HTCPCP

This could go either here or in the data protection section, but thought this would be probably the better option of the 2. We have been asked by our HR team to provide some privacy filters for their monitors, so when they move into a newly open planned office, and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations rather than just buying a load of different ones to try?

for me it's Sharp Konica Minolta Ricoh I really don't like the ricoh interface, especially that annoying tablet they use for on device use. From experiences with dealing with Ricoh in the past (going into schools to see the school signed up for a 5 year lease, and a completely over specced printer, because that was the one Ricoh said was the most suited to their needs). From experience, I've always found Sharp to be reliable and cost effective solution, easily able to cope with all a school could throw at it. That said, my current place has Konica Minolta, and it's come a long way over the last few years. Very happy with it here, to the point, we have just signed a new lease with them

In Education, I bought a bunch of VeryPC ThinBook 14s - and I think I had 1 where it was actually killed by a teacher (out of 30). Has the option of branding so teachers are less likely to 'forget' to bring them back etc In business I tend to go for the HP Probook 440, with 3yr NBD warranty, and not had any issues with them. They don't take well to being dropped or yanked about with the charger plugged in, as they use the same charging connectors as a lot of the thinner Dells do (but are more robust than the dell ones). Lenovo X2 Series - Not quite as light, but will take a few knocks and a bit of a battering.

Not had an issues with the VeryPC pricing before (and quality has always been spot on!), always found them very competitively priced with the similar grade and spec devices from Dell (Optiplex 5/7000 series). But flex is also an option for cheaper - and has the advantage that they are more upgrade-able too! But for all out, cheapness - just buy USFF, screen and mount.

If you want all in one, have a look at the VeryPC models. Not used any of their latest generation models, but one of my old schools leased 30 of their Panel models, and the glides look amazing!

Koldov - great news! Had one at work soon after I had started (worst thing was, it was purchased by a former member of staff and re-imbursed as that is how our centres used to operate...). But after a load of calls and emails, they were able to remove activation lock. You just need to find someone who actually knows what they are doing. "I "[CUSTOMER NAME]" representing [bUSINESS/INSTITUTION NAME] authorise Apple, Inc. to unlock the devices listed. WAS THE DEVICE USED BY AN EMPLOYEE / STUDENT?: WHY IS THE BUSINESS / INSTITUTION UNABLE TO REMOVE FIND MY IPHONE ACTIVATION LOCK?: PRODUCT SERIAL NUMBER: PRODUCT IMEI/MEID: (Cellular devices only) PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: BUSINESS/INSTITUTION NAME: REQUESTOR NAME: PHONE NUMBER: STREET ADDRESS: CITY/STATE: POSTAL CODE: EMAIL ADDRESS: ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————— 2. PROOF OF PURCHASE You must attach your Proof of Purchase to the email. Please note, to be considered valid, the proof of purchase must include this information: 1. Reseller’s name, address, and phone number or website URL 2. Date of purchase when the product was originally sold 3. Itemised product information, including price and product serial number 4. Total price paid In case the serial / IMEI number is not mentioned on the proof of purchase you got from the provider or reseller, please add it manually. " Once approved, it took 1 or 2 days to be cleared. It did take about 2 weeks with daily calls though...

Another bit of love to ICT Direct here! Then again, I hear that Dave is a bit of a shady character though... ...he can source you nearly everything you could want, in great condition and at prices that are really competitive!

I got a PS4 - simply because it was free with my phone! How much do I use it? I think I have used it to watch the odd BluRay on my tele, and GT4 a couple of times, but apart from that I haven't!

What Meldrew said! Otherwise you will have teacher X wanting one for their classroom because it's too far to walk 20 metres to get a print out, then teacher Y will say, I want one in my office because I print out thousands of pictures of cats all day long, then teacher Z will pipe up saying, teacher X and Y have one, I want one too, you are ruining my life and go running to the LT crying saying you are being mean, and making their job 500000000000000 times harder. the LT will then cave and make you give them one! In reality, the only places you may want individial printers that I had come across when we did that a couple of years ago was: Exams - means they can have stuff printing and still be able to work DSP - Confidential print outs, during meetings etc Canteen - Chances are you don't have a printer that near it, and they need to be able to print stuff off quickly SENCO - if they have their own office, its better for them to have a local printer too The only other one that may be arguable, would be finance, if they still print loads of cheques. Apart from that, no one else, including the LT got one, no matter how hard they pestered. Make sure LT members know why certain places are getting local printers too.

We even have heating (for about 3 days a year) on our trains down here!

Has no one told the weather that it is meant to be spring yet?... Then again, last time we had snow, Great Northern actually ran a relatively decent train service!

Always thought that until I got a batch of 16 Travelmates to replace some RM Ones in 2012 and they were brilliant. Also, how much are they going to be used? for about 8 or 10 weeks a year. Paying for the premium brands is pointless for stuff like that.

Ah, I have a solution to the problem... Here you go.

What is the budget? Might be worth speaking to ICT Direct then!

I have bought Microsoft, Logitech and also more recently a load of Trust mice. My personal favourite is the Microsoft ones, followed by the trust ones (which are also usually the cheapest by quite some way!). The Logitech ones are fine, but have had a fair few where the wheel doesn't quite move as I would normally expect. Nothing major, just a slight annoyance.

A cheap windows 10 Home laptop can do the trick just fine. A locked down non admin, with only access to wordpad on the start menu is fine. When I set up a few a couple of years ago, it was an AMD A6 processor in it, and Windows 10 home too. 4GB RAM, and a cheap 60GB SSD, and it fit the bill. Best bit was, because they were specced to only be used for exams, other departments didn't borrow them, and they were looked after too!

If you have a MiFare card system, then that argument is blown out of the window really... They can't see the documents others are printing, and others can't see what they are printing unless one side leaves their documents on the printer. The only exception to that rule would be the front office in a primary school, where they constantly have to print off letters because a kid has lost/eaten it. Have you got a friendly SLT member who can get the rest of the SLT to buy into it? When we did it at a secondary level, we had 1 governor and 2 members of SLT who basically brought the whole of the secondary school leadership around to it, and when doing it in primary schools, very proactive and respected IT Coordinators who basically spoke to the LT and basically said, well, if we do this, we are looking at saving £Y which will mean that we can use that money to buy a set of 4 or 5 ipads for different areas which were were wanting them - SEN, Gifted and Talented, and also PE.

Have a look at MFPs with Papercut. The days of the small printer in every room should be long gone by now. Expensive toner, low yields, agro for IT teams who have to maintain them all, huge stocks of spare toners, people printing to the wrong printer etc. Lease the printers, and you don't even need to worry about doing the repairs yourself! It's great!

Always go Epson here too. Decent kit, well priced and long lasting. A quick look at the manual shows it's got the standard Epson Design of having the bulb on the top near the control buttons which means you don't have to take it down, and be a contortionist. Similarly by the looks of it, it's a side clip air filter which should be nice and straight forward too. https://www.epson.co.uk/products/projectors/short-distance/eb-530#manuals

Well, Great Northern showed they can actually run trains where the heating actually works in Winter! Who'd have thought it? Couple of cancellations, and the odd delay, but improved compared to normal service!

The central London snow seems to have gone, and been replaced by sunny spells... The small amount of snow this morning also seems to have melted away

A HD-DVD player, A Lightscribe DVD writer, a Wii Fit board and oh so much more currently sitting somewhere (probably a cupboard or the loft) gathering dust...

Not bought a visualiser for a few years, but was paying about £200 ex VAT for them in 2016 through an account manager, but can be found for less than £270 ex VAT each at AV Parts, so probably worth seeing how much an account manager can get it for? https://www.avpartsmaster.co.uk/p-68083-elmo-mx-1-visualiser-4k-ultra-hd-compact-document-camera.aspx - but they are easily move-able which meant we bought one for the 3 departments that wanted one - Art, MFL and Humanities. That way, it reduced the chances of staff just burying them!

Have a look at the Elmo MX1 - it costs a fair bit, and is USB, but, I've found the software good, and the image quality is great IMO

From experience - the Hue cameras are absolute ****, and they don't last when they are being used. As a result, they end up being £45 paper weights. Couple of things though - are you a primary or a secondary? I know primary schools use them quite a lot, but from experience, they go into a room in secondary, and then are used for the first half term or so, and then are buried under a massive mountain of unmarked books/essays/work/paper that should have gone into recycling and never has etc etc, and it then becomes too much hassle.