High School BYOD

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2217 posts

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#1932286 8-Jan-2018 16:37

Handsomedan:

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.

It actually feels as premium as they make it out to be, the design is clean and minimalist. My work supplied Toshiba ultrabook is some form of magnesium alloy and by feel it's hard to detect if it is plastic or metal, with the Mi there is no question that it is a metal body and solid. one thing to note is I don't believe it is upgradable beyond changing out HDD (or adding a second HDD), ram is not user changable

If i had to gripe about anything it would be the glossy screen is prone to light reflection as they all are and secondly the silver keyboard, the keys are back-lit and in bright light conditions the lit keys can make it hard to see which button is which (back-light can be toggled on/off by F10), a black keyboard would have been a far better choice in day to day use

I doubt that there is any better ultra book available for around the $1k mark

kotuku4

345 posts

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#1932287 8-Jan-2018 16:48

Our college uses MS office and other software, and required devices to have a 500gb hard drive. No chrome books.

We went with HP x360 11.6 touch screen last year, no issues so far. They are currently around $550.

That's about as much as I want to spend on this sort of item, that get lots of abuse.

martyyn

1354 posts

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#1932293 8-Jan-2018 17:11

I'd question the school on what exactly they expect the kids to be using them for in order to justify $1000+ worth of laptop ?

My two eldest have gone through different colleges with basic $250 Acer Chromebooks and neither has done anything more than word processing. My youngest has had two years at primary with a second hand $100 Acer and they do nothing more than make the odd slideshow.

cyril7

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#1932301 8-Jan-2018 17:34

Hi, it is correct that in theory a student at an O365 school could easily do most work on a Chromebook by using online versions of O365........... but one of the attractions for teachers of O365 is OneNote, and to get the most out of this you pretty much have to have the native app, hence the need for a Win Client, but this assumes the teacher is using features that are only supported by the app and not the web app................. and until you get there you cannot find out, so it could be a lonely day for your kid when they unexpectedly are left out!

That said, I have seen plenty of students get by with little issue just using O365 in a chrome or safari browser on an ipad etc.

Cyril

JayADee

1744 posts

Uber Geek

#1932334 8-Jan-2018 18:29

Might be they need PCs now because of the new IT curriculum requirements in 2018. They might be learning coding right from Primary and need the flexibility of Windows.

openmedia

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#1932344 8-Jan-2018 18:48

JayADee: Might be they need PCs now because of the new IT curriculum requirements in 2018. They might be learning coding right from Primary and need the flexibility of Windows.

Lolz.

All the cool kids code on Mac/Linux these days.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC a Technology Evangelist and Product Manager. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

lNomNoml

1508 posts

Uber Geek

#1932346 8-Jan-2018 18:49

Lias:

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

This, not sure why you would get an over priced piece of Kit for someone that won't look after it or can't in that enviroment.

Get a cheapy $500-$800 laptop and throw a SSD in it for reliability.

Dingbatt

4349 posts

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#1932377 8-Jan-2018 20:09

After the experience of BYOD for my two sons, durability would be top of my list. Replace the HDD with an SSD. I specced the machines so they weren't capable of serious gaming, but that is probably more of a boy thing.

Portability may be a consideration as well. It's no good if it can't be carried in a school bag.

Areas of Geek interest: Home Theatre, HTPC, Android Tablets & Phones, iProducts.

sonyxperiageek

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#1932484 8-Jan-2018 23:46

Just be careful of these laptops being recalled by HP for battery issues...

Sony

blakamin

4431 posts

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#1932766 9-Jan-2018 13:02

Both my daughters schools use Google (1 primary, 1 secondary). The oldest had my old chromebook, but when she left primary I got her a cheap Acer. It's lasted well and runs all it needs to. The youngest got a Lenovo for xmas. Both are the 11.6", 32GB eMMC, 4GB RAM variety, as 98% of what they do is online.

There's no way known I'd go a surface or a macbook (or anything over $500) until their final years of school. They might be great with it, but that doesn't stop other kids kicking/knocking bags in hallways.

kotuku4

345 posts

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#1932826 9-Jan-2018 13:46

We had a senior student, worked holidays. Bought a nice mid range laptop in boxing day sales.

It didn't last more than three months, before it was stolen at school. School encoraged BYOD but did not provide secure place for electronics.

mdav056

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#1933218 9-Jan-2018 22:32

Agree with many of you -- sub$500 windows machine. I got my daughter a cheap HP (14" screen AMD with 500 GB HDD, but 128 GB SSDs available for the same price). It did everything she needed to do (principally Office, via my family Office 365 subscription, so tons of cloud storage, and surfing). I did increase the RAM to 8GB JIC, but probably overkill. Next year she will take it to university (doing sciences), and we will see how she gets on with it. Explaining that the machine is fragile is a good lesson for life, for looking after it at all times.

Prior to this, she had a cheap ASUS with a detachable screen, and it really was a bit of a disaster. Keyboard no longer connects, so she does still have a win 10 tablet--but doesn't use it. Not recommended.

gml

networkn

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#1935385 10-Jan-2018 10:35

macuser:

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

Those things are massive and heavy and have low resolution screens. 2.5KG is crazy for a 13" notebook!

mdav056

424 posts

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#1935776 10-Jan-2018 19:04

mdav056:

Agree with many of you -- sub$500 windows machine. I got my daughter a cheap HP (14" screen AMD with 500 GB HDD, but 128 GB SSDs available for the same price). It did everything she needed to do (principally Office, via my family Office 365 subscription, so tons of cloud storage, and surfing). I did increase the RAM to 8GB JIC, but probably overkill. Next year she will take it to university (doing sciences), and we will see how she gets on with it. Explaining that the machine is fragile is a good lesson for life, for looking after it at all times.

Prior to this, she had a cheap ASUS with a detachable screen, and it really was a bit of a disaster. Keyboard no longer connects, so she does still have a win 10 tablet--but doesn't use it. Not recommended.

Today, Noel Leeming, HP laptop as above, $399. Very good price, pretty awful place to buy it from!

1.5GHz AMD E2-9000e
4GB RAM
500GB HDD
AMD Graphics
Windows 10
Manufacturer Warranty: 12 months

gml

yitz

1459 posts

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#1935812 10-Jan-2018 19:40

networkn:
Those things are massive and heavy and have low resolution screens. 2.5KG is crazy for a 13" notebook!

Probook 430 has always been around 1.8kg here? I'd imagine the new 430 G5 is also similar in terms of weight.

mdav056:
Today, Noel Leeming, HP laptop as above, $399. Very good price, pretty awful place to buy it from!

1.5GHz AMD E2-9000e
4GB RAM
500GB HDD
AMD Graphics
Windows 10
Manufacturer Warranty: 12 months

The HP 14-bw series is also available with 64 GB eMMC and 128G M.2 SSD configurations. The 128 GB M.2 SATA SSD version is available for $529 at Warehouse Stationery until the end of the month (boxing day sale was $489.30). However it could be worth getting the cheaper HDD configuration then installing the SSD yourself (and keeping the spare HDD as a backup drive) as I'd imagine you'd need it for acceptable performance in these entry level machines.

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