Ask Slashdot: Best Choice of Linux Laptops For Elementary School? 310
An anonymous reader writes "I work in the tech department of an elementary school and I am trying to show the tech director the world of Linux. I will be installing edubuntu but I am not sure which laptop to get. I know there are companies like System76 that sell laptops with Linux already installed but I wanted to ask you for your thoughts. We want something small and light weight for the kids. We do not need much horsepower as the main use will be internet/email/word processing and whatever other apps come with edubuntu. Basically, what we really want is something MacBook Air-like but not nearly as expensive. Thoughts?"
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:solicit bids (Score:5, Funny)
Call Dell, Call IBM
Calling IBM won't help. Unless you want an IBM BladeCenter . . . every kid gets his own blade. Or why not virtualize and consolidate everything to one 24/7 zSeries. The server will have a better attendance record than the school kids.
IBM doesn't sell PCs. But they will sell you a cloud of them, so that would be easier for the school kids to carry, because clouds are lightweight. Hey, no need to worry about theft! How do you steal a kid's cloud like his lunch money? And since the cloud is nowhere and everywhere, the kids can use it at school and at home.
Of course, the ultimate solution would be to buy an IBM Watson system. It is so smart, that you can get rid of those damn kids in your school altogether.
Re:Lenovo mini (Score:5, Funny)
One of the main reasons I check slashdot is to see what's going on in "Trailer Park IT". Buying noname chinese shittops off Alibaba.com and giving them to school children is a new one, I will give you that.
One question: What happens when 50% of these things show up DOA? Just call Ms. May Elijah in Shenzhen, and she sorts it all out?
Re:Are you fcking Crazy ? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Are you fcking Crazy ? (Score:4, Funny)
That's true. Linux teaches students valuable concepts like configuring device drivers and doing free QA for distro companies, so they will be better prepared for the IT monkey jobs which will have been completely eliminated by the time they graduate. Yay! (sounds about as useful as my high school's classes in drafting and carburetor tuning)
Furthermore, students won't be distracted by vendor-specific products, such as how to unclip proprietary patented bra strap designs. Yay x2!
Let's face it, the only concepts kids are going to learn from these shitty chinese Linux laptops is that the ipad product they already own is much nicer. Horse is out of the barn, freetards.
Re:solicit bids (Score:4, Funny)
As long as it runs Angry Birds, the kids will be fine.
Re:Lenovo mini (Score:4, Funny)
Except that -- uselessly -- you don't tell us which models!!!
Re:Lenovo mini (Score:5, Funny)
Children can break anything. Why not get something that's cheap to replace?
...especially leopards.
Before buying anything find out exactly how easy it is to get hold of and fit a new leopard. Some brands sell leopards online directly to consumers and they pop right out if you know exactly where to press, others need you to disassemble the entire machine and put together a purchase order before they'll even bother to find somebody to talk to who knows the correct order code.
PS: I've been through the mill on this one. I usually replace laptop leopards right after purchase to get rid of the icky local leopard layout.
I like it when the online-ordered leopards pop right out.
https://userscripts.org/scripts/show/128626 [userscripts.org]
https://xkcd.com/1031/ [xkcd.com]