High School BYOD

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Dulouz

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Topic # 227458 8-Jan-2018 10:00

I need to purchase a machine that can run MS Office for my daughters' entry into High School. So far I'm tossing up between a MacBook Air or a Surface Laptop. Are there any other machines I should consider?

Amanon

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Reply # 1932162 8-Jan-2018 11:57

Why the MS office requirement - aren't they using Office 360 or Google Apps?

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davidcole

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Reply # 1932164 8-Jan-2018 12:00

openmedia:

Why the MS office requirement - aren't they using Office 360 or Google Apps?

I'm picking some of the schools aren't signing up to google apps. My niece has a similar requirement, and her BYOD letter says chromebooks aren't appropriate. So looking at similar, Windows Surface or Macbook Airs.

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Lias

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Reply # 1932213 8-Jan-2018 13:05

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I'd say either of those options is total overkill for a basic office laptop? I'd just get a cheap sub $500 one from HN/NL/JB etc

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NZSpides

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Reply # 1932215 8-Jan-2018 13:08

I would contact the school and see what suite the are using.

My daughter's school is using the Google suite and a chrome book works just fine.

networkn

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Reply # 1932232 8-Jan-2018 13:36

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Eww Surface, no thanks. There are better more reliable alternatives out there, don't be suckered by their huge marketing budget. Read on google for surface reliability issues.

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Reply # 1932237 8-Jan-2018 13:46

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If its their first year at high school, then buy budget for now, until they learn to take care of it at school :)

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kryptonjohn

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Reply # 1932240 8-Jan-2018 13:59

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My daugher's school has Windows Surface Pro as their standard BYOD and have some sort of partnership with Microsoft in NZ. It's a total overkill. They justified it as the surface pen thingy would be super duper but as far as I have seen it wasn't that important. A Lenovo Yoga at about half the price would have easily sufficed. Many families would have found this to be a significant financial hit.

openmedia

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Reply # 1932244 8-Jan-2018 14:22

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kryptonjohn:

My daugher's school has Windows Surface Pro as their standard BYOD and have some sort of partnership with Microsoft in NZ. It's a total overkill. They justified it as the surface pen thingy would be super duper but as far as I have seen it wasn't that important. A Lenovo Yoga at about half the price would have easily sufficed. Many families would have found this to be a significant financial hit.

That is crazy. There is no way I'd let my daughter take an expensive device like that to school.

Most schools should have a deal on sub $500 devices with local suppliers that include insurance against breakage.

kryptonjohn

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Reply # 1932246 8-Jan-2018 14:32

openmedia:

kryptonjohn:

My daugher's school has Windows Surface Pro as their standard BYOD and have some sort of partnership with Microsoft in NZ. It's a total overkill. They justified it as the surface pen thingy would be super duper but as far as I have seen it wasn't that important. A Lenovo Yoga at about half the price would have easily sufficed. Many families would have found this to be a significant financial hit.

That is crazy. There is no way I'd let my daughter take an expensive device like that to school.

Most schools should have a deal on sub $500 devices with local suppliers that include insurance against breakage.

Agreed. This was from Y7 so my 11yo daugher had a better computer than her 50yo software developer dad - insane.

Despite the reports of Surface Pro reliability issues the thing is still working fine as she heads into Y9 - although the surface pen thingy probably isn't.

My boys' school has iPad as their BYOD... I'm much happier with that. Naturally the iPads get destroyed but as they only cost a few hundred bucks (mini) not such a big deal (each one has had at least a couple of screen replacements).

Wade

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Reply # 1932247 8-Jan-2018 14:36

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If you are prepared to take a punt with warranty etc consider importing a Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 12.5 or 13 http://www.mi.com/en/mibookair/

I have the 13" version and it's an awesome device that actually feels "Apple" premium with full metal body... for me battery life is probably closer to 7hrs than quoted 9.5hrs

macuser

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Reply # 1932255 8-Jan-2018 15:00

HP Probook 450 / 430 G5 + 3 Year HP NBD warranty

cyril7

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Reply # 1932257 8-Jan-2018 15:03

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Hi, used to work in IT for schools, and should note that schools are offered both GAFE (Google Apps) or O365, the majority of primary's are GAFE, and probably 50/50 of secondarys are GAFE/O365, so a chromebook sadly is a bit of a non flyer in those O365 schools.

As for Surfaces, they are overpriced and even in the lattest models suffer some serious issues, and get easily broken. If you keep them upto date with firmware/BIOS most issues are mitigated, but me personally I would avoid and just go with a $300-500 14" laptop from one of the big brands, ie Lenovo, HP etc, but its important to note that battery life is important, it must make it through the day.

Cyril

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Reply # 1932268 8-Jan-2018 15:20

Wade:

If you are prepared to take a punt with warranty etc consider importing a Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 12.5 or 13 http://www.mi.com/en/mibookair/

I have the 13" version and it's an awesome device that actually feels "Apple" premium with full metal body... for me battery life is probably closer to 7hrs than quoted 9.5hrs

I have read about those, but not seen one in the "flesh"...

Even the website screams "APPLE"...

Nice looking piece of kit.

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Reply # 1932269 8-Jan-2018 15:23

cyril7:

Hi, used to work in IT for schools, and should note that schools are offered both GAFE (Google Apps) or O365, the majority of primary's are GAFE, and probably 50/50 of secondarys are GAFE/O365, so a chromebook sadly is a bit of a non flyer in those O365 schools.

As for Surfaces, they are overpriced and even in the lattest models suffer some serious issues, and get easily broken. If you keep them upto date with firmware/BIOS most issues are mitigated, but me personally I would avoid and just go with a $300-500 14" laptop from one of the big brands, ie Lenovo, HP etc, but its important to note that battery life is important, it must make it through the day.

Cyril

For battery, take along this handy standby, or if the school kicks up a stink, use one of these in the library at lunchtime.

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Reply # 1932278 8-Jan-2018 15:51

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My youngest is using a netbook type with Win10 on it - good battery but very small drive, will look up the model when I get home.

The reason was that Chromebook is restricted to being connected (I presume that's still the case) and only running "Chrome" apps, whereas the Win10 can work offline but still run all the Google Doc apps as well as behaving like a regular laptop. It was under the $500 mark a couple of years ago. The only issue is that if you need the "Office Suite" the drive may be restrictive.

Eldest was using a MacBook Air (left last year) but she was doing Digital photography and Media so needed the extra grunt.

We had a problem within a year with the HP Stream device where the keyboard went faulty if that helps you to narrow down a brand.

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