Technology & Learning - March 2009 - (Page 42) PRODUCTGUIDE MINI POWERHOUSES THE LATEST IN LAPTOPS By T&L Editors TYPE OF LAPTOP PASCACK VALLEY REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT Montvale, NJ; 2,100 students Apple MacBook (MacBook White starts at $949) WHY LAPTOPS? “In a word? Mobility,” says Superintendent Benedict Tantillo III. “We started with laptop carts and desktop labs. As teachers received training and used them more frequently, they started to say, ‘We can’t wait two weeks to get to the lab.’ ” WE CHOSE THESE LAPTOPS BECAUSE “We felt that the iLife suite had a lot to offer students and staff,” says Tantillo. “They love it and utilize it throughout the district. We use Mac programs— Garage band, iPhoto, iMovie— in all sorts of projects and schoolwork.” MIAMI COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL Miami, FL; 1,000 students Toshiba M400 and M700 tablets; Toshiba Tecra M5 & M9 laptops “Laptops and tablets provide contextual learning and model what students will have in the business world,” says Donna Lenaghan, director of technology. “Tablets let teachers transform the environment. Many now have paperless classrooms.” “Toshiba has been a complete partner, helping us find the right laptops, providing engineering support, answering questions. The company stands by what it says. And the price point was competitive.” WATERTOWN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Watertown, MA; a 2,500-student district Dell Latitude 531s and 520s (fully configured notebooks start at less than $1,000) “Our goal was to put a laptop in every teacher’s hand,” says Ann Koufman-Frederick, assistant superintendent. “We wanted laptops because of the 24/7 connections to colleagues and the school community.” Koufman-Frederick says Dell gave her the best deal in terms of price point and was willing to learn about her school’s needs. ALVARADO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT Alvarado, TX; a 3,200-student district HP Tablets and Mini Notes (the Mini-Note for education starts at $499) “We wanted students to have anywhere, everywhere access and use laptops for all of their work,” says Kyle Berger, executive director of technology services. “Many laptops have small hard drives and can’t load enough software. The HP models are full-blown laptops with integrated Webcams, very large hard drives, and a rugged design. They are durable, and the battery life is great.” MADISON CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT Madison, SD; a 1,200-student district Fujitsu LifeBook T1010 tablet PCs ($1,299) “We bought the Fujitsus for the elementary school teachers,” says Robert Honomichl, director of technology. “We chose laptops to complete the 1:1 initiative we started three years ago.” The district started with Gateway/MPCs, but the local university started a 1:1 tablet initiative and introduced Honomichl to Fujitsu. “I was really impressed with the quality of the machine.” 42 | TECH & LEARNING
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