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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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#1
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Refurbished laptops with office software
Someone has sent me this question
"Do you have any sources who could source 25 very simple reconditioned heavy laptops which could run from a wireless network and run only word, excel and powerpoint?" I assume he wants the machines to come with the Microsoft applications and licences, and I assume the "heavy" is to make walking more difficult. Has anyone any recommendations or other suggestions? I think it's probably for a school or youth association. -- Bill |
#2
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Refurbished laptops with office software
Bill wrote:
Has anyone any recommendations or other suggestions? I think it's probably for a school or youth association. Morgan computers sell that sort of thing. http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/ -- Jeremy C B Nicoll - my opinions are my own. Email sent to my from-address will be deleted. Instead, please reply to replacing "aaa" by "284". |
#3
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Refurbished laptops with office software
On 01/08/2012 14:34, Bill wrote:
Someone has sent me this question "Do you have any sources who could source 25 very simple reconditioned heavy laptops which could run from a wireless network and run only word, excel and powerpoint?" I assume he wants the machines to come with the Microsoft applications and licences, and I assume the "heavy" is to make walking more difficult. Would whatever deal Morgan has on refurbed laptops coupled with Office compatible freeware do the job. Does it have to have full VBA support and exact Microsoft Office functional compatibility or will almost do? You should budget for AV software too or at least have something pretty good running since this sort of setup attracts malware like moths to a flame. Visitors try dodgy sites and software they wouldn't risk at home (unless you disable all install execute privileges very carefully). USB memory sticks are potentially dangerous vectors these days. If it is for a charity or other good cause try scrounging from one of your local large corporate IT places (preferably through personal contacts), but AIUI due to the new WEE regulations they are no longer able to make such donations (or so I was told by one of the sources I used to get stuff from for charity work). Has anyone any recommendations or other suggestions? I think it's probably for a school or youth association. You can make laptops arbitrarily heavy by adding a steel wire shaped around the hinge with brazed loops on. A plastic coated steel hawser then passed through each one on the bench and an immovable object. It won't stop a determined thief but it will stop them casually going walkies without boltcutter or hacksaw. It isn't pretty but a lot cheaper than the official security devices. -- Regards, Martin Brown |
#4
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Refurbished laptops with office software
Thanks. I had looked there, but not found anything that includes the
Microsoft Office software. The firm I've dealt with once in the recent past, Tier1, also seems to be the same. I was hoping there might be someone selling complete ex-corporate machines with the software still in place. In message id, Jeremy Nicoll - news posts writes Bill wrote: Has anyone any recommendations or other suggestions? I think it's probably for a school or youth association. Morgan computers sell that sort of thing. http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/ -- Bill |
#5
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Refurbished laptops with office software
In article ,
Bill wrote: I assume he wants the machines to come with the Microsoft applications and licences, and I assume the "heavy" is to make walking more difficult. Be simpler to just use desktops? -- *Honk if you love peace and quiet* Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
#6
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Refurbished laptops with office software
In message , Martin Brown
writes Would whatever deal Morgan has on refurbed laptops coupled with Office compatible freeware do the job. Does it have to have full VBA support and exact Microsoft Office functional compatibility or will almost do? Thanks Martin, the complete reply was very helpful. I use Open Office here, but suspect it is actually too versatile and complex for what he wants. I'm assuming something like Office 97 would be about right. He works in a school, but runs a few sports clubs/teams. Maybe some of them are charities. I'll ask him as I hope to see him this weekend. What I don't want to do is get involved in any refurbishing myself. He already turns up with laptops saying "could you just look at this"! -- Bill |
#7
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Refurbished laptops with office software
In article ,
Bill wrote: What I don't want to do is get involved in any refurbishing myself. He already turns up with laptops saying "could you just look at this"! The first thing to fail in a laptop is the battery. If he doesn't want them to be easily portable, why a battery powered device? -- *(on a baby-size shirt) "Party -- my crib -- two a.m Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
#8
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Refurbished laptops with office software
Bill wrote:
Thanks. I had looked there, but not found anything that includes the Microsoft Office software. The firm I've dealt with once in the recent past, Tier1, also seems to be the same. I was hoping there might be someone selling complete ex-corporate machines with the software still in place. Ex-corporate machines normally have either new blank HDs or the old ones which have been wiped securely, removing all software often including the OS, as the licences don't permit resale, nor will most company's security policies. Do they *need* Microsoft software, or would any office suite capable of being set to work and save MS formats acceptable? In message id, Jeremy Nicoll - news posts writes Bill wrote: Has anyone any recommendations or other suggestions? I think it's probably for a school or youth association. Morgan computers sell that sort of thing. http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/ They usually have some with the usual manufacturer's bloatware or MS Works installed. -- Tciao for Now! John. |
#9
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Refurbished laptops with office software
Bill wrote:
In message , Martin Brown writes Would whatever deal Morgan has on refurbed laptops coupled with Office compatible freeware do the job. Does it have to have full VBA support and exact Microsoft Office functional compatibility or will almost do? Thanks Martin, the complete reply was very helpful. I use Open Office here, but suspect it is actually too versatile and complex for what he wants. I'm assuming something like Office 97 would be about right. Office 97 will not run with any OS later than XP. It won't even try to install. :-/ The latest version of Works might suit their needs. I know that Works 4.0 *will* install and run on Windows 7. -- Tciao for Now! John. |
#10
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Refurbished laptops with office software
On Aug 1, 3:10*pm, Martin Brown
wrote: On 01/08/2012 14:34, Bill wrote: Someone has sent me this question "Do you have any sources who could source 25 very simple *reconditioned heavy laptops which could run from a wireless network and *run only word, excel and powerpoint?" I assume he wants the machines to come with the Microsoft applications and licences, and I assume the "heavy" is to make walking more difficult. |
#11
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Refurbished laptops with office software
On 01/08/2012 16:43, Man at B&Q wrote:
On Aug 1, 3:10 pm, Martin Brown wrote: On 01/08/2012 14:34, Bill wrote: Someone has sent me this question "Do you have any sources who could source 25 very simple reconditioned heavy laptops which could run from a wireless network and run only word, excel and powerpoint?" I assume he wants the machines to come with the Microsoft applications and licences, and I assume the "heavy" is to make walking more difficult. Would whatever deal Morgan has on refurbed laptops coupled with Office compatible freeware do the job. Does it have to have full VBA support and exact Microsoft Office functional compatibility or will almost do? You should budget for AV software too If you want to potentially kill the performance of the old laptop. Any machine these days needs at least 2GB of ram to run an AV. But in the OP's position running without AV would be tantamount to suicide! It is a valid point though that buying laptops (which hold value rather too well secondhand) is not cost effective if mobility is not required. My desktop boots *much* faster since deleting MSE. MBQ There are better free AV products that don't completely hammer performance. He should probably get his friend to consider SFF Dell or HP boxes since they are usually better price performance than laptops. Memory for desktops is cheaper as well (again secondhand). Also have at least one machine in the 2GHz 2Core 4GB ram class that is able to do basic image processing and render video albeit slowly. -- Regards, Martin Brown |
#12
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Refurbished laptops with office software
John Williamson wrote:
In message , Martin Brown writes Would whatever deal Morgan has on refurbed laptops coupled with Office compatible freeware do the job. Does it have to have full VBA support and exact Microsoft Office functional compatibility or will almost do? Thanks Martin, the complete reply was very helpful. I use Open Office here, but suspect it is actually too versatile and complex for what he wants. I'm assuming something like Office 97 would be about right. Office 97 will not run with any OS later than XP. It won't even try to install. :-/ That is a positive advantage! Fairly soon, XP will get even better - m$ will stop supporting it! |
#13
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Refurbished laptops with office software
On 01/08/2012 14:34, Bill wrote:
Someone has sent me this question "Do you have any sources who could source 25 very simple reconditioned heavy laptops which could run from a wireless network and run only word, excel and powerpoint?" I assume he wants the machines to come with the Microsoft applications and licences, and I assume the "heavy" is to make walking more difficult. I would say your chances of finding that quantity of laptops in the configuration you want is slim. Most companies that are of sufficent size to offload that many at a time are probably also MS volume licensing customers. Hence any machines they lob out probably come with no software at all, or perhaps just a windows license. Has anyone any recommendations or other suggestions? I think it's probably for a school or youth association. Reasonable spec second hand desktop machines would be much easier to come by in with software. However you may not be able to acquire that quantity at a time. (we sometimes get reasonable spec second hand stuff in, but typically no more than 4 or 5 systems at a time). It might be worth seeing if you have a local IT support company that deals mainly with local small and medium sized businesses, and ask them to let you know when one of their clients is upgrading. -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
#14
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Refurbished laptops with office software
John Rumm wrote:
On 01/08/2012 14:34, Bill wrote: Someone has sent me this question "Do you have any sources who could source 25 very simple reconditioned heavy laptops which could run from a wireless network and run only word, excel and powerpoint?" I assume he wants the machines to come with the Microsoft applications and licences, and I assume the "heavy" is to make walking more difficult. I would say your chances of finding that quantity of laptops in the configuration you want is slim. Most companies that are of sufficent size to offload that many at a time are probably also MS volume licensing customers. Hence any machines they lob out probably come with no software at all, or perhaps just a windows license. and go straight to the crusher as well. They like the write down to offset against tax. Has anyone any recommendations or other suggestions? I think it's probably for a school or youth association. Reasonable spec second hand desktop machines would be much easier to come by in with software. However you may not be able to acquire that quantity at a time. (we sometimes get reasonable spec second hand stuff in, but typically no more than 4 or 5 systems at a time). It might be worth seeing if you have a local IT support company that deals mainly with local small and medium sized businesses, and ask them to let you know when one of their clients is upgrading. -- To people who know nothing, anything is possible. To people who know too much, it is a sad fact that they know how little is really possible - and how hard it is to achieve it. |
#15
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Refurbished laptops with office software
"Bill" wrote in message ... Someone has sent me this question "Do you have any sources who could source 25 very simple reconditioned heavy laptops which could run from a wireless network and run only word, excel and powerpoint?" I assume he wants the machines to come with the Microsoft applications and licences, and I assume the "heavy" is to make walking more difficult. Has anyone any recommendations or other suggestions? I think it's probably for a school or youth association. There are special Microsoft prices for schools and some charitable organizations so you may be better off buying that software separately. |
#16
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Refurbished laptops with office software
Any machine these days needs at least 2GB of ram to run an AV.
Either (i) I am dreaming that this machine running XP with 1GB is perfectly fine for internet/office apps/scanning and the like with Symantec AV (and ZA firewall) or (ii) you may think you are speaking ex cathedra but I am hearing something rather more lavatorial -- Robin reply to address is (meant to be) valid |
#17
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Refurbished laptops with office software
Any machine these days needs at least 2GB of ram to run an AV.
Either (i) I am dreaming that this machine running XP with 1GB is perfectly fine for internet/office apps/scanning and the like with Symantec AV (and ZA firewall) or (ii) you may think you are speaking ex cathedra but I am hearing something rather more lavatorial -- Robin reply to address is (meant to be) valid |
#18
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Refurbished laptops with office software
On Wed, 1 Aug 2012 19:31:43 +0100, dennis@home wrote:
There are special Microsoft prices for schools and some charitable organizations so you may be better off buying that software separately. If the end user is a registered charity, then see http://www.ctxchange.org/ who are an organisation managing IT donations to UK charities. I've used them for Charities I help. All that is paid is an admin fee. -- John W |
#19
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Refurbished laptops with office software
In most cases the licences are non transferable as they are bulk ones and
thus you cannot split up the licence in that way. Add to that the data paranoia syndrome and the result tends to be a wiped or brand new drive. Brian -- -- From the sofa of Brian Gaff - Blind user, so no pictures please! "Bill" wrote in message ... Thanks. I had looked there, but not found anything that includes the Microsoft Office software. The firm I've dealt with once in the recent past, Tier1, also seems to be the same. I was hoping there might be someone selling complete ex-corporate machines with the software still in place. In message id, Jeremy Nicoll - news posts writes Bill wrote: Has anyone any recommendations or other suggestions? I think it's probably for a school or youth association. Morgan computers sell that sort of thing. http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/ -- Bill |
#21
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Refurbished laptops with office software
If its just word processing, Jarte might do the job. Carolina road software.
Brian -- -- From the sofa of Brian Gaff - Blind user, so no pictures please! "Bill" wrote in message ... In message , Martin Brown writes Would whatever deal Morgan has on refurbed laptops coupled with Office compatible freeware do the job. Does it have to have full VBA support and exact Microsoft Office functional compatibility or will almost do? Thanks Martin, the complete reply was very helpful. I use Open Office here, but suspect it is actually too versatile and complex for what he wants. I'm assuming something like Office 97 would be about right. He works in a school, but runs a few sports clubs/teams. Maybe some of them are charities. I'll ask him as I hope to see him this weekend. What I don't want to do is get involved in any refurbishing myself. He already turns up with laptops saying "could you just look at this"! -- Bill |
#22
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Refurbished laptops with office software
Yes, Lotus Symphony comes to mind here.
Brian Or Open office, Its free and works well, happily opening and saving Microsoft office files. Mike |
#23
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Refurbished laptops with office software
In article ,
Huge wrote: Or Open office, Its free and works well, happily opening and saving Microsoft office files. I finally came across a Word file it wouldn't handle properly this week. I've come across plenty Word files that Word wouldn't handle properly either. -- *Sleep with a photographer and watch things develop Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
#24
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Refurbished laptops with office software
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article , Huge wrote: Or Open office, Its free and works well, happily opening and saving Microsoft office files. I finally came across a Word file it wouldn't handle properly this week. I've come across plenty Word files that Word wouldn't handle properly either. +1 -- To people who know nothing, anything is possible. To people who know too much, it is a sad fact that they know how little is really possible - and how hard it is to achieve it. |
#25
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Refurbished laptops with office software
On 02/08/12 14:01, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article , Huge wrote: Or Open office, Its free and works well, happily opening and saving Microsoft office files. I finally came across a Word file it wouldn't handle properly this week. I've come across plenty Word files that Word wouldn't handle properly either. www.libreoffice.org is better with word files than openoffice, because ti has more people working on it Thats why libreoffice now comes with ubuntu unity http://www.ubuntu.com/ and it doesnt suffer from viruses or most malware [g] |
#26
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Refurbished laptops with office software
Brian Gaff wrote
In most cases the licences are non transferable as they are bulk ones and thus you cannot split up the licence in that way. Add to that the data paranoia syndrome and the result tends to be a wiped or brand new drive. You don’t see too many brand new drives in refurbished laptops, or brand new batterys either. "Bill" wrote in message ... Thanks. I had looked there, but not found anything that includes the Microsoft Office software. The firm I've dealt with once in the recent past, Tier1, also seems to be the same. I was hoping there might be someone selling complete ex-corporate machines with the software still in place. In message id, Jeremy Nicoll - news posts writes Bill wrote: Has anyone any recommendations or other suggestions? I think it's probably for a school or youth association. Morgan computers sell that sort of thing. http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/ -- Bill |
#27
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Refurbished laptops with office software
On Aug 1, 2:34*pm, Bill wrote:
Someone has sent me this question "Do you have any sources who could source 25 very simple *reconditioned heavy laptops which could run from a wireless network and *run only word, excel and powerpoint?" I assume he wants the machines to come with the Microsoft applications and licences, and I assume the "heavy" is to make walking more difficult. Has anyone any recommendations or other suggestions? I think it's probably for a school or youth association. That is a very strange request. Presumably there is a problem with space? Old equipment required oodles of desktop space. And soring them after class is a nightmare without a room dedicated to them. However a lot of reconditioned Compaq stuff and similar are fairly small units for their P2 and 3 boxes. If you can get them all ytou wiould have to spend on is some not too old thin monitors. You might find them at car boots but obviously not in bulk at car-boots. Here is a recycling charity that I know is very good for what they attempt: http://www.terc.org.uk/ Failing that it is a matter of scouring computer ads and computer fairs. If you make enquiries to recyclers you could ask for computer with the MS license stickers if any and they will also clean the hard drive and install Linux or if you require it Windows. You'd have to pay for Windows on a box that doesn't have the license for the OS required. You might consider Damn Small Linux and Tiny Core Linux. But software suggestions can be never ending and they would be pointless without some idea of what is needed. With the smaller OSs the distro tends to come with the smallest effective software such as AbiWord and a stand alone spread sheet rather than full blooded office suites. More complete modern Linux distros are designed to make the most of modern hardware and not good with old stuff. Here is some stuff I prepared earlier: http://my.opera.com/Weatherlawyer/bl...omment94089852 |
#28
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Refurbished laptops with office software
On Aug 3, 11:06*am, Huge wrote:
On 2012-08-02, george - dicegeorge wrote: On 02/08/12 14:01, Dave Plowman (News) wrote: In article , * * Huge wrote: Or Open office, Its free and works well, happily opening and saving Microsoft office files. I finally came across a Word file it wouldn't handle properly this week. I've come across plenty Word files that Word wouldn't handle properly either. www.libreoffice.org is better with word files than openoffice, because ti has more people working on it Thats why libreoffice now comes with ubuntu unity Yes, but that means you have suffer Unity. And I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a spoon. +1 The reason I abandoned my latest trial with Ubuntu. At least with Windows you do not immediately have to fart about downloading and installing a replacement desktop. MBQ |
#29
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Refurbished laptops with office software
In message
, Weatherlawyer writes Here is a recycling charity that I know is very good for what they attempt: http://www.terc.org.uk/ To try to wind up this thread, here's where we are after having a brief discussion about the actual need. It's for a school that needs temporary computer provision. He is hoping to connect 25 machines wirelessly. I have expressed grave doubts about doing this with just one router or access point. The school has MS Office licences so he doesn't need to buy machines with that installed. He doesn't know which version they are on. He is not sure whether the school can install the OS, but getting machines with XP should be no problem. He wants large laptops to get decent keyboards and all-in-one units, ideally that can be run on battery for about 2 to 3 hours per day, as the room only has standard desks without power. He was hoping to be able to have all machines put away on charge overnight. I have expressed doubts about the battery life and battery usability on old machines. Thanks everyone for the suggestions of dealers and charity suppliers here (the school is a registered charity). I will have a preliminary ring around tomorrow to see if any have any suggestions or offers. I, and he, certainly don't have the time or inclination to set anything up with Linux for this. He just wants something that will work with no fuss. He says they have a good IT technician to help setting it up and who will sort out security issues. -- Bill |
#30
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Refurbished laptops with office software
Bill wrote
Weatherlawyer wrote Here is a recycling charity that I know is very good for what they attempt: http://www.terc.org.uk/ To try to wind up this thread, here's where we are after having a brief discussion about the actual need. It's for a school that needs temporary computer provision. He is hoping to connect 25 machines wirelessly. I have expressed grave doubts about doing this with just one router or access point. Our high schools do it like that fine, with netbooks. The school has MS Office licences so he doesn't need to buy machines with that installed. He doesn't know which version they are on. He is not sure whether the school can install the OS, but getting machines with XP should be no problem. He wants large laptops to get decent keyboards and all-in-one units, ideally that can be run on battery for about 2 to 3 hours per day, as the room only has standard desks without power. He was hoping to be able to have all machines put away on charge overnight. I have expressed doubts about the battery life and battery usability on old machines. Yeah, can't see that being very viable. You can get replacement double capacity batterys for some of them reasonably cheaply, I do that with the one I use when bottling the beer and get much more than 2-3 hours a day on battery. Thanks everyone for the suggestions of dealers and charity suppliers here (the school is a registered charity). I will have a preliminary ring around tomorrow to see if any have any suggestions or offers. I, and he, certainly don't have the time or inclination to set anything up with Linux for this. He just wants something that will work with no fuss. He says they have a good IT technician to help setting it up and who will sort out security issues. |
#31
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Refurbished laptops with office software
On 07/08/2012 01:13, Bill wrote:
In message , Weatherlawyer writes Here is a recycling charity that I know is very good for what they attempt: http://www.terc.org.uk/ To try to wind up this thread, here's where we are after having a brief discussion about the actual need. It's for a school that needs temporary computer provision. He is hoping to connect 25 machines wirelessly. I have expressed grave doubts about doing this with just one router or access point. Likely to have problems with a 25-into-one connection, I'd have thought. Depends if they all need access to something at the same time..?? The school has MS Office licences so he doesn't need to buy machines with that installed. He doesn't know which version they are on. He is not sure whether the school can install the OS, but getting machines with XP should be no problem. Ex-corporate machines seem to have the hard disk wiped - and you 'may' get XP put on them by the vendor... My experience with the company named below was that, in formatting the hard drive, they also installed an OEM XP (which didn't match the COE sticker on the laptop, so couldn't be legally registered). They's also failed to provide the laptop-specific utilities - so power save didn't work, neither did the various function keys (brightness / volume / trackpad etc) Took some hours trawling the net to get back to 'usable'. He wants large laptops to get decent keyboards and all-in-one units, ideally that can be run on battery for about 2 to 3 hours per day, as the room only has standard desks without power. He was hoping to be able to have all machines put away on charge overnight. I have expressed doubts about the battery life and battery usability on old machines. Battery is the thing that goes first - so budget for new 25 batteries to go with the 25 laptops. My laptop, when running on battery, wants to dim the screen to extend the battery life (can be defeated, but then the battery life drops). Thanks everyone for the suggestions of dealers and charity suppliers here (the school is a registered charity). I will have a preliminary ring around tomorrow to see if any have any suggestions or offers. Avoid cheaplaptops.ie or any of their clone companies (generally part of TekOne ITS UK Ltd) - I had a very bad experience with them. Don't deal with any company that doesn't have a contact phone number listed on their website. If your man is intent on following this route (which seems full of potential problems) then he should be able to get a reasonable discount on that quantity of boxes. I, and he, certainly don't have the time or inclination to set anything up with Linux for this. He just wants something that will work with no fuss. He says they have a good IT technician to help setting it up and who will sort out security issues. Lucky old IT technician! - he's going to have so much fun! If they've got their own IT tech then I'd be tempted to pass it over to him / her. Otherwise you'll end up being an unpaid systems support person for all 25 machines - and you'll be expected to fix everything... I think if I had to go that way I'd find a local 'bucket' dealer and see if I could get a good deal on 25 off last year's model _new_ machines - at least that way you'll know where they've been, and there will be some kind of come-back if any of them fail. If you need 25 seats then perhaps you need a couple of spare machines..?? Sorry to be so negative - but I think you'll regret getting involved! Adrian |
#32
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Refurbished laptops with office software
Adrian Brentnall wrote:
Likely to have problems with a 25-into-one connection, I'd have thought. Depends if they all need access to something at the same time..?? Student machines in schools tend to get used *exactly* like that, everyone tries to log on at once and load work from last time, then visit the same websites, then rush to print and/or save at the end of a lesson and log off. |
#33
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Refurbished laptops with office software
Adrian Brentnall wrote
Bill wrote Weatherlawyer wrote Here is a recycling charity that I know is very good for what they attempt: http://www.terc.org.uk/ To try to wind up this thread, here's where we are after having a brief discussion about the actual need. It's for a school that needs temporary computer provision. He is hoping to connect 25 machines wirelessly. I have expressed grave doubts about doing this with just one router or access point. Likely to have problems with a 25-into-one connection, I'd have thought. Nope, our highschools manage a lot more than that fine. Depends if they all need access to something at the same time..?? Nope. The school has MS Office licences so he doesn't need to buy machines with that installed. He doesn't know which version they are on. He is not sure whether the school can install the OS, but getting machines with XP should be no problem. Ex-corporate machines seem to have the hard disk wiped - and you 'may' get XP put on them by the vendor... My experience with the company named below was that, in formatting the hard drive, they also installed an OEM XP (which didn't match the COE sticker on the laptop, so couldn't be legally registered). They's also failed to provide the laptop-specific utilities - so power save didn't work, neither did the various function keys (brightness / volume / trackpad etc) Took some hours trawling the net to get back to 'usable'. He wants large laptops to get decent keyboards and all-in-one units, ideally that can be run on battery for about 2 to 3 hours per day, as the room only has standard desks without power. He was hoping to be able to have all machines put away on charge overnight. I have expressed doubts about the battery life and battery usability on old machines. Battery is the thing that goes first - so budget for new 25 batteries to go with the 25 laptops. My laptop, when running on battery, wants to dim the screen to extend the battery life (can be defeated, but then the battery life drops). Thanks everyone for the suggestions of dealers and charity suppliers here (the school is a registered charity). I will have a preliminary ring around tomorrow to see if any have any suggestions or offers. Avoid cheaplaptops.ie or any of their clone companies (generally part of TekOne ITS UK Ltd) - I had a very bad experience with them. Don't deal with any company that doesn't have a contact phone number listed on their website. If your man is intent on following this route (which seems full of potential problems) then he should be able to get a reasonable discount on that quantity of boxes. I, and he, certainly don't have the time or inclination to set anything up with Linux for this. He just wants something that will work with no fuss. He says they have a good IT technician to help setting it up and who will sort out security issues. Lucky old IT technician! - he's going to have so much fun! If they've got their own IT tech then I'd be tempted to pass it over to him / her. Otherwise you'll end up being an unpaid systems support person for all 25 machines - and you'll be expected to fix everything... I think if I had to go that way I'd find a local 'bucket' dealer and see if I could get a good deal on 25 off last year's model _new_ machines - at least that way you'll know where they've been, and there will be some kind of come-back if any of them fail. If you need 25 seats then perhaps you need a couple of spare machines..?? Sorry to be so negative - but I think you'll regret getting involved! |
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Refurbished laptops with office software
On 07/08/2012 01:13, Bill wrote:
In message , Weatherlawyer writes Here is a recycling charity that I know is very good for what they attempt: http://www.terc.org.uk/ To try to wind up this thread, here's where we are after having a brief discussion about the actual need. It's for a school that needs temporary computer provision. He is hoping to connect 25 machines wirelessly. I have expressed grave doubts about doing this with just one router or access point. How about buying some new netbooks? These tend to be small, but external keyboards are very cheap. Battery life will be good for 2 to 3 hours on some netbooks. If that's considered too costly, remember that you should get a decent discount buying 25 in bulk. Then sell them off to the parents at the end of the project. It may well cost the school less that way than by buying clunking old machines that cause nothing but trouble and have no end value. |
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