Fresno Unified Teams With HP in Laptop Deal

By Pablo Lopez, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

Jul. 16–One of the biggest computer makers in the United States turned to an unlikely source to help design its latest wireless laptop — the Fresno Unified School District.

The district gave Hewlett-Packard ideas about what students desire in a laptop — something lightweight with a large screen, a big keyboard and durability, said Thomas J. Kenny, a HP vice president of sales.

And the computer giant gave Fresno Unified a deal: It will be the first school district in the nation to use the new 2133 Mini-Note, a laptop so small it fits on a desk alongside textbooks, notebooks and pencils.

At a news conference at Edison High School, Superintendent Michael Hanson, trustees, and officials from HP, AT&T and Western Blue — the distributor of the Mini-Note 2133 — said the district’s $3.85 million purchase shows its commitment to giving students state-of-the-art technology.

In addition, Hanson announced the completion of the district’s fiber-optic network upgrade. All Fresno Unified schools are now connected to the high-speed network, Hanson said. The project cost $11.5 million, paid mostly with federal funds.

“We now have the ability to bring the outside world to every classroom at breakneck speed,” Hanson said.

For several years, Fresno Unified has been a big customer of HP products, said Kurt Madden, the district’s chief technology officer. The district went from valued customer to partner about two years ago, Madden said.

Madden said he and his staff talked with HP officials about designing a miniature laptop that could easily fit into a backpack and be used in the classroom to allow students to take notes, make portfolios and access the Internet.

Kenny said HP liked Fresno Unified’s ideas. He said he has talked to other school boards and administrators throughout the United States about the need to bring “21st-century technology into the classroom.”

While those school officials continue to talk about it, Kenny said, Fresno Unified’s school board and Hanson have been committed to spending the time and money to make it happen.

Fresno Unified has ordered 7,000 of the deluxe model of the 2133 Mini-Note at a discount — $550 each, Madden said.

The model Fresno Unified ordered would typically cost about $849, Kenny said. The district got a deal, he said, because HP values Fresno Unified’s vision of giving its students an edge in today’s world.

But he also said it’s a marketing strategy. Fresno Unified is the fourth largest school district in California and the nation’s 39th largest. If the Mini-Note is successful here, other school districts will follow Fresno Unified’s lead and purchase the laptop, Kenny said.

Between 350 and 400 classrooms in elementary, middle and high schools will receive the laptops this fall. They will be sent to schools based on a survey of teachers who showed a high interest in using them, Madden said.

The laptops are “really cool,” said Edison junior Essence Taylor, 15, who has tested the 2133 Mini-Note. “They’re practical and easy to take notes on. It will help students stay organized.”

Because there are 76,504 students in the district, students will have to share the laptops, Madden said.

To help the district, Terry M. Joslin, president of Western Blue, said he will sell the 2133 Mini-Note to parents, teachers, staff and students of Fresno Unified for the same price the district will pay — about $550 each.

This is Fresno Unified’s second investments in miniature laptops.

In November, Fresno Unified bought about 1,000 wireless laptops made by ASUS for about $465 each. At the time, the ASUS laptop was unique because of its built-in keyboard. Other miniature laptops had touch-screen keyboards.

Middle and high school students, however, complained that the ASUS model’s keyboard and screen were too small, Madden said. With the purchase of the HP model, the ASUS laptops will be used primarily in elementary schools, where the children’s fingers are smaller, he said.

The 2133 Mini-Note is about 7 inches by 10 inches, or about 1 inch wider than the ASUS model. It weighs about the same — less than 3 pounds.

While the ASUS was made of plastic, the Mini-Note is made of aluminum and has a protective finish, Kenny said. The 2133 Mini-Note, which will use Microsoft’s Windows, has two batteries that allow it to be operational about 4 hours, and it has a 120-gigabyte hard drive, Madden said.

Trustee Cal Johnson said the investment proves the school district is committed to helping all students achieve. But he said it will take a partnership with private businesses.

“We can’t do it alone,” he said.

The reporter can be reached at plopez@fresnobee.com or (559)441-6434.

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