http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8449485.stm


So the Government wants to give away laptops at a rough cost of £1000 / laptop. This means that they are either very good laptops or there is a lot of profit being made by someone

Also I wonder how many of them will be on e-bay within a week

While I agree that the internet is almost an essential these days all schools have PC’s and there are libraries with PC’s so I'm not sure if my Tax money should be used for something like this

Why does it need to be a laptop when you get more bang for your buck with a desktop?

I think it's a grand idea, if it's rolled out to every child.
Why should it make a difference if the child comes from a rich or a poor home? When I was growing up we were classed as being just a little too rich to get anything, so my brother, sister and myself learnt to share what we had (a single tower PC that was quite underpowered for the time when I come to think of it). I remember a few people who's parents did very little or had poorer income jobs, yet they always boasted about having the newest, biggest TV's and PC's in their bedrooms (and later on, laptops).

How was it that the poorer people could afford all of this, and yet my family (and other similar families around me) couldn't?

Given my background, every school child should be given a laptop, or the money should be poured into the local library funds and they can supply more, better spec'ed computers.

EDIT

I would guess so pupils could use them in lessons and then take them home.

its good to see the state ensuring all families will be able to access porn and download films/music regardless of there economic background.

A good in idea principle but....in practice its going to be the usual government total c0ckup!

Excellent, the government needs to seriously tighten its belt with regards to spending, and is instead rolling out a rather expensive vote winner with the core Labour demographic.

Should be looking at a tidal wave of laptops appearing on e-bay soon?

If the PC is for schoolwork then I wouldn't see a need for a high spec model. Do the students also really need one each?

Surely... just SURELY they can pick up a laptop for £300?

That's WAY better than my old laptop of 4 years, and my housemates still use my old laptop for uni work pretty regularly. They're using stuff like SPSS too, and what's likely to be used at school level is stuff like Word and Excel....

That'll mean they'll cost over the market rate then.



And Cash Converters / the local pub.

One of my worries about yet another benefit for the "poorest" is that it creates a trap for those on benefits - when someone starts works they loose a huge number of benefits eg free dentistry on top of the Jobseekers' Allowance etc which removes incentives.

Agreed. I have a friend who is blind and in turn gets disabled persons allowance. To make it financially worthwhile for him to come off it someone would have to be paying somewhere in the region of £30k a year to make it worthwhile. In this particular instance he uses his time well as a trustee for the RNIB and various other organisations, but there are many not like him.

To be fair there are many people on DLA who can not move much, leave the house unaided or even get out of bed unaided.

Oh yes, don't get me wrong there are people who absolutely need it.

There are a fair few that get money thrown at them that really don't need it however. Not quite sure where I sit with my friend on this one. Yes, given appropriate assistance he could do a fair few jobs, however he doesn't just spend his time bumming around but works incredibly hard for various worthwhile causes.

Its just like the Swine Flu Vaccine thing, a minister or similar sparks up a deal with an IT firm, encourages this kind of thing and get a a cut. Just like that [LIFTED] Donaldson and the Swine Flu vaccine hoax, create a 'problem' then make some nice cash bringing in someone with a solution.

I bet the 1k price tag will means its one of those inflated prive business laptops from HP or Dell which arent' even very good value, but they rip businesses off with them.

TalkTalk blasts Government's free laptop scheme

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/354757/talk ... top-scheme

Obviously TT have been on the warpath for some time now with the BB tax, but a lot of that makes sense...

Another feebie for the non-working class. The thing is (before anyone shoots me) I know there are some people out there who genuinely need help through no fault of their own. But I also know there are thousands of people out there who chose not to work and/or see having a child before leaving school as a lifestyle choice. I'm tired to seeing these people given handouts to improve their lives.

And you know what if the great unwashed want to use the internet/computer then they can bloody well go to a library!