NB9457

Just out of curiosity, how many students attend your Secondary and how many devices? We have 8 IT Suites being used non stop and I couldn't imagine having to depend on 250+ laptops just for IT lessons!

Laptop Pros: -Mobile Laptop Cons: -Prone to damage -Harder to update programs -More costly to repair -Shorter lifespan -Depend on slower WiFi connection -Anyone forgets to plug them in, they're out of use for a few hours -Require more hands on maintenance In an ideal world, I'm all for wired fixed machines, they're more reliable, easier to fix, cheaper to replace and longer lifespans than laptops. That being said, it all depends on the school and the environment the equipment is being used in. I've seen a lot of primaries ditch suites/cut down on laptops and sway toward iPads. For primaries, from experience, iPads seem a great solution, they're reliable. everyone knows how to use them and love them, great battery life, loads of APPs and they're relatively easy to manage.

MDT with a fat image for ICT and then basic builds for Laptops/Staff and deploy software via GP/Impero or PDQ

Depends on budget, but Smoothwall does everything in one box, fairly easy to use and has a whole host of settings and monitoring tools. Support isn't too bad either.

The only thing RM have ever been bad for is price, so if it's cheaper, go for it! Some nice chaps work for RM and I've worked alongside them and they have tight SLAs. I say go for it!

I can't wait for the day they make enterprise grade core switches, I know they've just released their pure fiber 10Gb switch, but sadly it lacks proper stacking and redundant PSUs and what not. Here's hoping though, because I love the price, simplicity and quality they provide.

If budget is tight, you could always consider refurbished

Have you considered clustering?

If it's cheap enough, just have a stab at the Cisco one, we use Cisco 1Gb modules in our 10Gb dell switches and have used mixed brands in the past too, I'm not sure but the whole SFP branding thing seems to be a bit of a scam, prices are all over the place for some modules!

I'm guessing it's something like this you're after?

IIRC, 10Gb SFP modules are backwards compatible, so should work fine. Just double check, but I'm fairly confident.

Just bought Planet Coaster and I'm loving it! Bought RollerCoaster Tycoon World and that was awful, they've killed the brand completely now, but thank Frontier for Planet Coaster!

Got to say NetSupport are incredibly competitive with pricing and DNA is a very feature packed product! Support is really good too!

Not much use, but we scrapped Frog and moved to the Google GAFE platform!

Have to agree, I'm on the VM bandwagon, be it primary or High School. Splitting up roles and having multiple VMs and the ability to snapshot really makes sure you don't have all year eggs in one basket, should something happen, you can either just flatten a VM, revert to a previous snapshot or even move hosts!

Another for manage engine, better than some of the paid solutions I've seen too!

I'm sure we've done this through the Chrome GPOs, assuming you have them installed?

I believe so, best bet is to do initial setup via configurator and include the profile and certificates in that, the way I have done it in the past - - - Updated - - - I notice your sig says you have a macOS server, you could even set that up and use profile manager too if the iPads are regularly on site

Have the iPads been enrolled in Configurator on a Mac or sold under the DEP program? IIRC, they must be supervised for it all to function right.

I'm more of a kinesthetic learner, so most times for me, I sit down, read up, watch videos and then build a test rig and keep playing till I eventually understand and learn how to do it. Whether this works for you or not, I'm unsure, but if you go out and actually go on a course, I'd ensure they offer a practical part too.

It's really not too hard once you get into it. Get a practice rig set up and make some VLANs and what not, you'll soon pick it up and probably end up saving a fair chunk. You could find with cancelling your support and replacing switches could be cheaper too.

Pretty much the same here! I'm by no means Pro Apple, but seeing as I look after multiple primaries, this has been exactly what's happened in most of them.

If they're for a Primary, iPads every time for me. Loads of apps, they're quick, no logging them in and teachers and kids know how to use them. Been down the Learnpad and android route and honestly, the build quality, performance and reliability isn't on scale with an iPad. Apple classroom has just come out too and it works great, you can view what the kids are doing, force them to use one app with no way to exit and so on. Anything else and I think after a couple of months they'll get shoved into a corner, I've seen it happen many times.

Makes me wish I applied now, Bolton is only round the corner! I'll have to keep my eyes peeled

Just bought one of these from ikea for £80, it is unbelievably comfortable! Just have a trip to ikea and try the various chairs, you'll find one!