HP's New ProBook Laptop Line Released To Rave Reviews

Yesterday HP announced the availability of a new line of laptops, the ProBook Series, designed for business and education customers. Models come in a choice of 14-inch, 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch screen sizes, with options like Blu-ray players, Intel or AMD processors, 1, 2, or 4GB of RAM (up to 8GB possible if you're totally nuts), 160/250/320 or 500GB hard drives, HDMI port, Windows Vista/XP downgrade or Linux operating systems, interestingly enough, and lots more that I won't bore you with a list of. The "merlot" color, pictured, will be available in June, for those who think "red" is not bourgeois enough: "This laptop really sings on the palette, exuding notes of oak, cherry and apple woods, with subtle tones of berries and high notes beautifully evocative of its ATI Radeon graphics processor..." I can't wait until they come in sauvignon blanc.
Pricing starts at just an impressively low $529, and I have read nothing but rave reviews from other tech bloggers and editors. Watch a video introduction to the series here.
It's really cool to see such computing power becoming ever less expensive... but depressing at the same time of course, as my two year old, $800 laptop is looking more like an obsolete ripoff every day. Sigh.

Video: Cloud Computing In K12

I wrote an article in the May issue about cloud computing in K12 education, made a companion video and embedded it in the online edition of the magazine. How very "new media" of me! Here it is, enjoy!

Epson Announces Projector Trade-In Program, "Brighter Futures"

This is the type of thing that technology companies have to offer more of to school districts. Technology moves at such a rapid pace, schools often have huge implementations of all sorts of devices, but what do you do when they become obsolete, as they always do? Throw them away and buy new? Trash thousands and thousands of pieces of once cutting edge gadgetry? Amazingly wasteful and inefficient. See above.
Sure, Best Buy, Staples, and other retailers offer some recycling programs for various things, but I think every segment of what schools use should have something like what Epson launched yesterday, The Epson Brighter Futures program. It's pretty simple, give Epson one of their projectors back, they recycle it and give you $25-$50 off the price of a new one. Of course, only a certain number of models are eligible, and some restrictions apply, as there are bound to be. Lawyers! But, it's a great idea. The projectors get recycled, the schools save money, and the company locks in future sales.
So now the ball is in your court, other manufacturers! I'm looking at you, projector, document camera, interactive whiteboard, PC, netbook, laptop, and server makers!!! And don't get me started on furniture, HVAC units, buses, and building supply companies!!! Where are your school recycle/discount/buyback programs??? Let's see some hustle out there!

Elluminate Releases Videoconferencing Program For Education

Elluminate announced their brand new program, VCS, today. VCS provides a streamlined, user-friendly videoconferencing solution just for schools and educators. The company designed the program in response to educators' many issues with most videoconferencing solutions, including "exorbitant costs, limited scalability, significant hardware requirements, ongoing reliance on IT support, and the inability to invite participants on an ad hoc basis." Makes sense... this could be a handy tool for meetings across your district, or across the world! Watch a video demonstration here.

MSI's New Wind Top AE1900 Touchscreen Desktop All-In-One

You may have noticed how touchscreens are appearing all over the place, from phones to car navigation systems to tablet PC's.... and this technology makes a lot of sense in education, as I wrote back in a November cover story. One of the devices I mentioned was the HP Touchsmart, which as an all-in-one touchscreen desktop was essentially the first of its kind when it was released last year. While powerful, the Touchsmart came with a price premium, depending on options it could cost over $2,000, not very attractive for schools despite it's many education-friendly features.
Well, touchscreens aren't going anywhere and are in fact continuing to grow in both popularity and sophistication. Successful netbook maker MSI today released their version of the touchscreen all-in-one desktop, the Wind Top AE1900, and it's sort of a netbook-influenced model: an Intel Atom processor, 18.5" screen, 160GB hard drive, Windows XP, built-in webcam and mic. All of these features are decent but not top of the line by any means, which explains the price point: just $529.
It's sort of a netbook/desktop/tablet love child that also demonstrates the influence of cloud computing (watch for a May feature article on that subject by me), because so much work is done online, desktops will continue to become more and more streamlined like this. This trend is great news for schools of course, because it means desktops become less and less expensive, easier to maintain, and less prone to problems. This new Wind seems like a unit with a tremendous amount of potential for school use, touchscreens are more intuitive for younger students in particular to use, and this model still has enough computing power to handle most online tasks.

Video: Trying out the cool new Fujitsu Stylistic ST-6012 Tablet PC

Fujitsu sent me their new tablet PC recently... here's a demonstration. Enjoy!

Sanyo Releases New Ultra Short Throw Projector, PLC-WXE45

This new short throw LCD model from Sanyo is outfitted with a short focal length lens that allows it to project a full 80-inch image from a distance of only 34-inches. The PLC-WEX45 also has WXGA (1280X800) resolution, 2000 lumens of brightness, 500:1 contast ratio, and 16:10 aspect ratio. One feature I find pretty interesting: the power comes on when you plug it in and goes off when you unplug it, there is no power button. Kind of an odd feature! But, this appears to be a solid ultra short throw option with an MSRP of $1795, so I imagine you'll find it much cheaper, making it a really affordable choice.

Viewsonic's New 24" Widescreen Monitor

Viewsonic is planning a new line of monitors for the government and education markets called the VG27 series, and the company just released the first one this week, the VG2427. This is a large 24" unit with impressive numbers like a 20,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 300 nits of brightness and 1920x1080 full HD resolution. Additional features include a slim bezel to help with multi-monitor setups, ergonomic adjustments like height, tilt and swivel, integrated 2-port USB hub for cluster free connectivity, hidden stereo speakers and an ECO mode, which uses up to 30% less power. And just look at that picture! It's like the finches are going to fly out of your screen.
All that with a bag of chips and a soda for an MSRP of $499. Not including the cost of the chips and the soda.

Dukane Releases ImagePro Cam9000 Document Camera

 
This week, Dukane added to its roster of document cameras with this new model. The ImagePro Cam9000 is a high resolution camera that can be used either as a doc cam or a webcam, a pretty interesting approach that I don't recall other companies doing. The unit has a Logitech camera on a flexible arm and includes an integrated microphone, with both going through a single USB cable to your computer. Other features include autofocus and auto light settings, photo resolution to 8 megapixels, HD video resolution to 1600 X 1200, digital zoom and field of view to 64 degrees for video conferencing.

Granted, it also lacks things like an integrated stage, lights, operating system or a lot of other bells and whistles that other models have (including others by Dukane), but at just $199, this is a pretty fantastic entry-level deal.

Sweet Deal Of the Day: Buy New Sharp PG-F267X Projector, Get 25 Scientific Calculators...

If you're an administrator or educator shopping around for a short-throw projector and could use a bunch of calculators.... has Sharp got a deal for you!
Today, Sharp has just launched their first foray into short-throws, the PG-F267X, a 2500 lumens, 2200:1 contrast ratio, DLP BrilliantColor, XGA resolution bubble-lensed bad boy, which can display a 100-inch diagonal image from just 4.3 feet. In celebration, Sharp is offering a classroom pack of 25 WriteView EL-W535B Educator scientific calculators, with an estimated total retail value of $325, with the purchase of one of these models between now and June 30th.
Purchase it through your local Sharp authorized Professional Display dealership or reseller in the U.S. to be eligible, contact local dealers or resellers for the full terms and conditions.
Pretty sweet! I say act now before they run out or change their minds!