HTCPCP

Have you tried a different machine printing to that printer? Have you got the latest driver in that machine? How is the heads printer connected up - Is it USB, Wired or wireless? - Have you tried a different connection - e.g. if its connected through Wi-Fi try it through a wired connection etc Try printing out a test page - does that similarly come up with a garbled output?

VeryPC - their kit is lovely, and you can get branding on there too! - You can then chose what specs you want for them too! If not another +1 for the X270s - (I have an X260 at home which has taken a battering, and they have been showing off durability a fair bit). Optical disk wise - how much are they actually used? I used to buy new laptops in my old schools, without optical drives and then get a USB drive in each year group (more than 1 form entry) or a couple in each key stage if not Screen size - What do you class as a decent screen size? I have used anything between 12.5" and 17" depending on staff member, how it's going to be used, and how much staff move around - Staff who take their laptops home a lot/move classroom to classroom will thank you for a smaller laptop than a staff member who leaves their laptop at work, and stays in one room except for PPA!

I leased some VeryPC laptops in one school, and my successor has said that he didn't have any issues with them, while the RM predecessors were a bit battered by the end. the vinyl decals seem to work quite well. Similarly, I didn't have any issues with HP Probooks or Lenovo ThinkPads, apart from ones that were bounced.

Always found X27s to be very solid pieces of kit - and have bought them repeatedly over the years for both classroom and business use. Bulbs are easy to change, and quick corner is a feature I'm surprised other manufacturers haven't implemented on their own kit!

Same quick code as the one I used to order now links to https://www.ebuyer.com/616485-dell-ultrasharp-u2414h-led-hd-monitor-without-stand-u2414h

The joys of companies trying to cut costs - Dell UltraSharp U2414H monitors don't seem to come with bases any more... May not affect education buyers much, but we normally go for them due to the height adjustable stand, HDMI and DP connection, and the fact that all our monitors are dell. It kind of annoys me a bit, as the monitors quick code hadn't changed, and kind of defeats the point of monitors really. Now I wouldn't mind too much if it was IEC leads they weren't putting in the box, but on a £200 monitor, the stand would be something that you would expect.

The B50 and successor E50 are both entry level home grade pieces of kit - basically designed for light surfing and directly rivals the Dell Inspiron 3000 series and your HPs with just the numbers (e.g. HP 250). Agreed you shouldn't have issues like that, but from experience, low priced home grade kit (even if they do give you Windows Pro) really doesn't cut it. If it gets knocked around, then things break on them, because thats where they cut the costs. Never had any problems with the proper thinkpads (X and T Ranges), or the Dell Latitude 5/7000 series devices.

If my memory serves me correctly, it's also the same charger for RM, VeryPC, Fujitsu and Stone Laptops (I am assuming the Toshiba is a clevo design based on the other laptops they work with) as we have interchanged them in the past

Not tried their AIOs (bought them, but we had a reshuffle and one of my colleagues went into the site just before they arrived), but have used Very-PC in both my main job and other jobs and have never been able to fault them. What I would say - Worth also looking at the flex range too, which aren't proper AIOs but offer a bit more flexibility in regards to future upgrades (Screen is seperate, so you can get a bigger screen if needed/replace machine without need to replace monitor etc) Also, if you want shiny factor - They can even brand them for you (and it's well worth doing as it looks fab!)

Worst ones were from schools - Full of used tissues during cold season drinks, gum, flies, snails, finger nails, rotting food etc Missing from machines - Heatsinks RAM Processors (machine was down for a good few months before we actually found out about it Fans Power Supply And one machine where everything was taken out, apart from the CD Drive... (wasn't even one of our i3/i5 machines, but an Athlon X2 Energy efficient range) Makes you question why they think it's either a good idea or worth the effort

The question you should be asking is, will it blend?

When I asked, Microsoft said they weren't giving away any capes this year... The ones last year you just had to be really nice to them and they would give them out (but had a very limited number of them.) When I was speaking to one of the Microsoft team last year, it was basically left overs from another event they had on.

My main printer is a Cannon iSensys LBP 6200d I think, and can't fault it. A basic mono laser, with duplex that I can buy a toner for less than £25 that lasts me over 2k pages. It's a few years old now, but after I bought mine, they brought out an even cheaper model without the duplex unit. Then again, I also have a colour Laser too, HP Laserjet M252D, costs a lot more to run, but so far has been bullet Proof.

But Irn Bru with half the sugar, is half the Irn Bru (and IMO not very nice...)

Viewsonic - cuddly toy parrot and mug if you ask nicely.

Lenovo have Usb sticks (2GB), fortinet pencil cases and Christie water bottles!

Never had any issues with Lenovo kit really. All depends what you compare to. Optiplex, ProDesk and ThinkCentres are all interchangeable really if you go for the same levels, and similarly, the warranties are all much of a likeness. Similarly, your ThinkPad, ProBooks and Latitude are all interchangeable too. Warranty wise, from experience I have found: Lenovo - Very willing to either send and engineer or parts if you are willing to change them yourself. Most of the time call centre staff seem to be happy to help, and willing to accept hardware failures Dell - Once you get past the Dell Support call, it's fine, but time consuming, and seems to always be a challenge rather than something simple. They want you to check absolutely everything, even if you have already diagnosed the fault e.g. faulty Hard drive, power button etc. Be prepared for them to initially reject the repair and asking to speak to their manager etc HP - very hit and miss, all depends on who you speak to. I've had them send out an engineer/part having explained the problem, to having a dell approach of wanting me to check the power lead is fine when the hard drive has failed. More positives than negatives with them though. All manufacturers have some deals on at the moment - flash sale at Dell at the moment too according to my account manager.

I've always used https://www.idns.co.uk/TonerRecycle and can't fault them. They provide a box, you contact them when it's full, and then they come and collect it. They want either aprox 100 inkjets, or 20 toners to make it worth their while. Since I have started using the service, I have had 1 call from them, and that was to check the box had arrived.

From using Konica devices, you are paying a bit more than you can do per page print (about 0.5p per page Colour), but depending how much you print, then that may well be a saving. Other thing to look at will be SLA for repairs etc. similarly, you will want to check to see if you are able to have a supply of spare toners too.

Ok, it's now sorted, i'm around Thursday!

Might be worth having a look at the Lenovo Miix and X1 ranges (the latter you are looking well into the Surface price range). Dell tablets - when they work, they are great, if you have problems, they are a nightmare - Make sure you buy the extended warranty for them.

You really need to think about the following with all of these things: What happens when an ipad gets dropped and/or you get another problem with it not covered by the warranty? (and it will happen) What are you going to do when (not if) an iPad lead/charger fails? What are you doing about cases? How are you going to deal with kids forgetting iPads? How are you going to deal with iPads running out of charge? Acceptable use policies are also a must to look into - and how to monitor. Social media use, taking photos of staff, sending messages during lessons, playing games etc - all need to be looked at Not all of these are going to be an IT issue, some are classroom management, safeguarding, SEN etc issues.

for it me it's Written - well Nationwide insisted I send them back my cheque book after writing 1 cheque in 7 years and that was 4 years ago Recieved - I get paid for part time work at a charity in cheque form, as they currently only have BACS payment for the 4 full time members of staff, but that is set to change very soon! Can't wait for that one to happen.

For training, always worth looking on https://mva.microsoft.com/ Loads of good training options there to watch. As for testing. A good option is to buy a refurbed workstation (can then go out/be used by you later), and use the free trial version of server 2016 and one of your machines to play around a bit and learn how to do it. You can, if you really wanted to even install the server 2016 trial on a normal desktop too, which is an even cheaper option to play around with. All you need then is just a spare switch

Have a look at the Kramer VP-400K - Not had any issues with them in the past and seem to be rock solid builds!