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Chromebooks have emerged as the clear leader
- Thread starter bobenhaus
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I knew they had to be somewhere!
(that was a joke, pplease doon't take it personalloa!)
(that was a joke, pplease doon't take it personalloa!)
I think the major reason why is price which the article uses as well.
School systems are under incredible financial pressure and pressure to keep ahead of the curve with teaching. The Chromebook offers them a very cheap way to use technology. By the way, my kids have them for school and hate them, they'd much rather use a Mac. Yet for 4th graders it makes a lot of sense to spend 200 dollars on a chromebook for a 9 year old then close to a thousand.
Basically the Chromebook isn't a superior tool, but other a cheaper tool
I just purchased 60 Chromebooks for my school. All for student use, as teachers need to be able to install applications.
While price was certainly a big consideration, Chromebooks have a lot of other advantages for us.
While price was certainly a big consideration, Chromebooks have a lot of other advantages for us.
- They take up far less space than a desktop.
- They require little maintenance.
- They will not be connected to our internal network (this is a biggie), so students will not be able to print. Teachers will be forced to have students email assignments, or share using Office 365.
- Students cannot alter the design of the desktop.
- Students cannot install games or music.
There was a thread on the topic of chrome books and the education market here a while back with a number of good posts.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...r-first-time-in-u-s-education-market.1824674/
While cost was one advantage of them, another was the greater ease of administration and sharing devices with multiple users.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...r-first-time-in-u-s-education-market.1824674/
While cost was one advantage of them, another was the greater ease of administration and sharing devices with multiple users.
Thin clients are cheaper to buy and maintain than fat ones, and especially good for environments where kids can screw stuff up.
What was once old is now new, again.
What was once old is now new, again.
Chromebooks are perfect for schools, libraries, and other areas where community computing is needed. Cost is cheap, maintenance is low and there is little value in a Chromebook for potential thieves to bother stealing one. It is the perfect computing device for that segment of the market. Based on that, I wouldn't be surprised if Chromebooks take 80+ percent of that market in less than 2 years time.
sorry for going on a bit of a tangent, but do people actually call them fat clients? We always call them thick clients.
I agree with the premise, however. I have no doubt a Chromebook may be in my future, but my rMBP is brand new.
I have a Chromebook just because...I have one of everything. But it is no replacement for a Mac - or even an iPad.
The education sector is really the only bright spot for the Chromebook outside of that, it appears to be largely failing. I forget where I read it (maybe Ars Technica) but they were commenting on how its not selling at all, except for the education area.
If I can dig that article up, I'll post a link here
I just bought a Toshiba Chromebook 2 (2015 model) to replace the iPad 3 (64GB) my wife and I use. Intel Celeron CPU, 16G SSD, 4G ram, 256GB SDXC card, and a screen that rivals the MacBook Pro all for $380. I like the simplicity and stability of the OS. Way faster than the iPad, and I don't have to deal with the daily app updates. iPad has been powered off ever since.
Same considerations that had me steer clear regardless of the good value bang for buck.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/...reader/fkidldjfpemdgkehdhkoehplkbkcadfa?hl=en
for books
and for games you crouton and install linux and steam. Crouton is pretty s seamless to use and requires no special skill
Thanks, I'll have to look into those. On sale, I almost pulled the trigger on a chromebook more than once.
Chromebooks do sell. They are just low margin, low profit PC's (the netbooks of this generation, so to speak). I have a bfeeling that companies like HP, may not break sales of Chromebooks out, so all you may read regarding sales figures are based off analysts guesstimates. Kind of like Apple Watch sales range from 2 million to 20 million depending on which analyst you ask. No one really knows.
The major attraction is not only from the things already mentioned but also seamless integration of Google cloud apps (docs.google.com Office alternative) and services (drive.google.com) and ability to dual boot Linux for use as a development platform. Chrome OS is great for people who don't need a full desktop OS like Windows but desire something more capable than iOS for productivity while keeping the simplicity and low upkeep. Too bad there isn't an official Chrome OS distribution that can be downloaded for use on non-Chromebook devices like the abundant and excellent ~$100 Thinkpads from corporate upgrades. However, there is the non-official Chromium OS:
http://arnoldthebat.co.uk/wordpress/chromium-os/
http://arnoldthebat.co.uk/wordpress/chromium-os/
I find both "fat" and "thick" to be offensive. I prefer to call them "full-figure" personal computing devices.
To the OP, I can certainly see the value for a school system as you basically giving the students a computer nothing more than a Web browser application. But as far as the general public goes, I've seen low end Windows 10 devices at the same price point as these Chromebooks.
I can't read a book on anything other than a book or an e-reader. That's just me.
You may want to look at Google classroom for disseminating assignments and collecting finished work. I find it incredibly convenient and makes emailing the same essay back and forth seem old and antiquated.I just purchased 60 Chromebooks for my school. All for student use, as teachers need to be able to install applications.
While price was certainly a big consideration, Chromebooks have a lot of other advantages for us.
The only problem I've found is one of security, since the model I ordered (HP Stream) does not have a Kensington lock. Of course, since students cannot install games or music, they will probably not want to steal one of these.
- They take up far less space than a desktop.
- They require little maintenance.
- They will not be connected to our internal network (this is a biggie), so students will not be able to print. Teachers will be forced to have students email assignments, or share using Office 365.
- Students cannot alter the design of the desktop.
- Students cannot install games or music.