Netbooks vs Notebooks

[John Driver]

Hi all. I'm interested to know what other schools are doing with this,
right down to the makes and models of Notebooks/etbooks you are
using.

We are about to buy our first set of laptops for students to use, and
I am struggling to find a netbook or notebook that is suitable. Having
trialled a number of 10.1" netbooks, we have been surprisingly happy
with performance, but the ergonomics of using such a small screen and
keyboard just don't seem to work for the staff or the students. The
positives of the netbook seem to be the long battery life,
portability, and low cost compared to a traditional notebook. A
notebook would give us more processing power, and larger screens, at
the cost of shorter battery life, and well, cost......

What do you use? and how do you use them?

John Driver

[Craig Harrison]

Hi John,

We have found the 13" screen size to be the sweet spot for student usage in years 8 and onwards. Currently using a Dell E4310 with extended battery.

Kind regards,

Craig.

Craig Harrison
Information Systems Manager
Helpdesk: +64 9 520 9230
Direct: +64 9 520 9238
Phone: +64 9 520 9224 ext.7868
Mobile: +64 21 222 4107
char...@diocesan.school.nz

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[Patrick]

Are you considering any type of tablet that is available now or
expected to be released in future?

[John Driver]

Hi Patrick. We haven't been looking at tablets at this stage, I
suppose mainly because of higher cost (at least for Windows based
devices), lack of choice and availibility, and also the relative lack
of research into the effectiveness of them in a learning environment
as opposed to traditional keyboard based computers. What about you? Do
you have any experience with them, or does anyone else?

John Driver

[John Driver]

> We have found the 13" screen size to be the sweet spot for student usage in years 8 and onwards. Currently using a Dell E4310 with extended battery.

Thanks Craig. I'd agree that 13" seems to be about right. Do you have
a contact at Dell? Every time I try to talk to them I get transferred
all around the world and end up waiting for a call back, which never
eventuates....

John Driver

On Oct 21, 6:32 pm, Craig Harrison <charri...@diocesan.school.nz>
wrote:

> Hi John,
>
> We have found the 13" screen size to be the sweet spot for student usage in years 8 and onwards.  Currently using a Dell E4310 with extended battery.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Craig.
>
> Craig Harrison
> Information Systems Manager
> Helpdesk: +64 9 520 9230
> Direct: +64 9 520 9238
> Phone: +64 9 520 9224 ext.7868
> Mobile: +64 21 222 4107

> charri...@diocesan.school.nz

[Russell Dyas]

Not sure if any use (should be getting demo unit soon)

These are just starting to hit uk market (sure RM will be shipping to NZ)

http://www.rm.com/shops/rmshop/Product.aspx?cref=PD1787832&utm_campaign=bfree&utm_medium=&utm_source=&utm_content=mobileict&nguid=f42c38ca-eb26-49af-afaf-b99c3111a591&srcurl=/rmcomhome&linktype=billboard_ad

Russ

[John Driver]

Thanks Russell. They look superb

John Driver

On Oct 22, 8:51 am, Russell Dyas <russell.d...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Not sure if any use (should be getting demo unit soon)
>
> These are just starting to hit uk market (sure RM will be shipping to NZ)
>

> http://www.rm.com/shops/rmshop/Product.aspx?cref=PD1787832&utm_campai...

[Mark Osborne]

...and if not being able to use Firefox or flash on your tablet annoys you, have a look at these:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/07/ipad-alternatives-tablet-pcs_n_707537.html
More and more emerging each week.

--
Hei konā mai,

Mark Osborne
Deputy Principal,
Albany Senior High School.
536 Albany Highway, North Shore City.
Find us on Open Street Map
Our Wikieducator Portal, e-learning@ASHS

[Julian Davison]

On 22/10/2010 8:51 a.m., Russell Dyas wrote:
> Not sure if any use (should be getting demo unit soon)
>
> These are just starting to hit uk market (sure RM will be shipping to NZ)
>
> http://www.rm.com/shops/rmshop/Product.aspx?cref=PD1787832&utm_campaign=bfree&utm_medium=&utm_source=&utm_content=mobileict&nguid=f42c38ca-eb26-49af-afaf-b99c3111a591&srcurl=/rmcomhome&linktype=billboard_ad

Any idea how much they'd be here in NZ?

J,

[Arron Edwards :// Totali Limited]

We've been using Toshiba NB200 (then NB300) Netbooks at a school,
which work nicely.

The kicker with your netbooks is to make sure they have a decent
wireless chipset, as this will cause you no-end of hassles. The ones
to avoid are the Realtek wireless chips, they are a dog! You want
either: Intel, Atheros or Broadcom. The first two are commonly used
in the access points themselves hence them working nicely.

Regards,
Arron

[Russell Dyas]

I will ask for you?

Russ

[Patrick]

Sorry mate, those are the questions EVERYONE is asking and wants the
same answers to.

I suppose it is too early to get any.

[Patrick]

The next OLPC is a Tablet. Due to come out next year.

It will be interesting to see if it can be connected to some sort of
cloud hosted solution so that someone can put something like an app
store on it for educational uses.

On Oct 22, 9:34 am, Mark Osborne <mosbo...@ashs.school.nz> wrote:
> ...and if not being able to use Firefox or flash on your tablet annoys you,

> have a look at these:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/07/ipad-alternatives-tablet-pcs...

> More and more emerging each week.
>

> On 22 October 2010 08:51, Russell Dyas <russell.d...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Not sure if any use (should be getting demo unit soon)
>
> > These are just starting to hit uk market (sure RM will be shipping to NZ)
>

> >http://www.rm.com/shops/rmshop/Product.aspx?cref=PD1787832&utm_campai...
>
> > Russ
>
> > On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 8:45 PM, John Driver <early.star...@gmail.com>

> Map<http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=-36.730128&lon=174.696304&zoom=18&l...>
> Our Wikieducator Portal <http://wikieducator.org/Albany_Senior_High_School>,
> e-learning@ASHS<http://wikieducator.org/Albany_Senior_High_School/e-learning>

[Angela Butterworth]

I totally agree with you Arron. I would go further and say they should
also have dual band radios - most netbooks only have b/g/n, not a/g/n.

Angela

-----Original Message-----
From: techies-f...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:techies-f...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Arron Edwards
:// Totali Limited
Sent: Friday, 22 October 2010 9:44 a.m.
To: Techies for schools

[Craig Harrison]

I would agree completely with this. If you want to run a high density wireless network with large numbers of student devices then you need to be running it at 5Ghz not 2.4GHz for the performance to be good. If the access point or laptop indicates that it has "a" wireless support (e.g 802.11 a/g/n or the older 802.11 a/b/g) then this confirms that it will run at both 5Ghz and 2.4GHz. If the laptop or access point only supports b/g/n then steer clear of it as it will almost certainly not run at 5GHz and performance will degrade badly when you have more than a medium number of laptops and AP's.

Craig Harrison
Information Systems Manager
Helpdesk: +64 9 520 9230
Direct: +64 9 520 9238
Phone: +64 9 520 9224 ext.7868
Mobile: +64 21 222 4107

char...@diocesan.school.nz

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[Julian Davison]

On 22/10/2010 10:07 a.m., Craig Harrison wrote:
> I would agree completely with this. If you want to run a high
> density wireless network with large numbers of student devices then
> you need to be running it at 5Ghz not 2.4GHz for the performance to
> be good. If the access point or laptop indicates that it has "a"
> wireless support (e.g 802.11 a/g/n or the older 802.11 a/b/g) then
> this confirms that it will run at both 5Ghz and 2.4GHz. If the
> laptop or access point only supports b/g/n then steer clear of it as
> it will almost certainly not run at 5GHz and performance will degrade
> badly when you have more than a medium number of laptops and AP's.

Are you be suggesting running a purely 5GHz wireless, or dual
2.4 and 5?

J,

[Craig Harrison]

You end up needing to run a dual network to support laptops (and other devices) that don't have 5Ghz support. I would usually expect any access point that supports 5Ghz to have two radios in it and run one of them at 5Hz on 802.11a/n and one of them at 2.4GHz on 802.11b/g/n (usually you would disable b if you possibly can eliminate any b only devices as this will further degrade performance on this radio)

Craig Harrison
Information Systems Manager
Helpdesk: +64 9 520 9230
Direct: +64 9 520 9238
Phone: +64 9 520 9224 ext.7868
Mobile: +64 21 222 4107
char...@diocesan.school.nz

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

CAUTION: The information contained in this email is confidential and may be legally privileged. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this message is prohibited. Thank you.
-----Original Message-----

[Craig Harrison]

Hi John,

Local account manager here in Auckland is Vida Ortanez - Vida_O...@dell.com +64 21 925 047

Kind regards,

Craig.

Craig Harrison
Information Systems Manager
Helpdesk: +64 9 520 9230
Direct: +64 9 520 9238
Phone: +64 9 520 9224 ext.7868
Mobile: +64 21 222 4107

char...@diocesan.school.nz

[John Driver]

Update on this topic for those that are interested. Having evaluated a
number of netbooks and notebooks over the last month, I have come up
with the following:

- The Lenovo S10-3 is an awful netbook. Poorly built hinge mechanism
with a bad trackpad that our students hated
- The HP Mini 5103 is OK, but for poor value for money at approx. $900
each
- The Toshiba NB300 is by far the best netbook we tested. Well put
together with a good solid feel. If we were going to buy a netbook, we
would buy these, but.......
- Students all agreed that the 10" screen is too small
- All 3 netbooks could do what we asked (i.e anything up to editing a
video in Movie maker), but when pushed they all spiked to 100%
- Dell don't want to sell computers to schools as far as I can tell
- The Toshiba T130 seems almost perfect for us. 13.1" screen, an Intel
C2D ULV Chip (Ultra Low Voltage), 8 - 10 hours battery, light and
portable, well built, attractive and affordable ($930 each)

John Driver

On Oct 21, 11:16 am, John Driver <early.star...@gmail.com> wrote:

[John Driver]

Further update. Having decided that the Toshiba T130 is the model that
comes closest to ticking all of the boxes, I've been told by Adam at
the Laptop Company (who has been a really great help with this, thumbs
up!) that it's out of stock from Toshiba with no details on if or when
it may be restocked or replaced. So back to the drawing board.....

John Driver

> > John Driver- Hide quoted text -
>
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