HP Inc rolls out schools subscription model

Schools charged £5 per student, per month for laptops in move hailed by channel

HP Inc has rolled out a new laptop subscription model for schools in a move which has been hailed by one of its launch channel partners.

The new opex model will see educational establishments charged £5 per student, per month, for a laptop, including relevant support too.

HP Inc was born on 1 November last year when HP split into two, the other half becoming Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

The former held an education-focused event on Tuesday, during which it unveiled a number of new laptops aimed specifically at the market.

At the event, HP Inc's channel sales, education and SMB director for UK and Ireland, Neil Sawyer, said the new subscription model has been music to the ears of school IT bosses.

"It enables the school not to have any worries about how it is supported because that is included in the cost," he said. "We've put in place a help centre and that is all included. There are no hidden costs in that. Most importantly, it means a school hasn't got a constant battle as to when they invest in tech - do they wait six months for something new to come round the corner? - because they know the maximum time they will have that before refresh is 36 months. I'm really excited about it."

Insight, Getech and CCS Media are the first HP Inc partners to have taken the subscription out to customers.

CCS Media's director James Hardy praised the move.

"It has been really positive with customers because it changes the traditional buying cycle from capex to opex," he said. "It falls in line with Microsoft and their licensing programme. It actually helps us build a really good organisational behaviour offering."

He said that schools are getting just as good a deal when buying the laptops on subscription as upfront.

"Years ago, people would buy a mobile phone and it would end up costing much more [over the subscription period] - it is categorically not that," he said. "It works out literally the same price [as a laptop would be upfront]. It is just a different economic model. It is a good reaction actually to organisation behaviour and what customers need."