Video Screencast Help
Search Video Help Close Back
to help
Not able to make it to Vision this year? Get a sampling in the Best of Vision on Demand group.

Netbooks!

Updated: 18 Jun 2010 | 9 comments
ianatkin's picture
0 0 Votes
Login to vote
This issue has been solved. See solution.

Just a quick petition for comments really -how are people coping (or intend to cope) with Netbooks in their managed environments? We're just starting to see them here, so advice welcome.... ;-) 

Comments

MBHarmon's picture
11
May
2010
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

What Operating Systems are

What Operating Systems are you seeing on those?

- Matt

ianatkin's picture
11
May
2010
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

They seem to come with

They seem to come with  Windows 7 Starter by default, so we are re-imaging with XP where we can... ;-)

Ian Atkin, Senior Developer for the ICT Support Team, Oxford University, UK

Connect Etiquette: "Mark as Solution" those posts which resolve your problem, and give a thumbs up to useful comments, articles and downloads<

EdT's picture
11
May
2010
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

Is there any need to treat

Is there any need to treat them differently to laptops?
I would question the wisdom of downgrading Windows 7 to XP, as Win 7 is inherently more secure, which has to be a bonus for any portable device, but I do understand that sometimes corporate standards have to take priority where resources are lacking to perform the necessary integration and testing.
Are you getting random models arriving or a specific make?

If your issue has been solved, please use the "Mark as Solution" link on the most relevant thread.

dfrancis's picture
11
May
2010
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

Lack of features

The limit of only being able to run 3 apps at one time and lack of domain support may be two big reasons to abandon Windows 7 Starter Edition..

--Dave

If a forum post solves your problem, please flag it as a solution. If you like an article, blog post or download vote it up.

BBaird's picture
11
May
2010
0 Votes 0
Login to vote
ianatkin's picture
11
May
2010
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

Hi Ed, The problem is that a

Hi Ed,

The problem is that a lot of Netbooks appear to be disposable items. Many come with 1 yr warranty, and little guaranteed lifecyle and support. So, once you've put one through the evaluation process for the hardware pool, you can find in a  few weeks its no longer available and you have to get a different model through the eval process.

They also need less 'intense' images with a limited software bundle, so you can't really just bung on your standard laptop image.

And of course users want to have them because they are a small and pretty, but then get dissappointed when they don't get the performance.

'Ba Humbug' and all that, I say. This new fangled stuff drives me nuts. And where's my butler gotten to now??!?

Ian Atkin, Senior Developer for the ICT Support Team, Oxford University, UK

Connect Etiquette: "Mark as Solution" those posts which resolve your problem, and give a thumbs up to useful comments, articles and downloads<

MBHarmon's picture
11
May
2010
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

Yeah we've got some

Yeah we've got some ultra-portable laptops that could kind of be considered as netbooks.   We treat them the same as our regular laptops.

- Matt

Timanator's picture
17
May
2010
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

We image them as regular

We image them as regular notebooks as well with Win XP Sp3.

ianatkin's picture
17
May
2010
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

I admit to being surprised to

I admit to being surprised to the responses of treating them as laptops, as the performance I reckon would drive most users nuts. I tried one out and I can't believe people put up with them.  But, if user's in your environments aren't complaining, I guess ours won't either.

Its also the easy option for us -adding a netboot driver set  into the hardware pool  and not having to bother with a less intense image.

Dell and HP do it seems offer long-life rugged netbook (with 3yr warranty options) so we have a supportable way forward by offering one of these. They are a bit more expensive, but that's fine.

I wasn't sure what to do about all the random ones that have been coming in, but thinking again it won't be much of an issue for the future as most will be paperweights within  a year.

Thanks for the thoughts on this one. Ed gets the points today,  as Matt won more than enough casino chips at Vision!

Ian Atkin, Senior Developer for the ICT Support Team, Oxford University, UK

Connect Etiquette: "Mark as Solution" those posts which resolve your problem, and give a thumbs up to useful comments, articles and downloads<