laptop or desktop?

We are in the process of opening a charter school. We will be a 1:1 computing school and we are trying to decide if we should buy laptops or desktops for the students. Any suggestions?
Thanks!

Is there any compelling reason that the computers need to be portable? If so, the choice would have to be laptops. If not, I'd suggest desktops. In general, you get more computing power for the dollar, they are more reliable, and it's easier to physically secure them.

Good thoughts... I think we will go with laptops so kids can bring them into the classroom. Thanks for your input.

There is absolutely no question ~
The only reason to buy a laptop is if you require the mobility.

The bottom line is YOUR BOTTOM LINE ~ you get much more "bang for your buck" buying desktops versus laptops.

Check this out (as just one example)...
$319 gets you a refurbished Dell Latitude Laptop (Model C610) which includes a P3-1.2GHz CPU, 256mb of memory, a 20GB Hard Drive, CD, and a 14.1", and a 90-Day warranty.

In comparison, $319 gets you a refurbished Dell Optiplex PC (Model GX260) which includes a Pentium 4-2.8GHz CPU, 512mb of memory, a 40GB Hard Drive, CD, and a 10-1000 NIC. Sure, you still have to buy monitors if you can't find the donations (but, quite frankly, a 17" or 19" CRT monitor will set you back $59-$79 now).

Don't forget, if the room isn't "wired" for Internet access, you can alway add wireless cards to the PCs.

Again, the ONLY reason you'd ever want to go the laptop route is if you MUST have the mobility.

One more thought - you might want to skip the CDRW deal entirely. They are cumbersome to use - much more cumbersome than a floppy and mostly used by students to burn CDs with illegal music anyhow :(

Instead, get USB FLASH drives to transfer all of your files between different locations. With these guys, maybe you don't need the mobility of a laptop anyhow.

Just think outside the box a bit and you could stand to save a TON of money.

Sean Dion
TKOEDucation.com / a division of TKO Electronics, Inc.
TF: 877.219.6228
FX: 818.879.2299
sdion@tkoelectronics.com

Thank you for your reply and the time you took to help us. The board believes we need mobility so we will go with laptops. I agree with the cd-rw drive being something we do not need but it is hard to find laptops without them. Jump drives are an excellent idea! We will also be wireless throughout the school. Again, thanks for replying!

If you decide to go with laptops, make sure you get adequate warranty coverage. Also worth checking if you can get some insurance coverage for accidental damage. With students using the laptops, you will need it.

I concur with the warrantee. A couple months ago I would not have, however, I have had 2 laptops get broken in the past couple months, the replacement of which would have been cheaper than the repair. For instance a Toshiba tablet PC with a shattered LCD and cracked case. Another one where the video card went bad. The warrantee's made my job easy, I called to get the work order, shipped it in, in two weeks I get back a working laptop. Half an hour of my time, vs. hours/days of working on it, good investment.

Yes, you definitely want warranties for laptops. Be sure you know what the warranty includes - some require you to replace parts yourself while others send a tech on site.
And the accidental damage coverage is also a great value.
Our warranties have more than paid for themselves.
And I also agree that mobility is the deciding factor in laptop vs PC.

As mentioned above, laptops are more easily damaged and much more difficult to repair.  When you have to replace any component of a laptop computer, most often, you must have the exact replacement part for the laptop that has been made by the computer manufacturer for that specific model.  With a desktop, you can go to your parts stock and almost any similar part will fit and work well.

With a desktop computer, opening the case is usually a simple operation and exposes all the components.  With a laptop, opening the case can be a major exercise that requires several steps, and when you finally get it open, all the components are usually not exposed and then are difficult to repair or replace.

It seems that the laptop computer has become a status symbol for students, and even some schools.  Students, and even some school administrators,  usually don't understand the complications of having a computer that will have the characteristics discussed above.  When their computer stops working however, they find themselves in a crisis with little money to pay someone to make the necessary repair and pressed for time to get their computer working.

We give computers to students who can not afford to buy a new computer. We are are very careful who we give a laptop computer to, when we have one available.  If they are a serious older student, we have given both a laptop and a desktop computer to them so that they will have a backup computer when their laptop stops working and they need to complete a school assignment quickly.

I have included a link to this discussion on our web site to help students, who want to apply for a computer from us, to understand some of the issues with having a laptop computer.

I appreciate the others who are a part of this discussion.