[senit] mobile computing

hi would ASUS Eee PC be useful in a special school

(no vested interest in ASUS nor any computer manufacterer/reseller,
nor pcpro referred to below)

I've been thinking of one of the new mini laptops for our special
school for a while now. The ASUSes are definitely in the running. In
fact the Asus Eee PC 900 (£280) is on the PC Pro A-List
(http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/188277) as alternative choice under
the heading Value Laptop.

PROS
+ integrated webcam (VGA i think) and microphone
+ I haven't checked recently but as I remember you can buy just 1 USB
3G connection from your favourite mobile broadband provider and attach
it to just one of your ASUSes and take your internet on the road with
a crowd of ASUSes connecting through the one with the USB 3G
+ could add an extra dimension to outings, field trips (e.g. blogging,
podcasting, or video blogging from the british museum before you catch
the coach home. In fact recording a video conference of what everyone
found as they explored the place following digital (text, audio,
video) worksheets sounds kind of state of the art.
+ the excellent OpenOffice suite of programs which I also use on my
windows laptop (I see no point in installing the MS programs that are
costly and pretty redundant these days - software licensing seems to
be moving to free and/or internet service based operation anyway -
IMHO).

CONS
+ largely under the heading how it all works out in practice
+ battery life -- need a spare for anything really innovative (ie untethered)
+ £200 is still £200 -- unless you buy a class set and then it is
£2000 -- PLUS the 3G £??? P.A. -- PLUS a spare battery
+ not sure about reliability -- how do you tell with something this new...?!

I am thinking as time moves on devices like this will become the norm
(one per pupil) especially as we have years 7 through 11 and already
operate 5 year renewal cycle for PCs on the LAN. In the meantime I am
waiting for comparative reviews in something like PC Pro, views of our
marvellous tech-head who makes ICT all work for us, and not to mention
the elusive couple of hundred quid or so.

Oh, I forgot to say my sons junior school has just bought a crowd of
them. Mmmm, we have a birthday coming up at home. I wonder...?

Then again, I notice a half way decent visualiser turns up for about a
thousand pounds. It is a hard call to say which would improve learning
more -- three visualisers or a class set of ASUSes with associated
bits and pieces. I suspect the three visualisers would win hands down.

Regards,

Joc

2008/5/11 david fettes <davidfettes3 at yahoo.co.uk>:
> hi would ASUS Eee PC be useful in a special school
>  (severe learning difficulties)context for students or
>  staff(in school or home-school)?(from £199)
>  (Linux Operating System ,512 MB Memory ,4 GB Hard
>  Drive ,7" Display ,Built In Webcam ,built in WiFi)
>  advert says it edits word,excel & powerpoint-would
>  that need a special version of Office?Is there a
>  windows based version of this?
>  thanks
>  David
>
>
>
>       __________________________________________________________
>  Sent from Yahoo! Mail.
>  A Smarter Email http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
Jocelyn E. Chappell
ICT Co-ordinator
Pebble Brook School, Aylesbury, HP21 8LZ

[w] +44 (0) 1296 415761/2 ext 225
[f] +44 (0) 1296 434442
[m] +44 (0) 7599 819 443

http://www.twitter.com/htjoshua
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jocelyn_Chappell/649858102
http://friendfeed.com/htjoshua
http://www.diigo.com/profile/htjoshua
http://del.icio.us/htjoshua
http://www.flickr.com/photos/htjoshua/
http://www.youtube.com/jocelynchappell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:htjoshua