Chromebook

[Buck]

I was just looking at some of the specs and it seems like its a $400 laptop with a $250 price point. I wonder how the OS is and if its portable enough to carry with you wherever you go.

I'm wondering what it can do that my phone can't. I'm in the market for a new laptop, and this might be an option.

[DaveNull]

I'm the proud owner of a Toshiba Chromebook 2 now. Chrome OS is incredibly limiting, but it was a snap to get A real Linux distribution running on it.

I haven't had a chance yet to play with offensive wireless shenegans yet, but this seems like the next step for nerds wanting a cheap ass Linux laptop.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by DaveNull

I'm the proud owner of a Toshiba Chromebook 2 now. Chrome OS is incredibly limiting, but it was a snap to get A real Linux distribution running on it.

I haven't had a chance yet to play with offensive wireless shenegans yet, but this seems like the next step for nerds wanting a cheap ass Linux laptop.

And I'll say this, since I got one for my son a while back, it's been AWESOME! And we even use it to stream to the TV.

I'm sure wannabe super-computer snobs will thumb their noses at it, but that's because they think they're cool...

I think they're awesome, even if they have a few limitations.

[DaveNull]

It's an interesting device to be sure. I didn't buy mine and the price point seems a little odd for the limitations but it's supplanted my old Asus netbook for the knock around whatever device.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by DaveNull

It's an interesting device to be sure. I didn't buy mine and the price point seems a little odd for the limitations but it's supplanted my old Asus netbook for the knock around whatever device.

Well, about a year with ours, and I've not had one "tech" call from the son.

Now we do have to figure out ways to do things at times, but hell it's that way for almost anything non-Windows around this house.

But yes, there are limitations, but not getting the tech-support calls/requests are far more welcome than the challenge of occasionally figuring-out something with the son...

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by GloryDayz

Well, about a year with ours, and I've not had one "tech" call from the son.

Now we do have to figure out ways to do things at times, but hell it's that way for almost anything non-Windows around this house.

But yes, there are limitations, but not getting the tech-support calls/requests are far more welcome than the challenge of occasionally figuring-out something with the son...

Yeah, that's where it fits in my mind. If you just need an internet machine for people to use (and if Google Docs is sufficient for your needs), it's a great machine that's pretty hard to break. But if you're a power user, you'll probably get frustrated with it pretty quickly.

[NewChief]

So our school is looking at Chromebooks vs. iPads. I pretty much hate the iPad as a productivity tool. That being said, in the school environment, laptops/PCs (and I would assume chromebooks) tend to start running like absolutely shitty rather quickly. They also break rather easily when being handled by 150+ kids in a given day.

So... what the durability on them? Also, as multiple kids log in to them with various profiles, will they start screwing up after a while?

I run my class entirely off google drive, so I'd be great going with chromebooks (I also teach English, so I want keyboards, which is added cost for iPads). I'm just worried about their life cycle vs an iPad's life cycle in a school environment.

Currently almost all teachers prefer the iPads just because they boot up reliably and quickly in comparison to all of our laptops, which can take 10 minutes for a kid to log into.

[GloryDayz]

We got ours because the son's school uses them exclusively. So far they don't seem to have issues with their toughness. They also use iPads, obviously they have their advantages, but at the price they seem to be unsustainable (talking to the geeks in the schools system).

I know I have to support iPads in, well, a lot of hospitals (on the network side), and while the doctors love them, they are a beast on the backend to support. And if you want security (like FIPS security!!!), forgedaboudit!! We also have iPhones and iPads in the house, oh and a Samsung tablet, and the iPad and tablet seem to get about the same love.

LOL, I just checked, and this house, at this moment, has 19 wireless "things" connected to the three WiFi APs! Two of them are my neighbors laptop and his phone - better signal than his own house gives!

Originally Posted by NewChief

So our school is looking at Chromebooks vs. iPads. I pretty much hate the iPad as a productivity tool. That being said, in the school environment, laptops/PCs (and I would assume chromebooks) tend to start running like absolutely shitty rather quickly. They also break rather easily when being handled by 150+ kids in a given day.

So... what the durability on them? Also, as multiple kids log in to them with various profiles, will they start screwing up after a while?

I run my class entirely off google drive, so I'd be great going with chromebooks (I also teach English, so I want keyboards, which is added cost for iPads). I'm just worried about their life cycle vs an iPad's life cycle in a school environment.

Currently almost all teachers prefer the iPads just because they boot up reliably and quickly in comparison to all of our laptops, which can take 10 minutes for a kid to log into.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by GloryDayz

We got ours because the son's school uses them exclusively. So far they don't seem to have issues with their toughness. They also use iPads, obviously they have their advantages, but at the price they seem to be unsustainable (talking to the geeks in the schools system).

I know I have to support iPads in, well, a lot of hospitals (on the network side), and while the doctors love them, they are a beast on the backend to support. And if you want security (like FIPS security!!!), forgedaboudit!! We also have iPhones and iPads in the house, oh and a Samsung tablet, and the iPad and tablet seem to get about the same love.

LOL, I just checked, and this house, at this moment, has 19 wireless "things" connected to the three WiFi APs! Two of them are my neighbors laptop and his phone - better signal than his own house gives!

Yeah, maintaining the iPads and mass loading new apps we want and such on them is a nightmare. You can't just say, "Oh wow. I found this cool thing last night, and I want to use it in my class today" like you can if you find a cool website. You have to know a ways out that you need a given app and get our tech department to mass load for you, which they're great about.. but it's just a pain.


If you don't mind, could you let me know the name of your son's school (feel free to PM me). I'd like to have our tech committee contact them and get their opinions.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by NewChief

So our school is looking at Chromebooks vs. iPads. I pretty much hate the iPad as a productivity tool. That being said, in the school environment, laptops/PCs (and I would assume chromebooks) tend to start running like absolutely shitty rather quickly. They also break rather easily when being handled by 150+ kids in a given day.

So... what the durability on them? Also, as multiple kids log in to them with various profiles, will they start screwing up after a while?

I run my class entirely off google drive, so I'd be great going with chromebooks (I also teach English, so I want keyboards, which is added cost for iPads). I'm just worried about their life cycle vs an iPad's life cycle in a school environment.

Currently almost all teachers prefer the iPads just because they boot up reliably and quickly in comparison to all of our laptops, which can take 10 minutes for a kid to log into.

I'm not 100% sure of this, but I don't think the store hardly any profile info locally, and they don't run simultaneous sessions or anything, so multiple users should essentially make no difference.

[displacedinMN]

Every kid in our school received Chromebooks this year.

It has been a hit or miss thing.

My thoughts.

1. We have Dells. I believe they have an almost glass screen and can break easily. We also have 1500 kids. Many of them have been given almost everything handed to them. pencils, paper, answers, money, lunch, rent-you get the idea.

2. Just a few days after launch-broken screen started to show up. the response is "I don't know how it broke" yea, right. You were stupid. One day, 5 came in because they don't care about others property. They did have to may an insurance fee. But repair time is long.

3. We had to lay down the law about charging the battery and use. they are not issued a loaner. They are not given an extra charger. They are expected to use them in class.

4. Every kid was given a carry bag. They are not allowed to carry them anywhere unless it is in the bag. I did watch a kid drop it out of his bag because he was not smart enough to zip it up. Kharma. The bags had the silicon beads in them, When they were not removed, the bags broke and some beads got into the headphone jack. Yippie, solve another issue.

5. They have great battery life as long as you don;t run a lot of video and streaming music. Kids don't get it. When some get to my 7th, thier book is dead. tough. We do not allow them to charge at school.

6. Chromebooks create a barrier. When they are up, and I am in the front of the room, I have no idea what they are doing. I have to be in the back of the room to monitor them. That is hard when I have a smartboard in the front of the room. I pads are on the desk and you can walk by and see what they are doing from any angle.

7. Free draw is almost impossible on the Chromebook. I teach 8th grade earth science. I like to have kids draw pictures to explain what we are doing. I cannot take them inside the earth, to the moon or sun to show it to them like we can dissect a frog in Life science.

8. Google docs is good. Not perfect. Some things need to be improved to word and spreadsheet.

9. We use schoology as a way to teach. My kids are using it now and are required to hand it in online. That is 180 degrees from what I thought I would do this summer. I was also very grumpy this summer.

10. They are a tool, not the end all of education. There is no replacement for a teacher.

11. I know some teachers that refuse to use them because of these issues. It is their right.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

Every kid in our school received Chromebooks this year.

It has been a hit or miss thing.

My thoughts.

1. We have Dells. I believe they have an almost glass screen and can break easily. We also have 1500 kids. Many of them have been given almost everything handed to them. pencils, paper, answers, money, lunch, rent-you get the idea.

2. Just a few days after launch-broken screen started to show up. the response is "I don't know how it broke" yea, right. You were stupid. One day, 5 came in because they don't care about others property. They did have to may an insurance fee. But repair time is long.

3. We had to lay down the law about charging the battery and use. they are not issued a loaner. They are not given an extra charger. They are expected to use them in class.

4. Every kid was given a carry bag. They are not allowed to carry them anywhere unless it is in the bag. I did watch a kid drop it out of his bag because he was not smart enough to zip it up. Kharma. The bags had the silicon beads in them, When they were not removed, the bags broke and some beads got into the headphone jack. Yippie, solve another issue.

5. They have great battery life as long as you don;t run a lot of video and streaming music. Kids don't get it. When some get to my 7th, thier book is dead. tough. We do not allow them to charge at school.

6. Chromebooks create a barrier. When they are up, and I am in the front of the room, I have no idea what they are doing. I have to be in the back of the room to monitor them. That is hard when I have a smartboard in the front of the room. I pads are on the desk and you can walk by and see what they are doing from any angle.

7. Free draw is almost impossible on the Chromebook. I teach 8th grade earth science. I like to have kids draw pictures to explain what we are doing. I cannot take them inside the earth, to the moon or sun to show it to them like we can dissect a frog in Life science.

8. Google docs is good. Not perfect. Some things need to be improved to word and spreadsheet.

9. We use schoology as a way to teach. My kids are using it now and are required to hand it in online. That is 180 degrees from what I thought I would do this summer. I was also very grumpy this summer.

10. They are a tool, not the end all of education. There is no replacement for a teacher.

11. I know some teachers that refuse to use them because of these issues. It is their right.

Thanks for the educator perspective! I'm going to pass that along to my tech committee as well. I like to see honest opinions. Far too much of educational contact points are "smoke and mirrors" PR types. They'll tell you how awesome everything is with a given program or implementation, but the reality on the ground is far different.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by NewChief

Thanks for the educator perspective! I'm going to pass that along to my tech committee as well. I like to see honest opinions. Far too much of educational contact points are "smoke and mirrors" PR types. They'll tell you how awesome everything is with a given program or implementation, but the reality on the ground is far different.

And that goes for everything. We see Apple giving away their stuff to Doctors knowing they'll get them hooked on them and they'll end up demanding we use them later. Yeah, at those prices, good luck with that...

But hey, it's all expensive, it's just some are more expensive than others, and the marketing teams earn every penney they make, they sure can gloss-up a turd.

I liken it to the VTC world saying the Video conferencing can replace travel. Sure.... Not that it's a bad thing, and I use it MANY MANY MANY hours of every work day, but I've never fooled myself that it can replace travel. I'll but that as soon as the top brass make that "big corporate deal" over a VTC session.

Again, nothing replaces the real thing...

[displacedinMN]

New Chief-feel free to PM anytime. If I don't have an opinion or know, I will ask others.

[DaveNull]

I think my concern with either Chromebooks or iPads at school is that kids aren't learning how to use/fix/hack real computers.

[unlurking]

Originally Posted by DaveNull

I think my concern with either Chromebooks or iPads at school is that kids aren't learning how to use/fix/hack real computers.

I just learned the other day that they no longer teach cursive script to kids. Was kind of shocked by that one.