Primary school would like to try a Chromebook but I have never purchased one before.

[TwistedHelixis]

One of my primary schools would like to purchase one or two Chromebooks for testing in year 6 and if successful purchase sets for each of the classes in the school.

 

I have never purchased or even used a Chromebook so need a little advice about the different types. I assume it would be better to get one that can also load apps from the Play Store. The school have not even given me a £££ but based on past laptop purchases I assume they will need to be less then £500 although open to alternative suggestions.

 

Any advice as to which ones I should be looking at and where would be a good place to purchase?

 

We do already have a Google domain and I know there is a per device management cost.

 

Thanks for any help

Edited November 7, 2017 by TwistedHelixis

[FN-GM]

You can get the HP X360 flip Chromebook that doubles as a tablet for around £300 including a 3 year warranty. You can also get the Dell 11 inch standard laptop type for around £210 inc 3 year warranty.

[ShellfishClive]

Acer and Dell ones are pretty good, I prefer Dell out of the two they have better support than Acer. We have the Chromebook 11 and Chromebook 12 and rarely get any issues with either of them, so I'd say that is worth looking into.

[6Foot2]

Link: 2017 Chromebook Comparison Chart

 

[TwistedHelixis]

Link: 2017 Chromebook Comparison Chart

Very handy - Thanks

[gpjt]

Got 80 of the ASUS Chromebook C202SA and they have been recieved well by Year 5/6 pupils and staff.

 

Have a word with Jade at Haptic Networks she sorted me out some demo units to try before we bought ours, which was very useful.

[HBPS]

Contact your preferred supplier and ask for a sale or return unit tell them your considering buying in bulk

 

One of my primary schools would like to purchase one or two Chromebooks for testing in year 6 and if successful purchase sets for each of the classes in the school.

 

I have never purchased or even used a Chromebook so need a little advice about the different types. I assume it would be better to get one that can also load apps from the Play Store. The school have not even given me a £££ but based on past laptop purchases I assume they will need to be less then £500 although open to alternative suggestions.

 

Any advice as to which ones I should be looking at and where would be a good place to purchase?

 

We do already have a Google domain and I know there is a per device management cost.

 

Thanks for any help

[TwistedHelixis]

Based on the chart above there are only 5 Chromebooks that work with the Play Store apps. Do you think that is correct?

[mavhc]

They sometimes retroactively roll out android support, so it might be out of date

 

https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chrome-os-systems-supporting-android-apps

 

Pity it doesn't have prices, couldn't be too hard to get as they're already linked to amazon

[sted]

Based on the chart above there are only 5 Chromebooks that work with the Play Store apps. Do you think that is correct?

 

my hp just got android app support in the last 2 weeks or so (iirc its a g4) it was supposed to be on every 2017 model chromebook but looks to be taking its sweet time getting there. a point to be aware of though not all android apps work or work well ive had some that dont work and some that may as well not so a video player that just assumes its on a landscape phone screen and plays vids in a tiny window in the centre of the screen for instance

[Ksavage413]

From the OS side of things, it might be worth looking into Neverware, which is a program which can convert any previous laptop into a dual-boot or solo boot Chromebook. This will mean that you can play around with a Chromebook without having to spend money on one. It doesn't provide an 100% accurate representation of what owning a Chromebook will be like, but it's better than spending £300, £400, £450 and so on if you're not sure you'll be able to use the OS when you use them.

 

Neverware is free to use commercially, but you do have to pay for licenses and the like if you want web console mangement. But for your purposes of testing Chromebooks then it'll be more than useful for you! Hope this helped!

[maark]

have found this company https://www.getech.co.uk/ useful in the past - they might lend you a demo model

[Primus]

Getech are excellent - used them loads.

[rogerdnixon]

We buy most of our Chromebooks from C-Learning or Getech. Recently, C-Learning have always been cheaper. Our Y7's have all got Lenovo Yoga N23's which are pretty good and ruggedised.

[fiza]

We have a mixture of Dells and XMA/Viglen Chromebooks. Dells came from C-Learning and the XMA ones came direct from XMA.

 

XMA - allLearn - Google - Viglen Chromebook

 

The good thing about the XMA ones is that they come with an integrated handle so the children can easily carry them around. They have also recently received the Android App support.

[DGardiner]

Getech are excellent - used them loads.

 

can echo this, they do trial units too