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Re: [school-discuss] Re: UMPCS - what is the attraction?




Richard Andrews wrote:
--- On Thu, 5/6/08, Daniel Howard <dhhoward@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

  
The thing is, for a $250 diskless node or chubby client,
plus $150 at 
least for the LCD monitor, you're not far from the
price of an ultra 
mobile PC.  That solves power, space, and multimedia
issues, plus adds 
mobility.  If I was going to spend that much, I'd look
seriously at UMPCs.
    

I'd like to know what the attraction of UMPCs is.

The K6 school my son attends is rolling out Intel UMPCs and to me it seems that they have been sold on the "Next Generation" new and shiny without thinking it through. They are rolling Windows and MS Groove which also irks me no-end.

>From what I can see the screen and keyboard is restrictive. The processing power and visual/audio outputs would appear to prohibit quality of multimedia. The units can be moved, lost, stolen by bullies, damaged in transit. Any work stored on them would need to be backed up somewhere else.

How do you repeair a UMPC? Would they be simply replaced? At what cost per year?

How do they really perform? Does anyone have a first hand account of using them in a class setting?

If you rolled out UMPCs what hardware would you favour and why?

--
  Rich
  

It depends on what they are going to be used for. We don't see them, or intend to use, them as a replacement for a Notebook/Desktop. We are going to be using them with our senior students who do work placements. The UMPC's have PIM's inbuilt, will give them access to the net for job search, email etc and allow them to read/write job applications or update their resume's etc on the fly. They are small enough to fit in a handbag for securit, cheap enough, that if something does happen, it won't break the bank. We prefer to see them as a larger, more useful PDA's, rather than a smaller more restricted notebooks. They have a role to play, you just have to make sure you match them to the appropriate job.
Cameron

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