[somms]

Dell : Dell Managed Mobile Computing Station for Dell Latitude 2100 Laptop : Laptop/Notebook Accessories : Home & Home Office

Has anyone actually bought one of these things!?
Price Dell is charging for this cart seems absurd!

[jay-zi]

What is the price of this? There are related stations from Lapsafe, which are over 2.000 Euro and much more in Germany.

[tntc.tig]

$3,899 for the cart according to the wobsite [sic]. It requires power bricks and cables be put in for each laptop, from what I've read. You can have a wireless router installed as well, from what I've read. Since the 2100 doesn't have a docking connector, I believe all the management is done via wireless. I'd be curious about the options available for management.

[jtalaiver]

i know a few districts utilizing this cart with it fully loaded and a wireless printer as well...

[engrguy]

I think there is some misunderstanding about what is included for the quoted price. That price includes power for each notebook pre-installed, a wireless router and ethernet switch for all notebooks also pre-installed. There is no complicated wiring for the user! You just slide the notebook into the slot, and it automatically docks to power and ethernet.

Originally Posted by tntc.tig

$3,899 for the cart according to the wobsite [sic]. It requires power bricks and cables be put in for each laptop, from what I've read. You can have a wireless router installed as well, from what I've read. Since the 2100 doesn't have a docking connector, I believe all the management is done via wireless. I'd be curious about the options available for management.

[RPCaro]

Does anyone have links to the support documentation for these carts? Especially how to remotely manage software updates on the individual netbooks.

I'll keep everyone updated in this thread as these things are delivered and I start to figure them out (IF I figure them out ;P)

[somms]

Originally Posted by RPCaro

Does anyone have links to the support documentation for these carts? Especially how to remotely manage software updates on the individual netbooks.

I'll keep everyone updated in this thread as these things are delivered and I start to figure them out (IF I figure them out ;P)

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/late2100/MultLang/qrg.zip

http://www.ergotron.com/Support/DellProductSupport/tabid/528/language/en-US/default.aspx

Only able to find a .pdf manual for the cart but doesn't contain info about the management sofware...

[jdcnosse]

I'm sure a school could afford that...

My school had a "mobile lab." but this was long before netbooks...

[smlcoop]

We looked at this cart and, while beautifully designed, it is expensive, has a very limited capacity and is not at all secure.
There are some good alternatives, which are also available through Dell. One is a very secure and affordable cart that holds 32 Latitude 2100s or 2110s (or any other netbook, including Mini 10s). http://www.pc-security.com/products_...SC-32-MINI.htm
There is even a docking solution for 2100s and 2110s that holds 28, is secure and has a compact footprint. It does not have a network switch, but will work for many applications and is much more affordable and secure. http://www.pc-security.com/products_...8-DOCK-L21.htm

There are some other storage and recharging solutions for these at the same website.

---------- Post added at 10:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:18 AM ----------

We bought one and returned it. It was beautifully designed but was not at all secure and it only held 24. We were worried that it was so model-specific that, if Dell changed anything about the 2100 or its successors or we decided to buy any other netbooks now or in the future, we would have to toss the cart in a landfill.

We ended up using another type of cart also available from Dell. A bunch of them can be seen at http://www.pc-security.com/whats_hot/netbooks.htm. They are less expensive and much more secure. They are also more flexible, even if they do not have all the model-specific plug-and-play of the Dell managed cart.