Chrome books with office365 account?

[dobbyit]

Hello all, we are a primary school, only just got our allocation of DFE devices, we requested laptops but they have sent chrome books. Our issue is we use office365.

How can I set the chrome books up for use as we have no google accounts? I turn on the device and it’s asking to sign into google, if I create 1 account it's asking for a mobile number, got about 40 devices, I know I need Google education but wondered if I can use office365 on these chrome books.

What I need to manage is

Send out SSID with proxy and port

Send out apps

Allow apps to be downloaded by end user

Sophos, if possible

Not bothered about filtering

[TwistedHelixis]

Honelstly although I prefer Chromebooks over laptops in a school setting, in your case I would get them switched for laptops if that's what you asked for.

 

otherwise sign-up for Google edu and take your time getting that setup, you could also use Google Classroom. Lots of the primary schools around me have both systems running.

[jmak]

Office 365 is no problem with Chromebooks - providing you've got a G Suite for education (Google Workspace) tenancy set up. You'll have to manage the Chromebooks through the G Suite admin centre, but user accounts and logins can stay in O365 (using Azure AD Connect).

 

I'm a big fan of Chromebooks, but if you don't have a tenancy set up, I'd suggest you need to get them swapped out. You won't be able to set up single sign on until Google have authorised your domain. You could spend the time while you wait learning the admin console, but you should talk to your leadership team about the delay there'll be before you can issue the devices to pupils.

 

Edit: beaten to it by @TwistedHelixis

Edited March 1, 2021 by jmak

[paulkerton]

Two weeks today:

 

Using Chromebooks in an O365 Environment

[VeryPC]

Hello all, we are a primary school, only just got our allocation of DFE devices, we requested laptops but they have sent chrome books. Our issue is we use office365.

How can I set the chrome books up for use as we have no google accounts? I turn on the device and it’s asking to sign into google, if I create 1 account it's asking for a mobile number, got about 40 devices, I know I need Google education but wondered if I can use office365 on these chrome books.

What I need to manage is

Send out SSID with proxy and port

Send out apps

Allow apps to be downloaded by end user

Sophos, if possible

Not bothered about filtering

 

Morning @dobbyit

 

If you need assistance with Chrome Management Licences then we're happy to help - as a proud Google for Education Partner. Prices are increasing on the 9th March from £19 to £30 per device so we'd recommend you get in touch before the end of play on Friday (5th March) to beat the price increase.

 

There's more info on our webpage right - https://very-pc.co.uk/products/software/chrome-management-licences

 

- Ryan

[Ditto]

Are you saying G Suite for Education licenses are going up from £19 to £30 for Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals? If yes, they kept very quiet about that when launching Workspace variants.

[jmak]

Are you saying G Suite for Education licenses are going up from £19 to £30 for Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals? If yes, they kept very quiet about that when launching Workspace variants.

Chromebook management licences are going up from 9th March. There are a few threads on here - this is the first one I found:

 

https://www.edugeek.net/showthread.php?t=218740

[paulkerton]

Are you saying G Suite for Education licenses are going up from £19 to £30 for Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals? If yes, they kept very quiet about that when launching Workspace variants.

Management Licenses. The device control/management part of things. They announced it for March 2020, and then delayed it due to the pandemic.

It's the first ever price increase. It's been £19 RRP for at least 7 years to my knowledge and in that time the support time for Chromebooks has gone from 4.5 years to 8, so its obvious why they're doing it.

 

It was definitely mentioned in the Learning with Google event too.

[Ditto]

Yes, the management license. I've only worked with Chromebooks and G Suite in this way. Not sure I'd want to use them unmanaged. Agreed, prices have remained static for a very long time, but these sort of rapid jumps do not go down well in most businesses and definitely not in schools. I must have missed hearing it in the Google presentations. Remind me, is that a one off license for the lifetime of the device or per annum?

[jmak]

Yes, the management license. I've only worked with Chromebooks and G Suite in this way. Not sure I'd want to use them unmanaged. Agreed, prices have remained static for a very long time, but these sort of rapid jumps do not go down well in most businesses and definitely not in schools. I must have missed hearing it in the Google presentations. Remind me, is that a one off license for the lifetime of the device or per annum?

One off - not transferable to a new device unless it's a replacement for a broken or failed one.

 

Makes it more important to look at the support cycle for the new devices you're buying. Many now have up to 6 years of support guaranteed, so the £30 can be spread across that time frame. It's irritating, but still seems pretty affordable - which I guess is the calculation they've made as the cost hasn't gone up so Google are just judging how much more cash they can raise...

[paulkerton]

these sort of rapid jumps do not go down well in most businesses and definitely not in schools.

Oh, agreed. Definitely.

Remind me, is that a one off license for the lifetime of the device or per annum?

One off for the lifetime of a device. Only transferrable to a like-to-like device (for moments like warranty replacement)

As Chromebooks now all have an 8 year support schedule from the date of release my rough "back of a fag packet" maths says that's just over £0.01 a day per device or £3.75 a year for what is essentially the Chromebook MDM.

Edited March 2, 2021 by paulkerton

[Zoom7000]

Are you saying G Suite for Education licenses are going up from £19 to £30 for Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals? If yes, they kept very quiet about that when launching Workspace variants.

 

They actually announced this at Bett 2020. Google were due to raise the price of the Chrome Management License (rebranded to Chrome Education Upgrade) in March 2020, but delayed it to January 2021 and then again to March 2021 because of COVID. So, in fairness to them, they did give plenty of notice.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy about any price increases (or introduction of paid tiers) but it is what it is I guess.

[Ditto]

Fair points made all round. In my mind it's still good value - I just wonder if it will lead to a reduced rate of hardware refresh in schools? Probably not from my experience, stuff is often kept well passed it's use by date!

[Danp]

I bought 30 last week at the lower price to have in hand for later in the year.

[Zoom7000]

I bought 30 last week at the lower price to have in hand for later in the year.

 

Yeah, if you plan to buy licenses, best thing to do is to place an order by this Friday, to avoid the increase. If you have plans to buy devices in future, I'd still buy the licenses ready for when you purchase the devices.