Need a School 2 in 1 or Tablet

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  brendanm on 17/11/2019 - 15:42

  Those are really low specs, should be able to get well below $1000. Also don't rule out windows 10s devices, you can out normal windows on them.

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  CyberMurning on 17/11/2019 - 16:11

  Thanks for your information, Mr gorgeous. Let us know if you found any good deal.

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  nakahanap on 17/11/2019 - 16:54

  +2

  School day isn’t 8 hours long to start with. Most schools have set up a charging station and, like workplaces with laptops, have power points so the battery life shouldn’t be an issue.

  • 

    scrimshaw on 17/11/2019 - 18:36

    +1

    Depends on the school's infrastructure. School I used to work in (it's a prestigious school in Sydney) didn't have enough powerpoints for all the kids, though we did buy two charging stations that are placed in the IT helpdesk office, they max out at 24 devices each (48 max, shared between primary and secondary kids who have a mix of iPads or laptops).

    If the school recommends long battery life it's possible that they are factoring that kids may not have time or a good place to charge a laptop (without it going missing).

    It's still a good idea to ensure the laptop is rated for at least 8 hours anyway, because batteries can age rather quick with daily use,

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  cille745 on 17/11/2019 - 21:12

  +1

  I kid you not, they will literally just use it for Ebooks, powerpoint, word and internet searches 99% of the time, not worth anything expensive tbh

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  obit11 on 17/11/2019 - 22:07

  +1

  Pentium, 8gb ram, ssd. Nrma have single item insurance?

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  YTW on 17/11/2019 - 22:40

  +1

  The 128GB model:
  https://www.lenovo.com/au/en/laptops/yoga/yoga-300-series/Yo…

  Insurance to cover it, should be around $50/pa for the above laptop:
  https://nrma.insurance4that.com.au/policy

  Or ring up your home and contents insurer and find out how much to add Optional Personal Valuables cover to your policy (or check if you already have it). Mine was only about $100 a year and it covers all of our phones, laptops, musical instruments, ipads etc. up to $750 per item. Could have chosen higher limit for a higher premium but that amount covers pretty much all of the kids' stuff, which is the most likely to get wrecked.

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  phil99 on 17/11/2019 - 22:56

  +1

  Definately bad advise from the Dell guy. For $950 we purchased something good enough for day to day IT work (i5,8GB,256GB SSD, 15 inch 2 in 1) You should easily get what you need for a lot less than your budget.

  With Dell… never pay RRP. I usually buy on discounts of 30%-40%. Does require a bit of timing and keep in mind the dell factory outlet where older models are pushed out including refurbished units. If you need to save a buck, the factory outlet is for you.

  Payment plan.. pay with afterpay?

  7 hours of use - god I hope they don't use them that long!! Children are up to 4 times more vunerable to radition than adults. Exposure to wifi/bluetooh needs to be managed carefully for kids. A good school thinks about this and manages it. Good primary schools will keep it less than 2 hours. I am not sure about highschool but would guess closer to 3 max 4. I therefore hope they are just worried kids will forget to recharge overnight or worried that manufactures lie about their battery life. If its really 7 hours I'd be asking the principal for a please explain on whether he understands safe use of computing in schools or not.

  In terms of insurance - your school should organise it as a bulk plan is more affordable. Our school does, usually they recommend a few model machines from more affordable brands such as acer or asus and organise a group discount policy for parents to participate in for insurance. If not, you should petition your school parents association as the principal is not doing his / her job. Another option might be home insurance optional extras. The suncorp group of companies have "portable" insurance cover, but not sure if it covers excessive wear and tear damage. We use this and if we need to claim the excess I think is $100.

  In terms of options.
  Dell do have an 11 inch model 2 in 1 but you have to be careful. Its slow as hell as it uses a low power AMD cpu but otherwise nice but only a touch screen don't think the active style works on those (and why do you need a stylus?). The thing is you need to get the model with a hard disk in it. Most have a an eMMC hard drive which is a fancy way to say no hard disk no expansion, just like an android tablet. This technology is next to useless, the 32GB model is below the minimum capacity of windows 10 (50GB) and therefore will run out of space after doing updates! The eMMC drive cannot be changed so the machine is effectively a brick if anything happens to the eMMC or you ran out of core space. The 128GB version will get you further, but as your school recommends at least 128GB you will again hit problems as you can't expand these units any further.
  The dells can be found here, unfortunately right now not a single model supports the hdd version, all use the eMMC chips.
  https://www.dell.com/en-au/shop/dell-laptops/sr/laptops/insp…
  Refurb store has some HDD versions.. so you could consider that.
  Last time I ordered these.. they were $300-$400 refurbed. They can go to 8GB ram max.

  Alternative options you can also find at the dell second hand store. I'd go 7000 series if you can find any cheap there. 5000 series are not as solid.

  Other than that.. avoid lenovo like the plague. Consider other brands. Also.. there might be models with touch screen and removable batteries where you can buy a second battery (harder to find these days and might trip your weight requirement). I'd challenge the whole premise of a touch screen / 2 in 1 at school. Sounds like a good way to get them damaged faster especially with 2 in 1s which the screen can be left exposed.

  Lastly definately get something to protect it, hard case or satchel case. Kmart and other stores have cheap ones.. $15.. Don't let them stick in into their bag with lunch and other junk exposed.. Teach them to look after it like their life depending on it.

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  Findo on 18/11/2019 - 07:24

  If your kid attends a NSW DoE school, you’d be best to get a surface pro. Most corporate staff are issued with a 5th gen surface pro and some schools use them too.

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  singlemalt72 on 18/11/2019 - 10:47

  +1

  Do not get a tablet, a decent laptop or 2 in 1 is what is required.
  Also 11 inch screen is useless, aim for a minimum of 14 inches.

  I bought my daughter a great refurbished Lenovo Yoga (730 I think) for sub $1000 which is awesome, I wish I had one for myself.

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  Gorgeousmorgeous on 18/11/2019 - 21:01

  My kids are in Catholic Education, NSW though