Switching a College from Desktops to Laptops?

tverbeek asks: "The college of art and design where I work is going to start switching next year from a labs-with-desktops approach to computers, to a students-with-laptops approach. The president appears to have made up his mind that we're doing it, so that's not really up for debate. We'll be starting by equipping all the full-time faculty this year, then next year start requiring (as in 'you can use financial aid to pay for it') each new student to buy a laptop that meets our specs (Apple or Dell, depending on major). Does anyone have experience with this kind of transition? What were the biggest complications?" "How did you handle software licensing, especially for high-priced apps? How do you do software installs/upgrades? What do you do for resource-hungry apps (e.g. CAD, 3D rendering)? What about traditional lab configuration issues like anti-malware software, classroom restrictions on IM/P2P/network gaming, standard configuration options, etc. that would seem impossible to do with computers you don't own?

I know that many other colleges have done this sort of thing, but what about *art schools* or other colleges with high-end needs but mostly non-technical users, and where something like Photoshop is considered a 'core' application more than MS Office? Also, I'm especially interested in info about much more/less support staff the laptop approach requires; my intuition says that 1000 unsecured laptops will take more work to support than 300 locked-down desktops, but I need data."

Comments

It's tough, but works.

[DerGeist]

My college tried this approach, didn't fly. First they tried "lending" laptops to students. Guess what happend? Broken laptops. Lots. So they had to buy them from then on.

You're taking the intelligent route and making them pay for them on their own, though, so that's a step in the right direction.

Generally the feedback was students liked the mobility but hated being forced into buying a laptop.

Licenses weren't hard; they worked just like a normal lab environment, licensces are obtained from a central license server either on campus or a trusted facility of the software vendor.

As for the malware thing, in order for a laptop to get on the network, it had to prove it was up-to-date each time, and had to prove it was running university-approved, up-to-date anti-malware (provided free by the institute). This worked marginally well with only a few outbreaks.

The downside? Tech support, and lots of it. Students got confused, broke stuff, or generally got mad when things didn't work on the first try. The solution is a tech help desk, staffed by students or well-informed tech support people, where you can simply bring your laptop in and have it checked out by a "professional." That seems to clear up most of the problems.

Art students had little to no trouble, as they all bought macs. :)

Re:It's tough, but works.

[utlemming]

The department that I am in at my University has mandated Laptops as a cost-saving measure and also to increase the experience of the students. It was discovered that the students that have laptops do better in classes, get their home work done, and have a better experience in classes. Also, they aren't alway trying to change the settings that the dork before them changed -- so the enviroment is generally more stable. However, the department that I am in is the Information Systems, and not your english department.

The University was turning over the IS computers on a yearly basis in some of the labs. So they merely just started to use open source tools, and those tools that aren't open source they bought site licenses to. For example, Norton Anti-Virus Corp is available, the MSDN Academic Suite, and all the other developer tools are free. Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop, etc., are going to be resold to us at nominal fees for semester use (time-bombed versions I suspect at around $50, which puts them at the cost of a book). So now instead of them having to replace computers, they are having us buy laptops and use them, and they are buying some heavy duty Cisco routers, Pix boxes, software suites, etc. It allows the IS department a lot more flexiability on a short budget to give us a more versital experience.

The down side -- I have pretty hooped up laptop. It has run me nearly $2,800. And I guess that it will only last me maybe two and a years max on the laptop.

Re:Remote Desktop

[Anonymous Coward]

Set up a main server with all the software the students need. Then allow them to Remote Desktop in to use the server's resources for all those CPU-intensive tasks.

You want them to run photoshop over Remote Desktop? Brave man. Graphics intensive apps are not good candidates for Remote Desktop.

Physical Security!!!

[diamondmagic]

Laptops WILL be lost/stolen/broken, no matter what you try to do. Give students the option to engrave their names and a phone number (somthing that dosn't change: mabye the lost-and-found dept.) in large, friendly letters on the cover. Provide insurance to users if they don't have it. Giving backup services and CPU power from a central server is a must. This means a large RAID array and blade servers (running Linux, of course). Even if all the above fail, provide short-term use laptops, that can--hpoefully--boot up from the backups previously made.

Also be sure to lay down wireless access points of all sorts. Put a printer attached to the network in in centralized places, probably in every room. Think of every possable problem.

LCD and art?

[AlterTick]

but what about *art schools* or other colleges with high-end needs but mostly non-technical users, and where something like Photoshop is considered a 'core' application more than MS Office?

Unless you're just teaching the basic functionality, the color rendition of the laptop LCD screen is inadequate for Photoshop.

NO DELL. LENOVO.

[blackomegax]

im not sure if it has been said before, but do NOT equip students with something as shitty as a dell laptop. thinkpad T series is the bare minimum you should consider, not only is lenovo's service GREAT, but they stop the HDD if they detect a fall and are encased in magnesium. a dell? well, have fun with the expense.

Re:The Club is worthless

[xtracto]

While the thief may have a laugh that the owner thinks it's worth stealing, is it worth his effort to steal it?

Just a comment, I have an aunt who lives in Mexico City, and you know, car thief is a thing of everyday there. Once, she told could not opened of her car club (it was stuck or something) in a parking place and went to the closer mechanic, there, the main mechanic sent one of the helpers (a guy 18 to 20 at most). My aunt told the she was completely astonished as the guy "unlocked" the club with a screwer and a hammer. Just some small hits in specific places and it was done. My aunt asked the boy how did he do it? and the boy answered that all the clubs where like that, it was stupid and unsecure, it was only a matter of knowing where to hit it and it would be unlocked. Since then, my aunt changed the club for a big chain and a lock.