Re: [Fsfe-uk] Fsfe-uk] Essex laptop for pupils plans

[Kevin Donnelly]

Hi Margaret

On Tuesday 16 March 2004 10:32 am, address@hidden wrote:
> I am a school ICT coordinator and am considering ways of extending internet
> access to pupils who do not have it at home. How much does it cost, a
> laptop with open source software? I had never really considered it. I
> already provide pupils with open office CDs. When I buy laptops or PCs for
> school or anywhere else I am generally told that they cannot be sold
> without an operating system ie the current version of MS Windows....

Hardly surprising, since MS seems to be the prime mover ...  What you have 
been told is, of course, untrue - what the suppliers who tell you this 
usually mean is that they run the risk of being charged higher prices by MS 
if they don't toe the line and refuse to supply "naked" PCs, so they toe the 
line.

You can get some reasonable laptops (eg IBM R31) now for around £500 inc VAT, 
but most of these will have Windows on them by default.  However, I just 
wonder how long these laptops will last.  In many ways, the data is the most 
important thing, so it might actually be cheaper for you to buy a 
bog-standard modern PC (£300 tops) for the pupils to keep at home, and get 
them to use a USB stick to transfer their data between that and a school 
machine.  USB sticks aren't as costly to replace as a laptop, and kids are 
less likely to be mugged for them :-)


-- 

Best wishes

Kevin Donnelly

www.kyfieithu.co.uk - Meddalwedd Rhydd yn Gymraeg