DavR

Well, after a few angry phone calls I eventually talked to System Exchange last week, who when we got the ball rolling, had a replacement out within 48hrs! Just received a Latitude E5570 in replacement for my E5530, similar spec. I wonder if they'll chase after getting the faulty one back? They didn't last time, parts were about £60 on ebay when I last looked *innocent whistle* Proving a bitch to build with SCCM though, just like the E5550 we got last time. So many odd additional drivers, and graphics driver misbehaving.... but that's a whole other thread!

As an aside, I see they're also still OBSESSED with attempting to block keywords on https Google searches. When will they ever give that one up as just acceptable risk? It's already enforced Safe Search, and besides, you can't get to most of the pages if you clicked on the results. To the extent that they're recommending people block Google and use Bing of all things.... HAHAHAHAHAHA..... no.

So, it looks like the issue of YouTube and internet filtering is just one that won't die! In the security bulletin LGfL sent round to headteachers and NCs today, it's discussed again. Apparently there are three options now for YouTube filtering - Open, Moderate, and Severe:

Unlikely that anyone would want these, but putting it out there just in case! I've had a three standalone Tape / CD players dropped on me from people clearing out their cupboards. Large inbuilt speaker on the rear, CD, Tape, phono inputs, 6 x headphone sockets. State of repair currently unknown. Free to anyone that wants em, seems a shame to throw em away, although they are majorly obsolete now! Collection only, North London.

I'm still waiting on my promised swap out for a E5530.... logged with System Exchange Dept over three weeks ago now, no reply to chasing emails, not even a status update. If it's not resolved in the next few days I'll have to get my account manager involved

@jmak, is it just the hinge you need? More often than not, when the hinge goes, it also rips out part of the plastic insert in the lid assembly. If it were just the hinge, I would have happily just bought a bucket of those, it's the back lids that are the problem.

Yeah, I tried that one myself, and it did nothing. Apple have given you the opportunity to block apps using the individual app IDs, and that is the app ID for Preferences, so there's been a lot of excitement thinking you can use those two things together. Alas, no. You can stop the Meraki profile being removed if your device is enrolled in the DEP before you run first setup I think (not much use if retrospectively though I know!).

Wow, doing better than me. Over two weeks since I logged mine

I doubt that's going to happen, it seems to be part of Apple's design to continue to let the end user access Settings.

Wow, pretty decent swap out! Although, I'm hoping they'll just send me an E5550 like they did before. I really can't be bothered with creating another build, and our laptop trolleys are becoming a right mixed bag! That's if System Replacement dept ever respond. Had the swap out agreed over a week ago and heard nothing more since. @PrimaryNetMan, how long did yours take?

Well, the engineer came a day later than expected, but I've just had hinges and back cover replaced on the E5520. Still no news on parts (or the promised swap out) for the E5530 though.

Yeah, that happened to me for this device. They guy came week before last with just the hinges but no cover. Dell assure me they've found a back cover now though, we shall see when the guy turns up tomorrow. We're on NBD.

Spoke too soon! Dell have changed their minds and reckon they have a back cover for me know, and will send an engineer tomorrow. That's what I love about Dell, they're so organised and consistent!

Just been advised that both the E5530 and the E5520 I've currently got logged with Dell are now going to be swapped out with new, as they can't get the spares. Still waiting to hear the when and how of it though.

I've been told that this is a recognised manufacturing fault for the E5530 - what one guy told me is that is was down to a defective run of hinges, the lube used was no good, so they seize up. And then when you close the laptop lid, the seized hinge puts strain on the plastic mountings, etc etc. Personally, I think it's also poor design to have such flimsy plastic bits in the lid holding the whole thing together, at the point of greatest strain. Interestingly, while the E5520 has the same problem, they DON'T recognise this as a manufacturing flaw. I had to get my account manager to wade in to get my first one replaced, now I just quote that call as precedent to get others fixed under warranty.

Yikes. Yes, I can see why you'd want a solid enterprise solution for that kind of coverage. I just need something that will run a class of 15 devices well, with a bit of future proofing.

I did like the guy from Digitial Air when I saw them at BETT, seemed very knowledgeable and to have a good approach. Also, can't knock a free survey when you need three quotes!

Interesting - what size campus are you running to be considered beyond UniFi? We're a four form primary school currently running on about 18 APs.

Did not know that about Meraki kit! The subscription based "software as a service" model and the like is an insidious bunch of crap at the best of times. I'm resigned to some kind of ongoing cost with this, but was thinking more along the lines of a maintenance agreement. May well end up with a hosted controller if I go through our ISP (Atomwide), but will have to suck it in if it keeps the cost down. I assume you are using a software controller fro your UniFi, have you got that sat on any old server, or a dedicated machine?

Oh, so very much on a budget here. But this is a schools forum, I don't need to tell you that! Thanks for the recommendations guys. I'll be leaving it down to the supplier to offer me their choice of tech, but good to have a bit of a feel for what others are using.

Well, they are still being offered, as you know, they are still updates that Microsoft recommends. It does means that if you just do a standard update, they won't be included though, you have to go in and pick them if you want them.

Oh really? I hadn't heard of that one, it's a good trick if they have managed to do that! If so, they've pinched the logic behind Apple's caching server for that one, but done it in peer-to-peer rather than on a server.

I got the E5550 as a replacement on something a few months back too, I was happy with that. PIA to get working with our SCCM build though.

Aerohive were another technology I had dismissed as being out of my league tbh. I saw their (achingly long) sales demo at BETT and assumed that anything that feature-rich was going to be out of my price range. About how much were you paying per AP, out of interest? Regardless of the tech though, there's two votes for LAN3 from happy customers there!

Oh? Interesting. Are you using any of the advanced features or similar? I've got Meraki for my MDM, but as I'm not intending to do anything too advanced with the wireless, had assumed that their kit would be out of my price range.