, something which seems to be pretty much unique at the moment. It has an atom processor, though it is an N2600 dual core one. The demo machine had 1GB of RAM, though we would get 2GB. 5400rpm hard drives. I found it quite usable, but noticeably less responsive than a new laptop, it seemed about as responsive as our current aging computer suite. Several of the teachers concerned said they would accept lower performance for portability - especially the handle. So my dilemma is whether to go for a Minibook or similar atom-based netbook or insist we get something better. I might be able to get an SSD and more RAM fitted - is that worth doing with an atom-based device?
difinity Posted June 25, 2012 Posted June 25, 2012 The 5400 spin hard drives seems to cripple Atoms, I'd like to see one with an SSD instead. 1
3s-gtech Posted June 25, 2012 Posted June 25, 2012 I'd say even with an Atom CPU, an SSD will make a marked difference. Not worth getting an ultra fast model, but the responsiveness of an SSD should help to compensate for the sluggishness that's inherent. 1
gshaw Posted June 25, 2012 Posted June 25, 2012 5400rpm hard drives are awful, just upgraded a 5-year old Core2Duo laptop with a Crucial M4 and knocked 30 seconds off the cold boot > desktop time, plus apps spring up instantly. Get the SSDs installed as part of the spec as some of the netbook size computers don't have easily accessible HDD covers and you don't want to be opening up cases on brand new kit Personally I'd go for the extra grunt of an i3 sub-laptop (11" - 13") with SSD, will cost a bit more but will last you longer performance wise and the extra screen space will prove useful. 1
flyinghaggis Posted June 25, 2012 Posted June 25, 2012 My main concern now is computing speed. I have been looking at the Lenovo X130e recommended by 3s-gtech, and they definitely seem like they would be up to the job, but Lenovo have been completely hopeless and have no demo units for us to try (something they took weeks to tell us). As I felt we must have a try of an 11" laptop before purchase, I got a trial of an RM minibook. My personal feeling is that 11" laptops (with a 1368x768) resolution are the best compromise for most uses. That way your get netbook form/portability with the performance/resolution of a regular laptop for around £300-400. As you've noticed supply seems to be an issue most manufacturers are dropping them in favour of 11" tablets or pricey 11" "ultrabooks". No idea if it's any good but I notice that Sony do a 11" Vaio E Series which looks like a decent alternative to the X130e? VAIO E Series : VAIO & computing : Sony 1
SimpleSi Posted June 25, 2012 Posted June 25, 2012 Netbooks have the disadvanage of screen size and lower cpu power than laptops. They have the advantages of value for money and all day availability due to battery/cpu ratio. EVerthing else is the same - they are just as relaible/unreliable/prone to abuse/not prone as each other Its a simple trade-off Simon PS I'd personally class things like the 130e as something in between 1
Jollity Posted June 25, 2012 Author Posted June 25, 2012 Thanks for your thoughts all. I have made up my mind that the Minibook is out. RM say there is no way I can put an SSD or extra memory in without voiding the warranty. With your comments, this really makes me doubtful it will be good enough. The other factor that tipped the balance is that the Intel N2600 apparently does not actually support x64, despite what the Intel website says. This would mess up our plans for going 64-bit only with Windows 7. My current plan is to order one X130e, give it a good look over, and then order the rest provided it looks okay. I will have another trawl for 11" laptops for fallback - I will certainly look at the 11" Vaio E Series. If anyone near Kent happens to have an X130e, or one of its predecessors in that line, that I could look at, I'd love to hear from you.
BKGarry Posted June 25, 2012 Posted June 25, 2012 I recently ordered 120 of the Dell Latitude 2120 (Dell Latitude 2120 Netbook) and got them down to a very competitive price (PM if you want further information on this), but we did get them with 3 years accidental damage, as if they are going to be as heavily used as ours they need them. They are the most solid Netbook I have ever held, and the dual Core (appears as 4 in windows due to HT tech) seems to do a good job, the rubberised case seems really sturdy and the power socket seems to be really well made, but the best feature (by far) is the keyboard, at first look it is a standard laptop keyboard with the modern plastic cover between the keys, but on closer inspection, they have small bits of plastic off the keys, which meant even me attacking it with a screwdriver for a good 10 minutes, I could not get the keys off, it was such a delight to see. All the best 1
Jollity Posted June 25, 2012 Author Posted June 25, 2012 I recently ordered 120 of the Dell Latitude 2120 (Dell Latitude 2120 Netbook) and got them down to a very competitive price (PM if you want further information on this), but we did get them with 3 years accidental damage, as if they are going to be as heavily used as ours they need them. They are the most solid Netbook I have ever held, and the dual Core (appears as 4 in windows due to HT tech) seems to do a good job, the rubberised case seems really sturdy and the power socket seems to be really well made, but the best feature (by far) is the keyboard, at first look it is a standard laptop keyboard with the modern plastic cover between the keys, but on closer inspection, they have small bits of plastic off the keys, which meant even me attacking it with a screwdriver for a good 10 minutes, I could not get the keys off, it was such a delight to see. Thank you for the recommendation, that does sound promising. I remember Duke5A was recommending that model in my other thread. I note that unlike the N2600, the older Atom N550 in the Latitude 2120, does seem to support Windows x64. Do you use a 64-bit version? Do you use the Latitude 2120s on a domain?
BKGarry Posted June 25, 2012 Posted June 25, 2012 We do not use x64 at the mo, as we have some older software which just wont work (I am working on it) and there is current domain image being created for them 1
enjay Posted June 26, 2012 Posted June 26, 2012 Mrs Enjay has just bought an 11" Samsung, very nice piece of kit - £330 and weighing in at just 1.6KG. She originally decided on the 11" Sony Vaio, but PC World didn't want to our money. There were some HP ones in PC World too, but they were a bit bulkier-looking, and had thicker screens so didn't balance as nicely. I wouldn't want to use it for Photoshop, web design, etc but for surfing, Word and PowerPoint (which is all she wants, and let's be honest is a good 99% of PC usage in this school too) it seems ideal. 1
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