Chromebook hardware - any caveats?

[localzuk]

We are looking at moving to Chromebooks across our Trust over the next few years, on a 1:1 basis, so I am investigating devices.

 

I'm getting demo devices from HP, Dell, Acer and Asus.

 

Has anyone gone down this road and has some caveats, pointers, advice etc?

[FN-GM]

When selecting a device consult this page. It shows when software updates will finish for the device so will help getting best value. - https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?hl=en

[smurfomatic]

We dont have 1:1 but started five or so years ago with a batch of Samsung 303 Chromebooks which were okay but prone to screen damage, lost keys etc. At Christmas we bought another batch, this time Asus C202 - which are designed for schools so rugged, splashproof etc.

 

All seems to be great with them so far, except the fact no-one wants to book the old ones when the new ones are available!

[FN-GM]

We have the Dell Chromebooks. The part such as LCDs and keyboards etc have been pretty cheap.

[rogerdnixon]

There are new devices from Dell/HP/Lenovo and Acer coming out in the next few months based on AMD and the Intel Gemini Lake Celerons. From my testing these are a significant uplift in performance - so I'd not go for current models if you can wait a few months. We are 1:1 and tend to go HP now as their parts have been easiest to source and generally pretty reliable. Lenovo are hopeless for spares and we have also had issues with Acer devices. So I'd go HP or Dell.

[dhicks]

Has anyone gone down this road and has some caveats, pointers, advice etc?

 

We find the flip-style devices where you can bend the keyboard right back to make a tablet to be the most flexible. We use the Asus C100PA, which we've had as 1:1 devices for a couple of years now. Non-ruggerised, and we do get a constant stream of damaged keyboards / screens - not too bad (a couple a week), but we notice the difference when compared to the new ruggereised Acer devices, which I don't think anyone has managed to damage yet. Also, those newer Acer devices have world-facing cameras, which come in very useful.

 

Plan how you're going to store devices. We have charging cabinets in classrooms. I think some of the damage we are getting is from the bucket-style cabinets, with the devices in 5-at-a-time cariier buckets upright in the cabinet. Charging cables dangle down in a clump from the top. If children are left to get their own devices out of these, they tend to all pile towards the cabinet in one go, and as they lift their device out they stand a good chance of banging it against the top of the cabinet. The shelf-style charging cabinets (we have several of each) seem to be better organised - the charging cable for each device is right by each individual device, and there's nothing to bash into as you lift the device out of the cabinet.

[Arthur]

When selecting a device consult this page. It shows when software updates will finish for the device so will help getting best value. - https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?hl=en

The following website is quite useful too since it enables you to easily see at a glance what the latest Chrome OS devices are (and therefore have the longest support from Google).

 

https://zipso.net/chromebook-specs-comparison-table

 

[localzuk]

These devices will be going home with children - so no internal storage. We'll keep spares to swap out for damaged ones, which we'll then repair if we can.

We're looking at the flip style ones - multi-purpose.

I didn't even realise Lenovo make them, so hadn't considered them at all!

The HP x360 11 I've got as a demo worries me a little - the plastic lid seems to have an easy way to unclip the screen from it by forcing the little lip which you use to open the device upwards. Not ideal.

 

Dell and Acer are organising me demos of their brand new models (though the Acer is a pre-production unit I believe).

Edited March 28, 2019 by localzuk

[Arthur]

I didn't even realise Lenovo make them, so hadn't considered them at all!

Our PE department has a trolley full of Lenovo 500e Chromebooks which have an additional camera in the keyboard (like almost all of the new flip devices). The students find them great for recording evidence for their coursework.

 

No damage so far either.

 

The HP x360 11 I've got as a demo worries me a little - the plastic lid seems to have an easy way to unclip the screen from it by forcing the little lip which you use to open the device upwards. Not ideal.

The HP Chromebook 14 G5 is very poorly made too. For this reason, we don't even bother looking at HP Chromebooks any more.

[FN-GM]

Dell and Acer are organising me demos of their brand new models (though the Acer is a pre-production unit I believe).

 

I would be interested to hear your feedback on the Dell model. The last one I had trailed was quite bulky.

[robjduk]

We use alot of Acer ones because they are cheap however finding spare parts for them is almost impossible. Also if you consider Prowise, know they are great machines at a low cost but their warranty is a pain with months before you get the thing back.

[TronXP]

We currently have 670 Lenovo N23 on site, Even though they are "Rugged" the screens are a particular weak spot. The pupils have broken quite a few by picking them up by the screen (thumb size pressure point then a crack through the whole screen). Only a couple of keyboard/trackpad issues which have been dealt with through warranty, and one particular laptop whose screen hinge was ripped out of the chromebook by apparently just opening it. Also had 3 so far which have been fixed by lenovo for new motherboards after the screens stopped working. Parts have no been a problem getting hold of through our supplier. Would definelty recommend extented warranties as most of our warranty calls have been after the first year!

[robjduk]

Has anyone got experience of Viglen chromebooks? They come with 3 year warranty and im considering them for summer.

[kingoranks]

We are getting Dell and Asus soon. I will share feedbacks

[localzuk]

I've now had demo units of the HP x360 11, Acer Flip 511 and Dell 5190 2 in 1. Just waiting on a demo unit from Asus also.

 

So far:

 

HP - wouldn't touch. Such poor construction quality. The kid's'd rip them apart in no time

Acer - very good build quality. Well thought out, with rubberised edges on the lower half of the machine, with a slightly smaller lid so any drops will only hit the lower rubberised parts. Pricing is impressive too.

Dell - excellent build quality. *Slightly* edges out Acer in quality (down to the screen edge also being rubberised). But, the price so far is significantly higher, a full £60+ per unit more than Acer. That extra works out almost enough to do an entire extra school year of the Acer's.

[PrimaryNetMan]

Make sure you add Lenovo 300e & 500e to your demo list.

[LTurner3692]

Out of interest why are you going for a 1:1?

 

I worked in one school which used Ipads in a 1:1 style, Personally it was a waste of time and money.

[localzuk]

Out of interest why are you going for a 1:1?

 

A few reasons:

 

1. We can now afford to do so.

2. It will allow children more independence in their IT usage - less reliance on needing a suite of PCs.

3. We are doing more and more things that require IT usage - eg. GL testing, which currently takes 4 weeks to get everyone through our ICT suites. With Chromebooks, we'd be able to get it done in a week.

4. We are in 2019, where more and more things are computerised. Restricting the children to using a computer a couple of times a week helps no-one.

5. Some children have no IT at home at all, doing this will allow them to do their homework at home rather than us having to run a "homework club"

6. It will reduce our Microsoft licensing cost (as this has gone up and up)

7. Chromebooks are not iPads - I still see iPads as a primarily "content consumption" device, except for a limited number of uses. They're also more expensive than Chromebooks, which work as a laptop and a tablet.

8. It will reduce our onsite server costs, as we will move more stuff to the cloud.

 

Overall, once we've rolled it out everywhere, it should reduce our ongoing IT costs by around 25%.

 

I worked in one school which used Ipads in a 1:1 style, Personally it was a waste of time and money.

 

iPads suffer with the lack of a keyboard, unless you want to buy a bluetooth case etc... Makes them impractical for use with children in a classroom IMO.

[DavidYoung]

We have done 1:1 for one year group in one of our schools. We used Asus C202 Chromebooks which are ruggedised but had a couple of design flaws that kind of negated this, particularly the screen hinge cover which regularly came off.

 

Their warranty service was very good though, it was provided by Stone with onsite engineers in our area and the turnaround was quick. 3-year onsite warranty was included as standard.

 

However, they have lost a lot of favour with me now as the C204 Chromebooks, which I like a lot as they seem to have fixed some of the issues we had before with the hardware now only come with a 1-year return-to-base warranty and it is nearly £50 to bring it back to the 3-year on-site warranty as we had before.

 

This is putting the cost of the programme too high for us to continue with Asus so we are currently evaluating an Acer C732 which comes with 3-year RTB but is about £20 to make it on-site (which we may or may not do)

 

The Acer seems pretty good, I'd agree with your assessment @localzuk. Does anyone have any experience with Acer warranty service? The last experience we had was about 10 years ago and was pretty poor so I would like to see if it has changed.

[HTCPCP]

Ensure you have some spares to loan out when they are going to be repaired. We did an 1:1 ipad scheme, and no matter what we did, kids broke them.

 

From experience chromebook wise (last bought some in 2016):

Samsungs were nice, light, but also really flimsy. They might be fine to go in a briefcase for someone who works, but in a school bag, I could see them being a mangled pile of components after a few months without decent protection

Entry Asus kit - slightly more robust than the Samsungs, with nice rubbery corners. Did weigh more, and the screens weren't great.

 

From dealing with other companies:

Acer - support is non existant, RMAs take ages. Trying to do extended warranties is a massive pain too. Have given up buying their products

Dell - the 3380 chromebook is built on one of the best chasis I have come across that isn't a thinkpad X series. Service is good, and I can often get the engineer will drop the parts off when they are going past and then collect the duds later if they want them back, or put them in the WEEE recycling if not.

[DavidYoung]

@HTCPCP: I don't want to take this thread off-topic but I think this does also form part of the original question: With your experience with Acer support, was that recently or a while ago? What was the issue with extended warranties?

[localzuk]

Acer - support is non existant, RMAs take ages. Trying to do extended warranties is a massive pain too. Have given up buying their products

The issue is, when you scale out the price of the Acer vs Dell, it works out as an extra £27,000 on top of our costs, an extra 20-25%. That's enough for us to buy an extra 100+ devices, including device licenses and custom vinyl printing lol.

[Ditto]

A few reasons:

1. We can now afford to do so.

2. It will allow children more independence in their IT usage - less reliance on needing a suite of PCs.

3. We are doing more and more things that require IT usage - eg. GL testing, which currently takes 4 weeks to get everyone through our ICT suites. With Chromebooks, we'd be able to get it done in a week.

4. We are in 2019, where more and more things are computerised. Restricting the children to using a computer a couple of times a week helps no-one.

5. Some children have no IT at home at all, doing this will allow them to do their homework at home rather than us having to run a "homework club"

6. It will reduce our Microsoft licensing cost (as this has gone up and up)

7. Chromebooks are not iPads - I still see iPads as a primarily "content consumption" device, except for a limited number of uses. They're also more expensive than Chromebooks, which work as a laptop and a tablet.

8. It will reduce our onsite server costs, as we will move more stuff to the cloud.

Overall, once we've rolled it out everywhere, it should reduce our ongoing IT costs by around 25%.

iPads suffer with the lack of a keyboard, unless you want to buy a bluetooth case etc... Makes them impractical for use with children in a classroom IMO.

Perfectly justified. Would you be able to PM a breakdown of how the 25% saving is achieved - I'd love to show it to a few schools to get them to open their eyes up to an alternative way of using technology than what they've always done.

[Ditto]

On the 1:1 - do the children/parents sign up to fund breakage. I have always wondered if they are made to pay up front, they'd take more care, but I'm not convinced. At a previous school, it was sort of 1:1 but they always stayed on site. I know quite a few school districts in the US set things up so the kids get to buy/keep the CBs at the end of a period of time - that could be an incentive to look after them. Are you looking at protective cases to help? Finally, have you looked at lease options which might include some support? One school I worked at did for iPads and it worked well for a relatively small premium. Given the expense of iPads, that was really important.

[lmgtfy]

I've now had demo units of the HP x360 11, Acer Flip 511 and Dell 5190 2 in 1. Just waiting on a demo unit from Asus also.

 

So far:

 

HP - wouldn't touch. Such poor construction quality. The kid's'd rip them apart in no time

Acer - very good build quality. Well thought out, with rubberised edges on the lower half of the machine, with a slightly smaller lid so any drops will only hit the lower rubberised parts. Pricing is impressive too.

Dell - excellent build quality. *Slightly* edges out Acer in quality (down to the screen edge also being rubberised). But, the price so far is significantly higher, a full £60+ per unit more than Acer. That extra works out almost enough to do an entire extra school year of the Acer's.

 

Very interested in this project @localzuk can you let me know the exact model number of the Acer Flip 511 as I'd love to get a demo one in to have a play also. Have you bought your demo's or have you been loaned due to the high quantities you are looking at?

 

Cheers