flyinghaggis

That's what I've always thought but speaking to finance they appear increasingly keen on leasing options even though it seems to cost more over the lifespan of the kit? I can only assume that there's somekind of financial wizardry (Capex vs opex, tax breaks, etc) they can do to offset the additional expense which makes the lease the preferred option?

I'd actually agree with this personally as it's the primary reasons I like to use a tenkeyless keyboard. Presumably keyboards would have been invented long before mice existed. The placement of the numpad/etc was clearly added on the right of a regular keyboard as most folk are right-handed. If anything, given the popularity of mice now, I'm surprised keyboards haven't migrated the keybpad to the left hand side. I once had a keyboard that allowed you to attached the numpad to either the right or left hand side. Gven how long many users spend in front of a keyboard using a mouse to me this should really be a standard feature of keyboards. To me, for ergomomic purposes, numpad placement is something that needs to vary depending on whether you're left or right handed. As crazy as it might sound, "yes" a standard mouse/keyboard layout is IMO poorly designed ergonomically for the majority of users (who will be right-handed) !

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/lab-services/retirement-guide We've just had an email from Microsoft advising that they're retiring Azure Lab Services (which was one of the virtual lab options we'd considered for our pupils to run Computing programming/development applications. Has anyone tried any of the alternatives they've suggested? Apporto (https://www.apporto.com/virtual-computer-labs) CloudLabs by Spektra Systems (https://cloudlabs.ai/) Nerdio Manager for Enterprise (NME) (requires and uses Azure Virtual Desktop) (https://getnerdio.com/) Skillable (https://www.skillable.com/virtual-it-labs-skills-validation-hands-on-learning/?nab=1)

I think Apple are offering a £150 black Friday gift voucher with the new MBPs so if you (assuming they let you!) combine that with educational discount it should make for a reasonable saving! edit: actually I think the offer might just be on some Macbook Air models but worth checking...!

Keep contemplating buying a new 4K monitor to replace my 27" 1440p display which is approaching 10 years old so will keep an eye on the Black Friday sales to see if anything catches my eye! Not sure whether to stick with a 27/28" display or size up to a 32" model though?

It does look as though that section has been removed I can find reference to it in the NCSC and the ANME so presumably the DfE guide has been amended at some point specifically to remove that section? https://files.anme.co.uk/dfe/DfE%20Cyber%20Security%20Standards.pdf "Technical requirements to meet the standard The IT service provider should approve all code and applications that are deployed and make sure they do not pose a security risk. They should do this in the best way possible given available resources. Best practice is to maintain a current list of approved applications. Applications with invalid or no digital signatures should not be installed or used. You could search the internet to check the reputation of the application and the hosting site, or run unknown applications or code within a sandbox environment."

Does any size/resolution of HDMI monitor generally work OK or is there a particular monitor type you'd recommend as I've heard some don't play well with MacOS font/icon scaling?

I suppose, being fair on people, the issue I've found is that it's not always straightforrward to prevent VPN use when you have pupils or staff with their own devices, minimal visibility on your part and you aren't necessarily able to install certiifcates/management software on them. Everytime we find a method of monitoring/filtering pupil devices something else appears, like ECH, that lets them effectively bypass/prevent it. Quite honestly it feels like we're fighting against all the major platform vendors and IT Security companies when trying to implement filtering for pupils! Especially when you look at the practicallity of trying to match up DfE mandates with the Education Sector's desire for the widespread use of BYOD.

I suppose the question them becomes have you taken reasonable steps to prevent them from using a VPN? Or is it considerded too easy to bypass restrictions and use a VPN if they have their own device without anykind of HTTPS inspection enabled?

I'd heard that Apple/Microsoft were deprecating the feature to bind Macs to Active Directory in future versions of MacOS? Is this still happening?

I assume you still need to put a certificate onto a client device which lets you then analyse the decrypted POST content? Wouldn't the logs generated by monitoring and storing all that type of content be huge to to point of it not being workable? What kind of content would that allow you to monitor? I'm not that familar with how it works practically in terms of HTTPS/web content so apologies if these are obvious questions! Is this something firewall/filtering providers would offer?

What kind of scaling do you run it at as presumaly text would be too small set to 100% at the native 4K resolution? Do it look OK scaled as on a 1080p/1440p display some things can look pretty bad when you have to use scaling? I know if I scale my 1440p monitor to 1080p for anything it looks terrible!

Bit of a thread resurrection but I wanted to ask how you guys were finding the 4K monitors. I still have my 34" Ultrawide (3440x1440) but it's 10 years old so think it might be time to upgrade it. I find the aspect ratio / 1440p resolution doesn't work well if I want to connect my Playstation/Switch to it and I just cant get the text scaling to look crisp when I plug my Macbook into it at 1440p (it looks slightly pixelated even at native resolution?). Also, when using it for productivity I always just end up snapping a window to each side of the screen or placing it into the centre alignment so feel like I'd be just aswell with a 16:9 display. I did like the 21:9 for PC gaming but, though I did when I bought the monitor, I rarely use it for that purpose now. I was trying to decide between a 28" or 32" 4K display. Logic suggests that the larger 32" monitor, being bigger, would be better! However measuring it on my desk 28" seems like a better size for my usual viewing distance and I think it might produce a sharper picture given it's a smaller image at 4K. I think that size/higher density might scale better if I want to use it with my Macbook aswell. Does anyone on here have any experience using a 28" or 32" 4K display with Windows/MacOS/Consoles. Any insight or monitor recommendations would be appreciated as I'm not sure what to go for!

I'll appreciate it's not what the OP wants to hear but my feeling is that most schools will ultimately move away from BYOD for pupils in favour of school-issued and managed devices. We're already seeing most schools starting to ban pupils using mobiles phones and I think this will ultimately extend to personal laptops/tablets/etc. Primarily due to the fact that it's impossible to adequately monitor pupils for safeguarding purposes without installing software/apps/management on their personally owned devices which is an absolute minefield.

Without going into specifics are you able to elaborate on the innapropriate actvity (Email, Social Media, chat apps, etc?) as it might help with providing a solution?

I'd echo what others have said as it feels like you're being asked to do the impossible unfortunately. Every OS/device/app these days is geared to allow devices to connect securely to WiFi networks and specfically prevent exactly what you're wanting to do (ie monitor/control communications between their devices and remote servers)! Plus, morals aside, surely the school would be on dubious ground leagally if they're trying to gain access to decrypt/monitor pupil's personal devices and communications on them?

True, but I'm sure many schools will be in the position where it's potentially a more cost effective option? If it's a case of paying MS for extended support until their refurbishment cycles catch up with Windows 11 compatibility versus finding money to purcahase hundreds of new computers outwith their usual budget cycle?

Did they say why costs are increasing as looking at recent renewals ours has been pretty static over the past 4 years. What kind of percentage increase were you looking at compared to what you're currently paying?

I'd read similar figures elsewhere and in the scheme of things (compared to replacing computers/software) that sounds quite cheap if it were a workable option? I'm also wondering when we'll see Windows 12 (or whatever MS decides will supercede Windows 11) appear? I'm guessing we're at the point where it will be too new to consider leapfrogging Windows 11 as Summer Holidays 2025 will likely be our last opportunity to roll out Windows 11 (assuming no viable options to extend Windows 10 support).

Is everyone still on Windows 10 planning their migration to Windows 11 or are there other options available like paying to extend support for Windows 10? https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/extended-security-updates Has anyone looked into whether this is a viable option or are the costs (presumably) prohibitive?

+1 for 3CX. Works well in a school as it's charge per simultaneous call which makes the pricing attractive.

If you go into the Google Admin console (https://admin.google.com/) into "Apps>Google Workspace> Drive > Sharing Settings" you should be able to find a setting that lets you restrict Google Drive sharing settings for users. That would potentially stop pupils being able to share it with others.

I guess the ARM chip is particularly well suited to mobile use given the battery life, low power usage, performance and the compact form factor of the SOC design. However, I could see it potentially ushering in a new era of USFF mini PC's! The Qualcomm devkit looks pretty cool actually and has decent specs (Snapdragon X Elite, 32Gb RAM, 512Gb SSD, Wifi 7 / etc) https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2024/05/qualcomm-accelerates-development-for-copilot--pcs-with-snapdrago It's a little bit expensive at the moment but I can imagine in a year or two we'll see similar spec USFF and laptops available for sub £500 at which point it could make a lot of sense if the compatibility works as advertised.

I guess the key question about these devices is the compatibility which we won’t find out until reviewers get their hands on them. most Initial impressions seem positive though in terms of performance, pricing and battery life.

Noticed the official announcment of these new ARM chips/devices is at the Microsoft event later today! Keen to see what performance/compatibility/pricing and features they can bring to ARM Windows devices. Let's hppe it's not Windows RT all over again...... https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/what-to-expect-from-microsofts-special-surface-and-windows-11-ai-event-on-may-20