T&T switches to LENOVO for laptops, save $30M

Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh on Wednesday began distribution of free laptop computers to high school children who entered form one at the start of the academic year.

Gopeesingh expects to hand out 17,300 computers by the middle of October.

This is the second year of the free laptop program. Last year the contract was awarded to HP for $63 million. This year the Ministry of Education chose, LENOVO from among eight bidders. LENOVO is a Chinese manufacturer of computers and is part of the IBM family.

“Lenovo had all the mandatory requirements which we requested, and it ultimately cost the Government $30 million less than last year,” Gopeesingh said.

The laptops carry the national colours and come with cases and 14 software packages, including a Spanish language learning program. THast year's computer had only seven software applications.

Gopeesingh also announced that all schools will soon be connected to the Internet. “We are also in the process of installing wireless internet at all schools and have increased the internet speed from five megabits to ten,” Gopeesingh said.