Advice from IT guys

[kavesh]

Hi all and happy holidays

My son needs a computer for school next year as his school has decided to go digital. No textbooks and no paper hand written notes.

The school has suggested a device - Mecer Fundi 2-1. can be used as a laptop and tablet. I can get for R4 700., including an active stylus in the box. Only 1 year warranty.

I have found a comparable HP X360 for R4 999. It is an HP so better brand and has a 3 year warranty once registered. No stylus included so will have to buy separately. Active stylus can be quite expensive compared to the passive ones. How much better is the active compared to the passive. The stylus will be required for writing on the screen for taking down notes in class. Can the passive one not do the same.
Sales people are not trained on products so cannot give me good advice.

Hoping someone on here can advise accordingly.

Thanking you in advance.

Kind regards
Kavesh

[adrianh]

There is nothing wrong with Mecer products and there South African support is very good.

[Neville Bailey]

The ultimate is an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil - the most realistic digital writing device in my experience.

In my business I use the above combination, and have no need for a printer, paper note pad or pen.

[adrianh]

The ultimate is an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil - the most realistic digital writing device in my experience.

In my business I use the above combination, and have no need for a printer, paper note pad or pen.

NO - Don't spend a bag of cash on fanboy junk that can't be aftermarket repaired. Apple is a disgusting company that has disgusting business practices.

[ians]

NO - Don't spend a bag of cash on fanboy junk that can't be aftermarket repaired. Apple is a disgusting company that has disgusting business practices.

Cant say i am an apple fan boy...but if i look at the 3 apple devices I own ...an iphone 5 ...iphone 5S and an old ipad mini ...and compare to other brands ...the ones my wife uses ... none of her devices have held up... not even 2 years and she has to replace her huawei phone ...it has a firmware glitch ... they want R500 just to look at it...and she looks after her stuff ...I abuse my apple devices ...fallen off out my pocket at 40 km/hr while cycling... dropped the phone from a ladder etc etc ... after about 5 years i final managed to break the screen... R450 later i had a new screen... my iphone is so old it has already had 2 battery replacement... it has just swollen for the 3 rd time (after market batteries ...not apple)

I plan to upgrade my ipad... with a new tablet ...would i buy another apple product... hell yes.

[adrianh]

Cant say i am an apple fan boy...but if i look at the 3 apple devices I own ...an iphone 5 ...iphone 5S and an old ipad mini ...and compare to other brands ...the ones my wife uses ... none of her devices have held up... not even 2 years and she has to replace her huawei phone ...it has a firmware glitch ... they want R500 just to look at it...and she looks after her stuff ...I abuse my apple devices ...fallen off out my pocket at 40 km/hr while cycling... dropped the phone from a ladder etc etc ... after about 5 years i final managed to break the screen... R450 later i had a new screen... my iphone is so old it has already had 2 battery replacement... it has just swollen for the 3 rd time (after market batteries ...not apple)

I plan to upgrade my ipad... with a new tablet ...would i buy another apple product... hell yes.

I am not getting into this - lets agree to disagree.

[Blurock]

NO - Don't spend a bag of cash on fanboy junk that can't be aftermarket repaired. Apple is a disgusting company that has disgusting business practices.

I'm not much of an Apple fan myself, but I am interested to know why you make this comment.
I am actively looking for alternatives to Microsoft that comes with most products.

[adrianh]

I'm not much of an Apple fan myself, but I am interested to know why you make this comment.
I am actively looking for alternatives to Microsoft that comes with most products.

There are many many reasons - Apple is a truly disgusting company and I would not use their products even if I were to be given their top of the line products free of charge.

I am not going to get into a debate about this - There are thousands of documented instances of them being total pigs.

[Dave A]

Given what I've seen among adults on the topic, can you imagine the playground "debates" between the kids about the merits of the different brands and operating systems...

[kavesh]

Look I think everyone has their own preferences and yes Apple is more expensive. I had an iPhone for years. In fact my iPhone 4 still works perfectly after all these years and the battery is still good. Can you believe that. Whatsapp is no longer supported on an old IOS, what a bummer! Device still looks like new.

Anyways, back to my dilemma I am torn about the device choice. My personal choice would have been the HP which has a 3 year warranty. The Mecer equivalent is cheaper and has the active stylus with only 1 year warranty. An active stylus can cost upwards from R1 000. Because the device is for a Grade 10 boy i really do not want to spend more than is necessary.
The Mecer power cable is so flimsy, it looks like car speaker wires, literally. That won't last. No idea what replacement charging cables cost.

I think I may just get the Mecer reluctantly.

[kavesh]

Given what I've seen among adults on the topic, can you imagine the playground "debates" between the kids about the merits of the different brands and operating systems...

Dave the school tried to dictate to parents on buying just one type of device to avoid the perceived status device, but as you can imagine the school was blasted for dictating, especially so as my personal parent network suggest that they not happy to go digital and some are even leaving the school. Finance department for the first time issued a email reminding parents of the terms notice to witthdraw their child from school. I suspect there may have been several requests to leave for greener pastures.

[IanF]

I see a school in Australia has reverted to text books.

https://www.smh.com.au/education/major-distraction-school-dumps-ipads-returns-to-paper-textbooks-20190329-p5191r.html

[adrianh]

Given what I've seen among adults on the topic, can you imagine the playground "debates" between the kids about the merits of the different brands and operating systems...

Its absolutely horrendous - Remember that all kids have cellphones. I clearly remember all the nonsense when my two daughters were at school. There was the Apple fan-girls and the plebs - my youngest daughter eventually got the Apple phone that she dreamed of which she kept for less than a year and went back to Huawei. No iTunes, No iCloud, No pay extra for space, no silly cables, no dongles, no special silly nonsense.

Look - Each to his own - I personally have a terrible aversion to them because I despise the way they operate their business and I also despise the fanboy nonsense. They are exactly the same as car companies that refuse the others the right to repair and then charge them 10 000 x for their "OEM" Brembo brake pad packed in their special box.

Their parts are mostly made by Samsung yet they block all forms of after market repair. They force people to buy new devices by declaring then unrepairable although it has been proved over and over that the devices can easily be repaired. I am happy to show you hundreds of instances where they have/ do screw their customers over.

I enjoy being able to go to the PC shop and select each component and build exactly what I want. If the screen card fails I buy another and replace it. I dislike the notion that only the OEM can repair or alter the "sealed black box" because I know from experience that once this is the case the OEM makes up whatever nonsense stories they want. I understand that the man in the street doesn't always want to be able to do this but I also feel that if my Samsung screen breaks that I want to be able to select my repair agent. I smashed my Samsung tablet screen about a month ago - my wife is bringing me a new screen from the UK and I will fit it myself when I get a chance - or I can that it to the local cell shop and they can repair it for R1.6k in 45 minutes. I don't have to pay R10k and wait 3 weeks for some idiot OEM to tell me that my device is totally screwed and that I need to buy a new one.

Another thing (Yes I am extremely well versed in the shenanigans of Apple) The entire 5G Huawei nonsense was set up by Apple and Trump. The reason - Huawei is the leader in 5G worldwide and of course there is a shedload of money in it. Apple bought Intel's 5G business which of course now has Carte Blanche to supply the US and all its cronies with 5G gear. (Remember that 5G gear goes far beyond just selling cellphones - it goes to all the underlying switchgear - Apple had to find an alternative market to cellphones because the market is practically saturated with innovation - 5G switchgear is a massive market because there is so much of it due to the range limits - lots of antennae etc)

Anyway - I will never support Apple for many many reasons - they are truly a terrible underhanded business and they know how to hide their underhandedness through fanboy marketing.

Look up:
iPad Rehab
Louis Rossmann
CBC News
and many more on YouTube to see exactly how terrible they are.

Oh, and please don't think that I support Google either - I hate them just as much as I hate Facebook!!!

Huawei MUST bring out an alternative OS so that we can dump Google / Android and their horrendous hold on the man in the street. Give me a basic phone with no tracking and a Garmin GPS - Google doesn't have to know that where I am and what I do at all times. The only way to operate in the digital world is by using fake accounts for 99% of your activities on the net.

I sound like an old fart that is anti technology - I am not - I am anti large companies shoving their advertising and their views down my throat all the time. Thank G...D for serious ad blockers, hosts file level blocking and uBlock Origin.

[kavesh]

I see a school in Australia has reverted to text books.
https://www.smh.com.au/education/maj...29-p5191r.html

This is what I am afraid of. The kids are going to be ginnea pigs in this process and they will be the ones who suffer the consequences of a bad experiment by the school.

[adrianh]

I see a school in Australia has reverted to text books.
https://www.smh.com.au/education/maj...29-p5191r.html

IanF - You know - My eldest daughter is doing a BA in English Literature so my house is filled with books (real ones with dog ear pages)

The problem with textbooks are as follows:
1. They are very very heavy (my girls used to lug a very very bag around every day)
2. They are expensive
3. The money making buggers revise them every year so as to sell you a new version for no other reason than making money. Math hasn't changed in 100 years yet every year you have to buy a new textbook.

University is even worse - R4,000 for books per year that go to a landfill because the publishers are in cahoots with the education institutions. Varsity College is a case in point - they must make a fortune in kickbacks.

So, is it good to use real books for education - I don't think so - its just a money making racket.

I suppose that I sound like a ranting old lunatic - I just hate the extreme unnecessary waste at our expense caused by institutions for their profit.