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Over the last few years, the College has increasingly seen the value for students whose devices support touch and a stylus. A stylus is a pen where the tip is able to be detected on a touchscreen computer. We urge parents/caregivers to consider this when looking to purchase a new device for their child.
Research has indicated that the creation of more diagrams, symbols and numbers when using a stylus has the potential to stimulate ideation, problem-solving, and inferential reasoning, when compared to keyboard/mouse-based interfaces. These are key skills we seek to encourage from our students, as they lead to deeper understandings. A laptop device with inking capability gives students the best of both worlds – when they need to type, it functions as a standard laptop, when they need to ideate, draw and annotate, they can use the stylus – and all of this is recorded and able to be accessed again at any time. The stylus does not replace pen and paper, but enhances the capability of students to record, share and develop ideas in a way that pen and paper does and typing does not.
Accordingly, we have for a few years now highly recommended that any student-owned device in the Secondary School is touchscreen and has a stylus. Our recommended device range reflects this.
What experience has shown us
We are increasingly finding students that have non-touch devices, who observe their peers using a stylus, are asking their parents/caregivers to swap them to a device that does support touch and a stylus.
Transitioning to St Andrew's with an existing device
We recognise that students either transition from a previous school with a Macbook, or inherit one from a family member. As such, we do support Macbooks, but ask that parents and caregivers strongly consider the points above when purchasing a new device for their child’s education at St Andrew’s College.
Each of our recommended devices has been trialled by the College ICT team. Please refer to the short summary below that briefly outlines what the team found that might help you make your decision on a new device to help support learning at St Andrew's College.
Cyclone is our recommended supplier and here is the link to their portal: Cyclone. Please note that special discounts would be applied by default.
Specification: Intel i5 processor, 16GB RAM, 512GB solid state drive.
We felt this model offers good value at this price point when considering its specification. It has a 14” screen and bulit-in stylus. It is lightweight compared to some of the similar priced devices, and easy for students to carry around.
Specification: Intel Ultra 5 or Ultra 7, 32GB RAM, 512GB solid state drive, three-year warranty.
We felt this model to be really good value for a mid-range offering at this price point. The new Intel Ultra processor gives an improvement in performance and battery life over previous generations. It has a 14" screen, included stylus, and a pleasing aesthetic.
Specification: Ultra 5 processor, 16GB RAM, 256GB solid state drive with stylus, supplier dependent warranty options.
We really liked the fact that the stylus is docked within the laptop itself and charges (very quickly) when it is in there. Overall, it performed well in our testing and sports a 14" screen. We did find it a little heavy to use – particularly noticeable in tablet mode when digital inking.
Specification: Ryzen 5 7530U processor, 16GB RAM, 256GB solid state drive with stylus, various options available regarding warranty.
The College has used the HP Probook for many years as student loan and classroom devices, and these devices offer good value for the price in terms of specs and performance. However, we weren’t so keen on the tethering for the stylus and can see them potentially being lost or damaged if the owner doesn’t take good care of it.
Specification: Ultra 5 processor, 16GB RAM, 512GB solid state drive with stylus, various options available regarding warranty.
This device offers a robust build with good specs and performance. The College has used the HP Elitebook for staff devices. However, we weren’t so keen on the tethering for the stylus and can see them potentially being lost or damaged if the owner doesn’t take good care of it.
Specification: Ultra 5 processor, 16GB RAM, 512GB solid state drive with built-in stylus, 3-year manufacturer warranty.
This device combines the convenience of a garaged pen with a robust build, a 13.3” display, attractive design, and solid performance. The College is considering adding it to our staff device pool next year.
Specification: Ultra 5 processor, 16GB RAM, 256GB or 512GB solid state drive with stylus, various options available regarding warranty.
The Surface Pro range has formed the backbone of our recommended device lists for a number of years now, and is still used extensively by our staff.
The Surface Pro range are the only devices on this list with a removable keyboard (rather than a full laptop), giving it a form factor that we feel is best suited for inking or moving around a classroom environment. Helped further by the fact it is lighter than other recommended devices.
However, the College ICT team feel that other recommended devices in this list are now at a point that they represent a better cost to performance ratio. The Surface Pro does still have its individual merits (removable keyboard and a kickstand), although at a premium price for the later models.
St Andrew’s College has New Zealand’s leading secondary school music production and composition facilities and programmes. Students that wish to work in with our recording studio in Years 11–13 will find it a lot easier if they use a Macbook Air or Macbook Pro laptop (which are industry standard for music production and composition). Students are able to use College-provided iMac computers, but those that have their own Apple laptop tend to find it easier in senior level Music studies.
Opting for a Macbook Air or Macbook Pro laptop does however preclude any use of digital inking in other subjects, as these devices do not offer touchscreen or stylus support. Typically senior students will be able to evaluate how much value digital inking has for them by this point in their schooling when considering their chosen NCEA subjects in order to help make the right laptop choice for them.
We have some minimum requirements for a “full” operating system. This means Windows 11 or MacOS 14 (Sonoma or above).
This excludes Operating Systems such as:
If a student has a full operating system then generally they can overcome most compatibility issues that may present themselves.
It also means that our teachers can plan with confidence that the student devices will support certain applications or file formats they choose to use. Additionally, students of St Andrew's College qualify for a free copy of Microsoft Office 365 (desktop version and online version).
Further minimum device requirements are as follows:
Storage:
Memory / RAM:
Processor CPU:
Screen Size:
Networking:
Battery Life:
St Andrew's College has now worked closely with provider Cyclone Computers for many years. However, parents/caregivers are not required to purchase a device for their child from them.
To avoid disappointment when preparing for a new school year, we strongly encourage parents/caregivers to place an order as soon as possible.
Please click the link below to see the Cyclone St Andrew's College BYOD portal page:
Middle School Device Recommendations