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google: the microsoft syndrome

funny how the competition equates their product as being equal to apple quality. especially in microsofts case. winblows lol. you get what you pay for. 30yrs of "newer, better, more secure" when each release was anything but. and, for the most part, apple just works. as for google, you get what you pay for.
 
Yes because we're supposed to believe anything reported by IDC. Last quarter they reported Apple's world wide Mac sales at 4.9M. The real figure according to Apple's quarterly earnings release was 5.5M. Why should we trust their reporting (whether good or bad for Apple)? Where are they getting their figures from as I'm not aware of Apple (or Google) releasing sales figures.

That must have been a prediction. The date on that article would have preceded relevant earnings calls and year end filings.
 
The Chromebook is a much better option for writing and other basic educational needs, both have a role. The iPad has some great interactive content but for sitting and writing, my Chromebook is my BFF. I own both.
 
Depends on where you live. Common Core is not a curriculum nor is it a specific test. Your state or district will implement it in its own way, so I doubt this is the reason nationally

Good point, it does depend where you live. However, Common Core State Standards forced states to rethink their curriculum and standardized tests. At one point, 24 states were adopting the PARCC. Currently, only 14 states remain as ten states dropped out of PARCC and implemented their own testing model. Most of them took the technology part of the PARCC and made their own test. Pricing seems to be an issue, too. I've seen some good points outlined here. I've enjoyed reading the thread, everyone!
 
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?

I think that's the point. It not an either or scenario so there's no choice to make. You get on and offline functionality, and no it doesn't cripple the device. Ubuntu? Not sure if serious. Ubuntu, in it's myriad flavors, does not lend itself to what you're proposing. May I ask, what exactly is your issue with Chromebooks? You've voiced several misconceptions about them, so it seems you really don't know much about them except you don't like them. If I'm wrong, apologies.
 
My school district gave them out this year 5th through 12 grades. I guess in a way its perfect, they are cheap, and you can't do much with them. Its 50$ a year to take it home.
 
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Chromebooks are totally different devices.

But, since they usually come out of the same limited budget line item, schools have to choose between the two, just as if they were exactly the same thing.

To compete, Apple may have to (1) make it tons easier for IT bozos to manage hundreds of devices at a time, and (2) maybe offer some more aggressive edu pricing on devices bundled with stands and keyboards to the biggest school districts (many of which are nearly broke due to historic entitlements).
 
From A Teacher Here

This is an Apples to Oranges comparison.

iPads are tablets. Chromebooks are netbooks

No physical keyboard makes cranking out 20 page reports in high school kind of a PITA.

Having sat through a lot of inservice and workshop sessions using a Chromebook (which I'd never want to own personally), an iPad just would be too tedious to use in a classroom setting from what I see personally and professionally. And I'm a long-time Mac-only owner. Productivity just suffers trying to use an iPad in the school setting in my opinion.
 
our school district gives every kid an iPad, but my son prefers his Chromebook. They do a lot of their classroom assignments using the Google Docs for education suite of apps. They use collaborate on homework and projects and communicate with their teachers and classmates.

Google is kicking Apple's butt when it comes to easy to use hardware and software at a price that works for school budgets.
 
Jesus most of you have obviously never worked in schools. I work in schools. You have no idea how cash-strapped most public schools are. Whether that's a result of central mismanagement, or whatever, is another debate. But schools need to buy in bulk a mass amount of electronics that simply get the job done in terms of allowing kids to complete assignments (many of them don't have computers at home). They don't need the latest and greatest. And you have to account for that one kid who will get bubble gum everywhere or the kid who has a bad day and decides to smash his device on the floor. A cheap, replaceable chromebook is perfect for educational purposes.
 
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I think that's the point. It not an either or scenario so there's no choice to make. You get on and offline functionality, and no it doesn't cripple the device. Ubuntu? Not sure if serious. Ubuntu, in it's myriad flavors, does not lend itself to what you're proposing. May I ask, what exactly is your issue with Chromebooks? You've voiced several misconceptions about them, so it seems you really don't know much about them except you don't like them. If I'm wrong, apologies.
If there's no local storage, then how can you work offline?
Ubuntu has only two flavors: Desktop and Server. Much simpler than Windows.

Chromebooks: hard to configure for something else than Google's, incompatible with less common software (probably not a concern for primary schools), tightly tied to the mothership, pre-conditions youngsters to think that "Google IS the Internet" and turn them into corporate-abiding good little citizens willing to hand over any kind of private information if asked by a company with a big, nice, colourful logo.
 
Yes because we're supposed to believe anything reported by IDC. (...)

Well Tim Cook has been known to quote IDC numbers so there must be something there. (..)

This. Cook quotes IDC in almost every quarterly call, using them as a source to either tout Apple's success, or to help explain why Apple didn't do so well due to an overall market downturn.
 
If there's no local storage, then how can you work offline?
Ubuntu has only two flavors: Desktop and Server. Much simpler than Windows.

Chromebooks: hard to configure for something else than Google's, incompatible with less common software (probably not a concern for primary schools), tightly tied to the mothership, pre-conditions youngsters to think that "Google IS the Internet" and turn them into corporate-abiding good little citizens willing to hand over any kind of private information if asked by a company with a big, nice, colourful logo.

Exactly!

When I was in school, apple was what was in the classrooms. Because of this, when we bought our first computer (Apple IIe), it was an apple.

As long as they don't lose money doing it, this is great for locking in future customers into the Google system.

Hopefully Apple will be able to compete for these future constomers as well.
 
If there's no local storage, then how can you work offline?
Ubuntu has only two flavors: Desktop and Server. Much simpler than Windows.

Chromebooks: hard to configure for something else than Google's, incompatible with less common software (probably not a concern for primary schools), tightly tied to the mothership, pre-conditions youngsters to think that "Google IS the Internet" and turn them into corporate-abiding good little citizens willing to hand over any kind of private information if asked by a company with a big, nice, colourful logo.

Not sure where you got the idea there is no local storage. There's not a ton of local storage but in no way can that be equated to no local storage.:confused: Besides, work done offline can be pushed to cloud storage once the rare unicorn :)rolleyes:) wifi is available. There are also LTE models available but for the sake of our conversation, I'll pretend they don't exist.

Why would a school want to configure the Chromebook for something other than Chrome OS? :confused: They would simply buy something else that's already configured. You seem to be creating objections on the fly. The rest of your quote lacks relevancy to the topic of educational tools. This just reconfirms my suspicion you really don't know much about the Chromebooks.

Bolded: If that's the way you feel, I got nothing on that. I'll just say okay.

How about we say you win and call it a day. :) I am totally okay with that.
 
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This is an Apples to Oranges comparison.

iPads are tablets. Chromebooks are netbooks

No physical keyboard makes cranking out 20 page reports in high school kind of a PITA.

With the state of literacy today I would think cranking out a 20 page report using Siri would be easier than using a keyboard:rolleyes:

Okay I'll bite, how do you get the sarcastic emot out in this editor
 
I also think computers like this one has huge potential in the education market http://store.hp.com/webapp/wcs/stor...eam13&storeId=10151&langId=-1&catalogId=10051

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our school district gives every kid an iPad, but my son prefers his Chromebook. They do a lot of their classroom assignments using the Google Docs for education suite of apps. They use collaborate on homework and projects and communicate with their teachers and classmates.

Google is kicking Apple's butt when it comes to easy to use hardware and software at a price that works for school budgets.

If they are using google docs for education, why not go with chromebooks in the first place?
 
I bet if you asked the kids which device they would prefer, they would say iPad lol. The parents will say Chromebook because it is effectively half price! :p :)

Both very good and capable devices though I have to add.
 
This whole concept is just really strange to me. My computers are never not connected to the internet.

When you use Office, especially the older versions, you don't need to be connected to use them. That was my point. You simply launch the program and you're good to go. With the Chromebooks, you are limited to online "Office-like" apps. You have to be connected to use them. I'm of the generation that grew up with computers that didn't have the internet and once we did have access to it, it was cumbersome i.e. dialling out, dropped connections, someone picking up the receiver by accident, etc. Laptops back then didn't have LTE or needed it. We didn't use the cloud to backup, we simply used discs or disks and always stored everything on the hd.
 
No, I don't know what you mean. Have you read Google policies for Google Apps for Education?

No but that's their whole business model isn't it? They collect data and sell it to third parties to make money to subsidize their apps and OS etc.
 
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