When the idea of bringing computers into the classroom first arises, most people immediately turn to laptop computers to do the job. Indeed there are a number of one-to-one laptop initiatives currently underway all over the country. The idea is to give every student a laptop that they can take with them from classroom to classroom, and even take home with them in some cases. This allows any standard classroom to become a computer lab with very little modification. Honey Grove has a number of such "mobile labs" in our Elementary and Middle School campuses. The trouble is they're not as mobile as they're cracked up to be.
      The biggest problem with laptop computers is that even the best laptop can't make it through the average school day on a single battery charge. At some point they have to be plugged in to recharge. There are a few ways to go about this. One way is to buy an extra battery for each laptop and a charging station for each classroom. That way when a battery dies the user can simply but the dead battery on the charger and pop a charged battery into the laptop. This works really well, but adds to the cost of a mobile lab by a large margin. Another way is to see to it that there are ample electrical outlets available in each classroom. The biggest problem with this method is that there are often electrical cords scattered throughout the room, which can lead to a much higher rate of accidental damage.
      Another problem with mobile labs is that laptops simply aren't as durable as a desktop computer and are more difficult to repair when they break. Laptops are designed to be lightweight and portable, and it's these very design attributes that makes them inherently more likely to sustain damage during day-to-day use. Replacement parts are rarely available from any source other than the original manufacturer, and even then there's no guarantee that the parts will be available in a couple of years. Manufactures continually roll out new models, and it would be impractical for them to keep warehouses full of parts for older models. Even when the necessary parts can be procured they're often very labor-intensive to replace, and often doing so in-house will void the manufacturer warranty.
      Finally, laptops are very expensive. A single 24-unit mobile lab complete with extra batteries, external chargers and a storage cart can cost three times as much as 24 desktop computers. After the initial purchase price is considered, the cost of repairing them is often many times the cost of repairing a typical desktop computer. Factoring together the high initial cost, the cost of ongoing maintenance and the fact that the average usable life expectancy of a laptop computer can be half that of a desktop computer, it was clear that mobile labs were not the solution for our new High School.