Rory Holderness
ISTC 501
9 November 2010
Setting Up A Classroom Economically and Environmentally Consciously
The HP G62t, an Intel Core i3-powered laptop is a phenomenal value, and would be a great addition to
our classroom. It offers performance, and better battery life than most and a very fast hard drive.
There are multimedia and volume controls above the top row of the keys on the keyboard, which
provide quick and easy access while being used in the classroom, for powerpoints, running simulations,
showing videos, etc. It is very light, only 5.4 pounds (Laptop Man), and relatively small, so it would be
easy to carry the notebook from room to room.
The G62t includes three USB 2.0 ports, HDMI and VGA output, ethernet and modem jacks, headphone
and mic ports, a 5-in-1 memory card reader, and a Kensington lock slot. There should be plenty of
places to hook it up to whatever type of screen, projector, or external storage is necessary.
It also comes with a VGA webcam and CyberLink YouCam software, whose fun filters and 2D effects are
easy to layer on top of videos and photos. This could be useful with various realtime physics simulators
that use the webcam as input, or to create an array of projects.
Rory Holderness
ISTC 501
9 November 2010
The G62t runs Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) and has a 2.13-GHz Intel Core i3-330M processor and
4GB of RAM, which is in line with the competition. But the G62t has a larger and faster 7,200-rpm,
500GB hard drive, which means all-around better performance.
The G62t has an integrated Intel GMA HD graphics card, which is pretty standard for a laptop under
$600. It’s reasonable considering the price, and the one area where saving can be a priority, since this
machine will be hooked up to external outputs like video projectors in the class, so the actual screen
rendering is not very important.
It is also as green as they come, being awarded an Energy Star of Approval for efficiency (Laptop Man).
It produces more power using less energy, and has an above average battery life. Overall, this notebook
does everything needed in the classroom, for a very affordable price.
The HP G62t is available for $554.99 from Dell directly through amazon, at
http://www.amazon.com/HP-Intel--Core--i3-380MProcessor/dp/B0045JX6X0/ref=sr_1_6?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1289277372&sr=1-6.
Rory Holderness
ISTC 501
9 November 2010
The DX4831-01e is a solid new desktop from Gateway. The 01e is powered by Intel’s Core i3 530
processor, which runs at 2.93GHz clock frequency. It comes with 6GB of DDR3 SDRAM, and has a
massive hard disk storage capacity of 1000GB. It comes preloaded with Windows 7 Home premium (64bit) operating system.
Its media card reader is mounted on the front panel and tilted up, which provides easy access while the
tower is placed on the floor (Yu). There are two USB ports and a nonslip resting bay on top, to easily
connect other peripherals and hard disks. It also includes an HDMI port, to use media with an HDTV.
The Intel Core i3 processor offers very good performance running Microsoft office or any educational
programs. It lacks Wi-Fi support, but that shouldn’t be an issue since it will be connected to a LAN line.
The core i3 processor emulates the extra core as and when necessary, switching it into a virtual quad
core processor (Yu). It can handle most of the required tasks in the classroom with speed and
competence.
It also offers excellent port configuration. In addition to HDMI video out, it includes variety of ports at
the back panel. The port configuration includes eight USB ports, two eSATA ports for external storage,
Rory Holderness
ISTC 501
9 November 2010
an Ethernet jack, an optical S/PDIF audio input, multiple 7.1 audio ports, VGA out and FireWire 400. It
satisfies all the needs for the classroom.
The 01e can easily handle streaming of the videos from online sources such as Youtube, Vimeo, Netfilx
and Hulu. The media play back is smooth and not jumpy, so it can play whatever media is needed in our
classroom.
The DX4831-01e is also power efficient. The Intel processor Core i3 has good power efficiency over
AMD quad core processor. It costs roughly $2 a month with average use, much more efficient than its
competitors.
Gateway includes standard one year warranty on parts and labor. It will also provide 24 hour telephone
assistance and a good online FAQ database. Drivers and apps are available for download from the
Gateway’s support website.
The DX4831-01e is available for $559.99 at Gateway’s official website:
http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668380.php
Rory Holderness
ISTC 501
9 November 2010
The NEC NP215 is a low-cost projector that is driven by a traditional bulb. It is less mobile than many of
the LED projectors out there, but it’s also much cheaper, and much brighter.
Measuring 12.2 x 9.7 x 3.7 inches, it's bulky, while its weight of 5.5 lbs also puts it way above that of
most LED models. Going with a traditional bulb is more cost-effective, and also far better suited for the
classroom, as you can project easily with the lights on. LED projectors require near darkness to be fully
visible.
The rear has inputs for VGA (there's also a VGA-out port, which is useful for feeding to a separate
monitor), composite video and S-video. A separate 3.5mm audio-in socket is also provided and uses the
built-in 7W speaker well (Stapley).
NEC has also fitted a LAN port to the NP215. This allows the projector to be controlled via any PC on the
network using the included PC Control Utility Pro 4 software.
A remote control is included with the projector for easy control, and the ability to choose everything
from the wall color to the sharpness level and anything in between makes for a lot of options.
Rory Holderness
ISTC 501
9 November 2010
With its brightness rated at 2,500 ANSI lumens, the NP215 has no problems creating projections in
rooms with plenty of ambient light. The resolution of 1,024 x 768 means video lacks high definition, but
the bright, vivid colours make it perfectly suitable for presentations in the classroom.
This projector has the ability to be greener, as well. Switching to Eco mode will drop the brightness by
roughly 10 per cent (Stapler), and also provide a running total of the resultant reduction in carbon
outputs.
The NP215 suits our classroom’s needs, and is a great value at $449.99 at newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824002508&nm_mc=OTCFroogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Projectors-_-NEC+Display+Solutions-_-24002508
Rory Holderness
ISTC 501
9 November 2010
The Dell 5130cdn is one of the top printers on the market today, the fastest laser color printer in the
world (McGaunn). It is expensive, but the toner is very cheap, much more cost-effective than its
competitors (Jacobi). In the long run, it will save money, as long as it’s put to use for years to come.
The printer is blazing fast, printing text at a rapid clip of 25.2 pages per minute. Graphics speeds ranged
from 8.3 ppm for simpler graphics to 3.2 ppm for high-quality photo printing (Jacobi). The text quality
was good, and the colors on the images were vivid.
There is a 550-sheet tray, as well as a 150-sheet multipurpose tray. Larger trays are available for
purchase, but shouldn’t be necessary for our needs.
The initial investment is worth it on the Dell 5130cdn, because of how much it will save on printing in
the future, and to have a great printer to do it. We would be able to hook up a near limitless amount of
machines to this printer.
The Dell 5130cdn is available through Dell for $1399.99:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=2247016&cs=04&c=us&l=en&dgc=SS&cid=27722&lid=628335
Rory Holderness
ISTC 501
9 November 2010
The Flip Ultra is a light-weight, affordable video camera. It’s very easy to use and upload videos from,
making it a perfect tool in the classroom. One-touch uploading works easily with PCs or macs (Carney),
so the students would be able to shoot, upload and edit videos with ease. The camera comes with
Muvee video editing software, which works on PCs (Carney). These cameras are very cost-efficient, but
could open up the classroom to many new possibilities.
The Flip Ultra can be found for $149.95, at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Flip-VideoCamcorder-Minutes-Orange/dp/B000V1MLCI
Rory Holderness
ISTC 501
9 November 2010
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
LaptopMan. “A Review of the Budget Friendly HP G62t Series Laptop.”
Laptop Computer World. 29 March 2010. Web. 1 November 2010.
< http://laptop-computer-planet.com/blog/2010/03/29/a-review-of-the-budget-friendly-hpg62t-series-laptop/ >.
Yu, Justin. “Gateway DX4831-01e.”
CNet. 17 February 2010. Web. 29 October 2010.
< http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/gateway-dx4831-01e/4505-3118_733964710.html?tag=mncol;txt#reviewPage1 >.
Stapley, Will. “Review: NEC NP215 Projector.”
V3*Co*UK. 11 December 2009. Web. 27 October 2010.
< http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/hardware/2254869/review-nec-np215-projector >.
McGlaun, Shane. “Dell Claims World’s Fastest Laser Printer Title with 5130cdn Printer.”
Slash Gear. 11 November 2010. Web. 4 November 2010.
< http://www.slashgear.com/dell-claims-worlds-fastest-laser-printer-title-with-5130cdn-printer1163287/ >.
Jacobi, Jon L. “Dell 5130cdn Review.”
Tech World. 1 March 2010. Web. 27 October 2010.
< http://review.techworld.com/sme/3213873/dell-5130cdn-review/ >.
Carney, David. “Flip Video Ultra.”
CNet. 2 October 2007. Web. 2 November 2010.
< http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-camcorders/flip-video-ultra-60/4505-6500_732627442.html#reviewPage1 >.