State of the Nation October 3, 2009
Posted by bobharding in Hardware.Tags: Hardware, overview, ratio
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The British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) has released its annual research into the opinions and trends of ‘ICT in UK State Schools’ (available from their website).
In summary:
- Average ICT Budget (Primary) down 2.2% to £13,380 (excluding software)
- Average Secondary budget down 1% to £62,970 (excluding software)
- Average pupil/computer ratio – primary – 6.9:1 (from 7,4 in 2005)
- Average pupil/computer ratio – primary – 4.2:1 (from 5.5 in 2005)
School budgets are expected to be £556 million in 2010-11
Recycling June 15, 2009
Posted by bobharding in Hardware.add a comment
It’s a topic that comes up frequently this time of year when schools are looking to get rid of old equipment.
I was just contacted by PC 4 recycling with their price list. I’m posting this so that you’ll have a benchmark for prices and maybe some of you will cone back with a comment about better services and cheaper prices.
- 20 items or less £100.00
- 40 items or less £140.00
- 60 items or less £180.00
- 80 items or less £220.00
Price includes discount, collection, and data wiping. Items are individual PCs, Monitors and the like, keyboards, mice, phones, cables and other miscellaneous parts can be boxed up. As long as that box can be lifted by one person, it is then classed as one item.
Seems a good deal to me (though I think I’d still want to wipe my own data to be sure to be sure.
Laptop for education May 19, 2009
Posted by bobharding in Hardware.6 comments
More often than not Schools have to ‘make do’ with standard laptops (or netbooks) which seldom seem completely suitable for school. That looks a bit different with the new offering from Dell.
This one has a rubberized design, locations for carry handle and straps, Touchscreen, and a charging station that handles 24 machines on a single power cable.
Prices start from about £250 (I think) – remember it’s a netbook. I can’t find details on the Dell website at the moment though.
Touch screen for standard laptops March 20, 2009
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Costs about £75 and allows you to use a laptop screen as an input device – if it’s what you want then it looks really nice and simple.
Surface news March 19, 2009
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Microsoft ’surface, has just started to become available and already there is the next generation just around the corner.
The new version is called Second Light. Basically it’s like surface but a second projector can display a second image of layered information, very impressive.
The rather poor quality image below shows a street map outline being over-layed on a satellite photo – the video does demo the technology rather better (sorry but it’s YouTube).
Project Canvas March 9, 2009
Posted by bobharding in General Info, Hardware, Software.add a comment
Or maybe better described as freeview2 (broadband).
The BBC is proposing the latest round in internet TV – the so called IPTV. This would give a wide range of channels (as in freeview) but through the internet via a special set top box.
This would give video on demand (as in iplayer)
Project Canvas would allow a wide range of providers although what Sky would play remains unclear at the moment.
The BBC Trust is set to announce its final decision on Project Canvas by 24 July 2009.
BBC NEWS | Technology | The future of TV lies on the net
19" monitors at £54.99 February 23, 2009
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Unbelievable prices – and from quite a trusted source.
Lovely all in one February 10, 2009
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The netbook revolution continues.
This lovely device from MSI is a screen with an netbook built in. If you’re looking for a machine to put into a classroom, bit tight for space and you’re not planning to do video editing or playing ‘Crisis’ then this could be the job for you.
18.5′ monitor, 160Gb drive, 2Gb RAM, Wifi, card reader, DVD burner etc.
No word about price yet.
Free WiFi for all? February 8, 2009
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If you buy a FON wifi router and hook it up to your home wifi this will create a public hot spot. The cool thing is that you then you can have access to all other FON devices.
It might seem like there wouldn’t be enough FONs around to make it worth while but have a look at the map and I expect you’ll be surprised.
