The IT Guy
Mobile Lab Recommendations
Question:
We are reviewing hardware to purchase about 4 mobile workstations with projection and multimedia capabilities to use in the elementary classroom. Do you have any suggestions as far as hardware and models?
The IT Guy says:
My personal experiences with mobile labs have been positive with both Apple iBook labs and Dell wireless laptop carts. When purchasing a Dell solution, I would recommend buying laptops which have BOTH built-in floppy and CD-ROM drives, some models require a restart when the removable bay is switched and that is is extremely inconvenient. Consider purchasing carts which are targeted at specific functionality. For example, the standard iBook cart, which comes with either 10 or 20 computers, a wireless base station, a printer, and a cart is a good start. Curriculum specific bundles are available as well, like the Mobile Digital Media Studio including digital cameras and camcorders, or the Science Curriculum Mobile Lab including a ProScobe Digital USB Microscope, Vernier probes (for temperature, conductivity, motion and pH) as well as interfaces for the probes. Consider the importance of extra batteries for the laptops and external chargers also. Some laptops have a battery life of around 6 hours, others can be less than half of that. Intel's newly announced Centrino mobile technology further pushes the envelope of small and lightweight mobile computing for Windows users, and is worth checking out.
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