HTCPCP

Be prepared to be searched when coming home, at least once (still remember travelling back from a conference, by train, and getting searched 3 times...) Avoid De Wallen (and directly around it), because, well, it's most certainly a NSFW search... the film museum is worth seeing (even if it's just for the outside!) For the key places (Anne Frank museum) get there early, and be prepared to spend a long time queuing!

In edu, I used sharp with Papercut and a local supplier - got the advantage of same day visits for most fixes and the MD used to pop in for a coffee every now and then. Worked really well, and we got a great price on the kit (even had a couple of smaller printers from them (used) on a per page print cost for some supported schools or for specific staff offices). Might be worth talking to local schools to see who they use. Now, we have Konica Minolta straight up, and the printers are fine. They aren't as flashy as the Sharps (and imo not quite as easy to use) but they do the job, and are at a good price.

What you need to look at is the following - If you need to replace the board as well as the projector - IFP is the way to go - it costs a small amount more upfront, but removes the maintenance costs, and uses far less power. They can do more too, with most also having android built in etc, so you can just use it without a machine. Just the projector - Just get yourself an Epson EB series projector (do they still do the 3 year lamp warranty for edu customers?) If you do want to look at rolling out a few boards - find a couple of departments who will actually make use of the boards (no point in people just using them like smartboards if you want to get the money given to you to be able to roll them out) - and get them to see what they can do. If you can do that, it's surprising how much money schools can magically 'find' for something...

Worth looking at HitFilm Express, in its basic form, free, but with add-ons (and annoyingly some which are used a fair bit), but you can see if you like it before buying anything. There is also Shotcut which is open source, and definitely worth a look. Whatever option you go for in the end, you will want to ensure that you get a good quality graphics card (don't be tempted by cheap unheard of brands/grey imports/PowerColor) with as much grunt as affordable and will work with your machine. Most off the shelf machines from Dell, HP etc don't have much airflow, so a blower GPU is the way to go

Accupart are normally quite good (but not the cheapest). Similarly, had a good few experiences with screens.uk although their range is a bit smaller than Accupart, their prices are far cheaper though

I don't get end users sometimes. Hmmm, a printer is clearly doing a job for someone - oh well, better delete it as that way I can print out my Sudoku/picture of a cat. Is the repro machine in a seperate room away from anyone else - if so, the easiest way would be a lock on the door. I would advise against removing the delete function from the printer, as if something goes wrong (i.e. done a photocopy job, but the photocopy isn't coming out straight etc). That or a camera in the room to catch the little .

5 blinks on an HP laptop is normally linked to the motherboard (or directly run of a motherboard) I take it you can't get into the BIOS at all? If not things to try: Check all IO ports to see if anything has either been jammed in (bits of paperclip etc) or the pins being damaged/any damage around the port that could show either it being shorted or potentially malicious damage (this isn't hugely likely to cause the issue you are saying, but it's quite quick to check) remove and replace the CMOS battery (or at least check it's working properly, as I have seen that cause major headaches before check the motherboard for any water damage/any capacitors that look swollen/burnt out, while you are about it, try removing anything that can be and replace with known working samples.

Always like the VeryPC kit, good price, and you can get a skin on it with custom branding. (you also get the benefits of dealing with Colin too!) For current workplace, I deal with Dell and HP directly, with some purchases from Insight too.

tub of screen wipes given to teachers - first class to use said tablets/laptops/pcs on say a Friday, get to clean the devices.

That looks like one of my old schools - Links to asbestos in the ceiling?

might be worth looking at a driver updater software such as Iobit driver booster (the free version), but be careful, it can mess up some systems. I normally only use it if I can't find a driver from somewhere, usually for legacy kit. Oh and watch out for bloatware when installing too, they just love it!

Well, looking at your specs, you can always show the SBM the Lenovo X280/X380 Yoga - and then show them the price tag. Even with edu and bulk discount, I would think it would be around £700-750 per device ex VAT, and storage cabinets, and external battery charging, and everything else linked. I take it that they have over £100k for the project? But if that's the case, surely something - and would look amazing to show off during open days! In all seriousness, speak to ICT direct, Dave will be able to hit you up with some solutions!

When I was in edu - i7 was only given to us, or anywhere where there was going to be video/photo editing. 8GB of RAM was standard on all new machines (offers you more flexibility, and is, for the money a sensible step), but key is the SSD. Most of the machines we got were i3, 8GB, 120GB SSD. For finance, and anyone who spent their whole day on SIMS etc, that was i5. All on a replace when broken situation. As for ProBooks, I class them as I would the Dell 3000 series, for the most part not worth the agro. Now, HP Elitebooks, now that's a different story. Now, having left edu - it's i5 across the board, with i7 for IT, Finance, and directors, and a 3-5 year refresh cycle.

I've used the Lifebook A544 before now in schools where money is tight for staff laptops (wouldn't even dream of using it for kids devices) and they were OK. Not outstanding, but also, not terrible. Yes, they aren't as well engineered or designed as your Thinkpad X or T ranges, or your Latitude 5000/7000 series, but they aren't your dell inspiron/Lenovo V Series/HP 200 series kit either. If you don't mind about IO, have a look at the latitude 3380 - its designed for education (as in it doesn't look great, has a glossy top that fingermarks easily, but does have a rubber like bit around the rim that should take a couple of scuffs) and got a reasonable price for 2 of them at work. Our account manager did say the price comes down significantly when you go over 10, but couldn't tell me how much.

If it works, and no one can see it, surely it's not a bodge? what you need to also factor in is your time and sanity - replacing the hard drive in 10 machines is quite dull, a whole suite - even more so. What could you use the time to do - well cleaning out the crap inside the machines is always a good one. Use some of the money saved by investing in some disposable gloves, an air compressor, some cloths and some isopropyl alcohol - not great fun, but IMO a better use of time than doubling your work by using an over priced bracket!

Always been a big fan of Fedora myself, and have used it on most of my home rigs for years now. Quite easy to use, and looks good. Not sure how well it would perform on an atom, but currently got it running smoothly on a Athlon 2 X3 chip If you are using it in schools, https://www.skolelinux.de/en/ might be of interest for you, as it has been designed for use in schools and is partly funded by the Norwegian government. Best bet is to download a load of the main distros, and use some trust worthy students to try it out, and see which one they prefer. (chocolates as a bribe usually works nicely

Depending on mounting points and what you have to spare - an SSD is light enough to work with just 1 screw if you can get to put the screw in. If not, I have used - a glue gun, Velcro, double sided tape, duct tape and cable ties, all have worked, and as long as you don't have to look at it, then all is good. My current home rig has an SSD velcroed to the roof next to the rad.

Have you tried a USB powered HDMI to VGA adaptor? I used to use a Rankie one with a USB cable to work with it for some older Sahara branded projectors which had a similar issue with image degradation.

Cartridge Save and IDNS are the 2 that I use (even if I'm buying official toners, rather than remakes). Similarly, I have also used Choice Stationery in the past, more for inkjet inks for a couple of special use printers we used to run.

"we have a new starter next week, can you set them up" - How I miss being told well in advance of people starting, not either that morning, or more likely a week or 2 after...

I've used Ontrack before, and found them very good. They will have a look to see if there is anything recoverable first, but always found them able to recover well, including from a staff hard drive that went swimming

And that gives you the RGB boost!

Spec seems fine. Unless they have changed recently, the CM water coolers are bit of a pain to fit. As a result, a silent build or overclock machine are the only 2 times I would water cool, and even then, it would be a custom loop rather than an AIO solution. Have a look at the Noctua coolers, as they are amazing, and still reasonably quiet. Can also make some good savings by moving away from socket 2011, to an i7 8700k, and either an 1151 board, unless you plan on going and putting a massive processor upgrade to one of intel's insane range processors in the future. (Extra money for RGB goodness?)

Heavy rain in central London and feel that it might well be set in for the day!

These are in house refurbs - we buy a new machine and use it in a primary role for 3-4 years, refurb it/make the odd upgrade and then use it where a new machine isn't needed. Then at the end of it, the machine is worth nothing and then it gets scrapped and either sold for parts (if there is any value), used for spares (SSDs, RAM etc) and the rest recycled. For places like education, you can make real use of refurbs from people like Dave - Used to use him myself when in edu, but now, for us, buying new saves hassle.