Can't argue with that! Given how clueless some students are with their machines (many virus and spyware-ridden to the core, no password, lend their machines with admin accounts to anyone) and lack any healthy distrust of strangers on the Internet, I just wonder how they could enter university.
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Google's Chromebooks Overtake Apple's iPads for First Time in U.S. Education Market
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My comment about trust was more about effectiveness than security. iCloud Drive has numerous issues, and Apple has not yet proven that it can provide a stable document collaboration platform. Schools are showing that they don't have enough incentive to pay a higher price for Apple products and services that may not be as dependable or flexible.
She must be on drugs, or be like 80 years old...
I haven't missed the keyboard being a 'physical' part of the device. I like the ability to flip the iPhones/iPads 90 degrees and use the keyboard that way. PLUS physical keyboards on small devices waste a heck of a lot of space, and probably fail for one reason or another at a higher rate...
I feel sorry for the kids in today's screwed up schools...
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Uh huh, but when I was in school. I ran the projectors in many classes because the teachers either couldn't figure out how to run them, or were too damn lazy to.
It would seem that they could 'promote from within' and have some of the older kids do support for them. Why not? They'd save on money, and have instant experts...
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Easy. The universities get paid for allowing them to attend, and the students are free to rack up debt to pay the universities and the banks who guarantee the loans are making money. It's about the most corrupt scheme you could imagine.
My guess is that there was a brief historical moment where using the internet required at least some computer literacy. With the advent of internet appliances like phones and tablets, many people don't bother. I guess it was the same with early cars.
lol what does that have to do with what I said. they don't know **** in general.
Maybe it's just me, but this argument doesn't hold much water. Most kids have access to wifi almost 24 hours a day. Even those without wifi at home have access at the public library or any number of other free access points. So there is no need for the Chromebook to be anchored to the school. Additionally, as others have pointed out, the Chromebooks function offline as well. They also have cloud storage so the size of the harddrive is less important than if they owned the laptop and planned on keeping it for years.
Chromebooks just make sense in an educational environment. Especially since schools have limited budgets that have to encompass as many kids as possible. When you can get 2 Chromebooks for every 1 iPad, you stretch your budget dollar further while servicing more kids.
It was meant rather 'tongue in cheek' which you might want to look up.
How many people, with either children or grand children, rely on them for 'support'...
It was meant rather 'tongue in cheek' which you might want to look up.
How many people, with either children or grand children, rely on them for 'support'...
Perhaps was tongue in cheek but you second paragraph still doesn't make sense
mouse support
Hey Apple... it's about time you support a mouse or trackpad on an iPad. This is the main reason I'm trying a Chromebook.
Chromebooks might be cheap for education.... however, just spoke to Google this week and tried to sell me enterprise license for $195 per device.
Hey Apple... it's about time you support a mouse or trackpad on an iPad. This is the main reason I'm trying a Chromebook.
Chromebooks might be cheap for education.... however, just spoke to Google this week and tried to sell me enterprise license for $195 per device.
Our district here was recently recognized under the Apple Distinguished Schools/Programs. They started it last year.
I have never been in a classroom without a computer, and that's going back to 1993 when they were all running MS-DOS and Windows 3.1.
Chromebooks make sense in most situations whether you like it or not. If you don't think keyboards matter, then you have no clue what you're talking about.
I have never been in a classroom without a computer, and that's going back to 1993 when they were all running MS-DOS and Windows 3.1.
Chromebooks make sense in most situations whether you like it or not. If you don't think keyboards matter, then you have no clue what you're talking about.
I bought a HP 14 inch Google Chromebook so I could learn the system. It is a very fast computer, boots as fast as my MacBook Pro and shuts down just as fast. It can not do the heavy duty editing, but it would make a cheap replacement if someone did not have the funds for a Mac.
I'm still waiting for Apple to support mice and trackpads on the iPad.
I bought a 14" HP Chromebook w/4G connectivity on Woot a while back for $200.
I did it out of curiosity. I wanted to answer a question that I had, How could chromebooks be so popular when their (apparent) limitations were so great?
I was pleasantly surprised.
There is quite a bit of software available for ChromeOS... a steadily increasing number of them are operational in "offline mode".
Google Docs, iCloud iWork, and MS Office Online all work nicely on it. There's other apps that I use on a daily basis like mindmapping, ToDo, outlining, Bible study, etc.
The system has been snappy and responsive. Instant on. Easily reset to factory. Easily supports multi-user, and if one is already using Google services, it is a seamless experience.
It's not for everyone, but it is a no-brainer solution for educational settings.
I'm a school teacher in a school that uses both iPads and Chromebooks.
Not all the year groups have iPads. We use the iPads as individual devices (kids have all their stuff on them, take them home etc) and the Chromebooks as laptops in the classroom (multiple user accounts, documents synced with Google drive etc).
IPads really aren't ideal for multiple users
Not all the year groups have iPads. We use the iPads as individual devices (kids have all their stuff on them, take them home etc) and the Chromebooks as laptops in the classroom (multiple user accounts, documents synced with Google drive etc).
IPads really aren't ideal for multiple users
I was afraid that I wasn't going to end up using it if I bought one (I am too attached to my apps and like that a lot of my OS X ones have iOS versions). So I got the ClamCase Pro instead. I would really like a trackpad too. It stupidly makes sense. I let both my brother and dad type on it sometimes and we all reach for the "trackpad" that doesn't exist when we're trying to scroll down.
I bought a browser that lets me use the arrow keys among other shortcuts for that reason.
If you invest into the right apps, it works very well. Flipping the thing around and being able to edit an image in Pixelmator with a stylus is nice too.Though like I said earlier, for K-12 education, Chromebooks make perfect sense.
I am 16 and currently a junior in high school. At the start of the 2013-2014 school year, for my Eagle Scout project, I installed the wireless network at the school. That was enough of a kick to get them to adopt a 1:1 pilot program this year for the juniors and seniors to begin with.
When I was discussing this with my head master we investigated many options. Being a private Christian school, we do not get the type of funding that many public schools get. My head master decided that he wanted something which upheld collaboration, would work well with the network, and was a decent performer. We originally looked at iPads and Google Chromebooks.
The problem that we saw with the iPads was the cost and lack of management. Apple gives some tools to those who use OS X Server as well as Apple Configurator, but both tools are poorly executed. The estimated cost was $350+ an iPad depending on model. The Chromebooks were perfect as they were easy to maintain, configure, and upgrade. The Chromebooks would have been as simple as adding them to the Google controller, opening the box and connecting them to a unsecured wireless access point, and letting them sit. They would then download all of the network information for the network at the school and add themselves to the Google controller and download the settings. Quite simple! The approximate cost was to be $280 a device.
My school ended up purchasing Dell Venue 8 Android tablets. At $149 per tablet they fit the bill nicely which afforded them to be able to purchase insurance policies and other needed tech gear for the school. The tablets run Kit Kat extremely well and have an Intel Atom processor which scores around 1,200 on Geekbench. The iPad Mini would have been the Apple competitor, but did not even begin to compare on price or speed. These tablets have opened many doors at a great price for the school.
The point of me writing this out is to show how there are many options. Chromebooks have their plus sides, and as a person who helps manage the network at the school, would definitely add a layer of simplicity. That being said, the iPads, while great devices altogether, really are showing their short comings when used in the education market. My school loves the tablets, and they were a great option but like any technology, a school needs to decide what fits the bill both in capability and expense.
When I was discussing this with my head master we investigated many options. Being a private Christian school, we do not get the type of funding that many public schools get. My head master decided that he wanted something which upheld collaboration, would work well with the network, and was a decent performer. We originally looked at iPads and Google Chromebooks.
The problem that we saw with the iPads was the cost and lack of management. Apple gives some tools to those who use OS X Server as well as Apple Configurator, but both tools are poorly executed. The estimated cost was $350+ an iPad depending on model. The Chromebooks were perfect as they were easy to maintain, configure, and upgrade. The Chromebooks would have been as simple as adding them to the Google controller, opening the box and connecting them to a unsecured wireless access point, and letting them sit. They would then download all of the network information for the network at the school and add themselves to the Google controller and download the settings. Quite simple! The approximate cost was to be $280 a device.
My school ended up purchasing Dell Venue 8 Android tablets. At $149 per tablet they fit the bill nicely which afforded them to be able to purchase insurance policies and other needed tech gear for the school. The tablets run Kit Kat extremely well and have an Intel Atom processor which scores around 1,200 on Geekbench. The iPad Mini would have been the Apple competitor, but did not even begin to compare on price or speed. These tablets have opened many doors at a great price for the school.
The point of me writing this out is to show how there are many options. Chromebooks have their plus sides, and as a person who helps manage the network at the school, would definitely add a layer of simplicity. That being said, the iPads, while great devices altogether, really are showing their short comings when used in the education market. My school loves the tablets, and they were a great option but like any technology, a school needs to decide what fits the bill both in capability and expense.
Does Google offer technical support for Chromebooks bought in volume for education? I'm asking because I have no idea.
What I do know for a fact as a personal user of Google services and products for the past decade is that the number of times I've been given the opportunity to get support from Google is precisely zero.
It's amazing to me that a company as big as Google still offers no way for personal users to talk to a human being in exchange for all the data they're collecting from the people who use their products and services. Many would argue that the data they're collecting from their users is worth far more than a dollar amount that could be paid to Google in exchange for their services anyway.
Google does have an education team as well as a business team which support those customers. They also have a Chromebook team which helped me with my HP Chromebook 11.
It makes me very angry that my some of my astonishingly high taxes go to buy other people's kids iPads. It makes me slightly less angry that my taxes buy other people's kids chromebooks. I'm still angry, especially since it is constantly shown that adding expensive tech to classrooms just makes kids stupider.
The vast majority of apps have an offline mode, and it's only going to become more common now that Google is merging ChromeOS' appbase with Android.
Indeed. Seems like these "appliances", as opposed to "computers", gave a false security impression to people, who in turn lack the proper guidance to make the right choices on a computer. I may be an exception: I only started to use a machine late in life (the so-called last generation to grow up without a computer), and what my parents taught me about privacy and healthy distrust just applied as well to interaction with a machine. Don't trust the machine. Don't give any personal information to it. If you need to, protect it.
Surely if you live in a more connected city than I do, I guess. But here, free access wifi is rare.
"They function offline as well" then "they also have cloud storage": make a choice then, can they work offline or just become so crippled they can't do anything?
True, but PC makers often give hefty discounts to schools. In that case, why stick with computers made by big corporations? I thought school was supposed to include teachings about living in society. What about Ubuntu machines?
In which case I would always advise such a person to buy a cheap PC. Chromebooks just don't get configured as easily as Windows or Mac OS X.
For the same reason netbooks were popular: low price.
And if one refuses to give anything to Google? How is the experience?