Need a Windows 10 Tablet for a School Pupil

LazyLion

LazyLion

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Dear Grade 7 Parents

I am aware that many of you are starting to consider a device for your child for 2018. The requirement from the High School is simply a device that runs Windows 10.

There are a few points to consider:

Avoid the Atom processor based devices. These are very slow and will lead to frustration.

The better the battery life, the easier it is going to be for your child to get though the day without the hassle of recharging.

You won't need a DVD drive but it does not matter if there is one.

Get at least 4Gb of RAM, more is better.

All you need to do is send the device to school with your child at the start of 2018. We will add the apps and download all the content at school. You will also get a free copy of Office 365 Pro for the duration of the time at School.

You will need to pay a tablet fee every month. This amount is calculated by adding up the cost of all the digital text books and the cost of licensing the platform that manages the books, then dividing that amount by 12. You do not pay for internet access at school. We do have fairly restrictive policies in place. Certain sites will not be accessible from school.

Certain workbooks are not provided in digital format because the are better to use in hard copy. These workbooks will be placed on the stationery list and we will ask you to get them unless we can get them directly from the publisher at a lower cost. In this case we will ask you to send the money to school and we will supply the workbooks in class.

I hope that this message addresses some of your technology related questions. Lots more information about next year will be headed your way in the next few weeks. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

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Recommendations?
 
I think Surface is the only Windows 10 tablets worth getting and those aren't cheap, is there a reason it's tablet not a laptop? The Tablet market isn't really doing so well and the options are limited.
 
Tough one. We're on the cusp of a very significant market/technology move.

My Nextbook 8-inch Win tablet has a cracked screen and I've been wanting to replace it for a while. I upgraded it to Win 10 Pro and it runs fine, btw.

A colleague pinged me from Dubai this morning asking if I want a tablet. But I've decided to hold off buying a Windows tablet now.

The new Windows on ARM (WOA) tablets and notebooks should hit the market in late 2017 or early 2018. This is a very big deal because they are Microsoft's first move away from Intel to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835, for regular business apps (of course they've had an ARM version for phones for a while, but that's something else entirely). WOA is very misunderstood by many people - they think it's just a new version of Windows RT. It is not. It is full Windows 10 but running on an ARM processor -- PLUS it can run x86/x64 (Win32/64) apps because it has an x86 emulator (which is hw-assited by the Snapdragon processor).

Microsoft has demo'd WOA quite a few times, running regular x86 apps such as Adobe Photoshop. It is very exciting, and a real game-changer if it works as promised.

Battery life will be much better than Intel-based devices, apparently.

If you can, hold off a month or two and then re-evaluate.

Edit: See this article, and this vid for an idea:

[video=youtube_share;t96dZ3bfnuI]https://youtu.be/t96dZ3bfnuI[/video]
 
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Will the click tablet meet the requirements?

It is sold by incredible disconnection(*spit*). It has at at least 1 usb port(but seem to think it is 2). Bluetooth, wifi, comes with detachable keyboard. Can charge with most cellphone chargers or even larger power banks.


They are relatively sturdy units and cost less than the surface. At least if the junior breaks it or its lost it is relatively affordable to replace.

Don't remember all the specs, but it is 10.1“
 
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Venomous said:
Will the click tablet meet the requirements?

It is sold by incredible disconnection(*spit*). It has at at least 1 usb port(but seem to think it is 2). Bluetooth, wifi, comes with detachable keyboard. Can charge with most cellphone chargers or even larger power banks.


They are relatively sturdy units and cost less than the surface. At least if the junior breaks it or its lost it is relatively affordable to replace.

Don't remember all the specs, but it is 10.1“
Click to expand...

Nope. it's only got 2GB ram and an Atom cpu
 
Try Universe Direct - I just got a mail about Dell Venue Pro refurbs available on back order. You should just make sure that you can put Win 10 on with no license complications....

Dell Venue Pro.PNG

Supplied with cover, keyboard and docking station.
 
What you want is not really possible.

Every single Windows tablet other than the Microsoft Surface Pro uses an Intel Atom processor. Every. Single. One.

You can look at low cost 11.6 inch laptops, which used to be called Netbooks. They include Intel Celeron and Pentium processors, which are part of the Atom line. Slow but bearable.

I used to own an 11.6 inch laptop with a quad core Intel Pentium processor, part of the Atom lineup as I said above. It had 4GB of RAM and it was actually fine. A lot of people complain, but the truth is, they don't adjust their expectations. Everyone has this expectation that a cheap CPU in a low power device is going to perform as well as a Core i7 - sorry, it won't. If performance is important to you, then you are in the wrong market segment.

Some of these 11.6 inch laptops can be folded in half so that they can be used like tablets.

The problem is the 2GB vs 4GB RAM. A laptop/tablet with 4GB RAM starts at R5k. I don't know why they bother making any devices with 2GB of RAM, just seems far too little to me.
 
backstreetboy said:
No wonder schools in the US are moving over to Chromebooks.
Click to expand...

In that segment of the market, Chromebooks are often identical to their windows counterparts. Same Intel Atom processors.

If you want a 10 or 11 inch display PC that costs under R6000, you are getting an Intel Atom. End of story. Doesn't matter if it is a Chromebook or Windows PC. Or Windows tablet or whatever, it will be an Intel Atom.
 
Unfortunately new SoCs/CPUs often take 6 months to filter down to the market. I mean, have a look at all of the major retailers - they are still selling Intel Atom CPUs that are now a generation behind. The new generation is coming in about a month's time, which means that there will be Intel Atom CPUs for sale that are two generations old.

Oh yes, Intel is releasing Gemini Lake soon, which includes a nice performance boost. Gemini Lake is the latest variant of the Intel Atom line. Again, the problem is actually buying one.

Apollo Lake is the current latest Intel Atom, and those are still very, very scarce. So, I'm not holding my breath that it will be possible buy any newly released CPU, whether it is Intel Gemini Lake or Snapdragon 835, in Incredible Connection soon.
 
School requirements for non-Atom CPU and 4GB RAM shows that their IT guys did not make their homework properly.

Is is an American International School with R200K+ annual tuition fees? It would be justified then.
 
sajunky said:
School requirements for non-Atom CPU and 4GB RAM shows that their IT guys did not make their homework properly.

Is is an American International School with R200K+ annual tuition fees? It would be justified then.
Click to expand...

It's one of the Curro Schools.
 
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