It should be Vista Business edition if you guys haven’t changed it – that being the case, there are two options you have, one is to locate the software for the audio card (Realtek, Covena.., etc.) and set it to only output audio from the front port – there should be an option there for front audio jacks & rear audio jacks.

If this is not available, I know in the Vista audio control panel, there is usually an option to disable audio from a particular port – now you will have to play around to find the correct one, but I would recommend disabling the rear port & letting the students access audio from the front port only (the headphone jack).

If neither of these are the case, then let me know the specific hardware setup on the machines – since the Optiplex has customizations all around.

The lazy option is to plug in headphones & ajust the audio settings, then unplug & mute or turn the volume to zero, then disable them from accessing the audio control panel. (In Vista, when the jacks recongize when plugs are inserted, it will remember you audio settings for that jack for items plugged in or not).

Sorry for the earnestness, but there really is a difference. Although depending on what you use it for, it might not matter. If you just want to do simple sketches or use it to enter text, the Bamboo might be good enough. I know people who are happy with it.

But…if you want to do any serious artistic work, or graphic design, then go for the Intuos. The reason being, when you have the cursor on the screen and take the pen away, then you put the pen back to the tablet, the cursor will sometimes "jump", making finely detailed work very difficult and frustrating.

Here is a really good explanation of this behaviour:
http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tools/wacom-intuos-jenn.html

(BTW, I think you meant 512, not 215.)