Which Tablet?

[AndyDavis]

My primary school are looking to purchase some tablets for the children to use. The school network is running Windows 7. As well as the normal stuff like internet browsing the children will need to be able to access their work from the school network so compatibility with the existing network and a common look and feel is important.

The Apple IPad2 is popular and Windows 7 tablets not so, and lots of tablets running Android. Are we restricted to getting Windows 7 tablets only? If we go for, say, the IPad2 will the children end up having to learn two different systems? Will only a Windows 7 tablet be able to access and run software on our existing network?

 

[andyT2]

I don't think a Windows 7 network would actually be a restriction on your ability to run a bunch of iPads. At work we've got some problems with mac-PC compatibility, but that's because we need all the devices to run the Office suite and work with an Exchange server, but even iOS devices don't have a problem working with Exchange. It's moreso the desktop and laptop macs that have compatibility issues. As long as you've got a reliable wireless network you should be just fine.

Windows 7 tablets are really so horribly bad and have so few apps that I'd do whatever you can to get an iPad or Android set up working. For what it's worth, I think the iPad's probably the way to go - more apps, more battery life, easier to use. Hopefully I haven't just prodded a big apple-android flamewar though... it's just my opinion!

 

[AndyDavis]

Yes, I'm a big IPad fan too! Funny you should mention MSOffice because thats one of our most popular applications and I was worried how it would work if you produced a MSOffice2010 document on a PC and then tried to do something with it on an IPad.

What sort of compatibility problems have you had and how did you solve them?

 

[^woody^]

Windows 7 is not very tablet friendly. Windows 8 will be out later this year/ early next with a new interface which will be touch based. So that will have some inherent compatibility with MS network and software. The problem is that there is not and wont be much hardware support ie few tablets

Really the choice would normally be driven by what you intend doing on the machines, and by that it will come down to software. If there are specific windows only based programs then that settles it, but if you are just dealing with files then there is interoperability between all of the OS's

For both Android and iOS, there is not much learning to do in terms of the systems. So again it will come down to what programs are available. Either OS will have a lot of general software and should be able to connect to exchange.

But thinking logically, cloud computing is perhaps the way things are going (and pupils should be aware of), so lets say Android was chosen, together with Google online apps and storage, with a connection to your network, then this should work out fine.

Personally, I think that iPads are too expensive and too restrictive for what they are. But whether the restrictions mean that they will be easier to manage ton your environment, I don't know

But key is defining what will be run on them, and then a sample of each tablet should be tested

 

[AndyDavis]

I see what you mean. Searching on Google I got the impression that most people weren't too impressed with the Windows 7 tablets either. Unfortunately a lot of our work is MSOffice/IE and specialist educational software driven. At this stage the number of Apps is not as key as being able to access our network and run the educational softwares which are all MSWindows based.

How does an Android tablet interact with a MSWindows server, is it just a portal that gives full access, or is it likely that it won't be able to run the softwares? Does it support MSOffice, IE, etc, or will we have to buy new tools?

I assume the IPad2 won't support any of the MSWindows software, or does it?

 

[Astra99]

My suggestion would be to wait for Windows 8 to be released. My colleagues and I have tried both Apple and Android pads to use in place of laptops connecting to our network via secure VPN. The ipad will connect and can create a TS session, but cannot natively run Windows apps. The Andriod fails to create the VPN full stop. We managed to get hold of a beta copy of Windows 8 and that does work well. True enough the tablet we tested Win8 on was running Windows 7. Once Win8 comes out, you can be fairly confident the PC manufacturers will be releasing the tablet PCs they have had on the back burner! - Oh, and watch the prices come down.