NSW (Australia) students to receive Lenovo s10e netbook

[sertse]

Government press release: http://sts.sydneyr.det.nsw.edu.au/files/DER/PremiersL4LAnnouncement.pdf

It has been identified to be a Lenovo s10e http://www.itwire.com/content/view/24175/1231/ Retails at $799 Australiab

Specs:


Hardware Specifications
 Intel® 1.6ghz Atom™ processor
 2Gb of RAM
 160GB hard disk drive
 2x USB2.0 ports
 VGA port
 Audio in & out ports
 Memory card reader
 Wireless LAN & WAN
 Ethernet
 Inbuilt webcam
 Bluetooth with EDR
 10.2” WSVGA LCD screen

Software
 Adobe Photoshop Elements
 Adobe Premier Elements
 Adobe Acrobat Professional Extended
 Adobe Flash
 Adobe Presenter
 Adobe Captivate CS4
 Microsoft Windows XP Professional
 Microsoft Word 2007
 Microsoft OneNote 2007
 Microsoft Excel 2007
 Microsoft Publisher 2007
 Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
 Microsoft Access 2007


The main difference to the main in retailed is that the government issued one will have 2GB ram, as well as the additional software

They will be given to all year 9 students each year and they will be able to keep them when they finish high school in year 12. It'll be fairly locked down though; net filter, BIOS password protected, unable to install unapproved software etc. Don't know how it's work...

Thoughts?

[quanumphaze]

Someone will find a way to break through the lock down stuff, even if the BIOS has to be flashed with the default S10e one. Any tight lock-downs will make the laptop feel like it doesn't belong to them and some students are guaranteed to vandalise them

I think they are wasting their money on the software. Few students will ever seriously use any of that Adobe software beyond seeing what it is (if that). And for high school purposes they don't need MSO 2007 when OpenOffice would be good enough (and encourages less stupid animations in presentations). I have no real objections to Windows XP (though a Linux distro will make it harder to play any games than any lock-downs on Windows).

A free laptop sounds nice but I think this whole thing is a waste of money that could be put to better use. Students should be given the option to buy a subsidised one with their own(/parents) money, then they will take better care of it.

[toejamfootball]

I got excited. I'm a uni student. lol.

It's kinda cool I guess.

[quanumphaze]

Oh and $799? They can do much better (http://www.newcomputers.com.au/productDetailed.php?categoryID=536&productID=19721&template=productDetailed) (even factoring in the 2G ram)

(Edit, for those too lazy to click it's $659 for a white model)

[3rdalbum]

Why do students need Acrobat Professional?! Why do they need Flash?! That's a freaking $900 (AUD) professional web animation and multimedia authoring program!

Even considering special government pricing, you can BET YOUR LIFE that the software costs twice as much as the computer itself.

I'm glad I don't live in New South Wales. From what I hear the State's economy is already down the gurgler without that sort of financial folly.

[Moustacha]

They should give them to students that go onto HSC(I believe that's it in the eastern states. WA's TEE equivalent) and not the dropkicks that are gonna go sell it for dope. I assume there's going to be some sort of deposit to get one of these.

[t0p]

Locking the netbook down is unbelievable. How can an apparently democratic state act in such a fascist fashion? Luckily, there are ways to break out of jail.

All that software is making someone a lot of money. I wonder which NSW official is making the most in kick-backs?