Have you noticed a shortage of laptops recently?

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Have you noticed a shortage of laptops recently?

Postby dutchman » Fri May 15, 2020 5:27 pm

This is why...

Tech team is working flat out to keep West Midlands Police officers and staff connected as they work from home

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The techies' behind-the-scenes work includes sourcing 1,000 new laptops for officers and staff in critical roles who have been self-isolating or shielding – and who otherwise would have struggled to play their part alongside colleagues.

It’s been all hands on deck as the laptops have been built to personal specifications and equipped with bespoke software depending on the recipient’s role.

Up to 100 a day have been built and delivered by West Midlands Police's police driving school trainers to employees across the West Midlands and out to Leicestershire, Worcestershire and Telford.

The tech team had already built two new servers to deal with the increase in digital traffic and developed a new capability so the majority of laptop and mobility faults could be resolved remotely, without the need to ‘dock’ or face to face appointments.

Helen Davis, Assistant Director for IT & Digital, said: “Had this pandemic struck a few years ago we would have struggled to enable self-isolating colleagues to continue working. But thanks to our IT&D Department we’ve managed to maintain our service levels against the odds.

“IT & Digital have been unsung heroes during this crisis: they’ve come into the office and worked hard to ensure the organisation has been able to work remotely and support colleagues at work.

“They have dealt with the huge logistical task of getting the devices built and ready to go.

“This allowed us to ship the device to people’s front doors and have them operating very quickly with the pre-built instructions.”

A spokesman for the force added: "For the first time in our history, certain applications have also been developed to be directly accessed at home which was previously only available on mobile devices.

"Witness statements can now be taken electronically and a pilot scheme has enabled some response officers to work from home and call handlers to take 101 calls through their laptops."

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Re: Have you noticed a shortage of laptops recently?

Postby dutchman » Fri May 15, 2020 5:29 pm

If they're "working from home" why do they need matching backpacks? :roll:
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Re: Have you noticed a shortage of laptops recently?

Postby rebbonk » Fri May 15, 2020 6:13 pm

Best of luck to them with that brand. :lol:

My daughter's employer bought her a laptop to work from home with. At the time we had exactly the same conversation Dutchman. My bet is that employers will now realise that a laptop, bag and internet connection is far cheaper than the cost of a commercially rented cubicle and will change their working practices accordingly.
Of course it'll fit; you just need a bigger hammer.
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Re: Have you noticed a shortage of laptops recently?

Postby dutchman » Fri May 15, 2020 6:30 pm

All brand new you'll notice?

If it was my money I'd be looking for the best reconditioned bargains as also does everyone I know in the business.

And do we really need a 'police force' that does nothing else but sit at home all day posting messages on Twitter? :roll:
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Re: Have you noticed a shortage of laptops recently?

Postby dutchman » Fri Jul 10, 2020 1:38 am

I bought a cheap business laptop off eBay before the coronavius panic hit. One reason it was cheap was because it came preloaded with Linux rather than Windows. However on the underside I noticed it had a Windows Pro sticker so probably had Windows installed on it at some time in the past. So I downloaded and installed the latest build of Windows 10 and sure enough it was activated (legally) saving me £220* which is a lot more than I paid for the machine in the first place!

:laptop_wave:

*Yes I know there are cheaper/less-legal ways of activating Windows but they could prove a problem when trying to resell a PC.

Generally speaking a Windows Pro key will work with any version of Windows Pro: 7, 8 or 10 but not with Windows Home. Likewise a Windows Home key will work with any version of Windows Home but not with Windows Pro.
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