Recommendations - Chromebook

[BFCIT]

Hi All,

 

Our music department are looking for some Chromebooks which have both a front and rear facing camera.

Do you have any particular models you would recommend, I do not want something cheap and ideally it will last a few years in the department. Budget scope for two devices is around the £800 mark so hoping this should give us something with decent internal specifications too.

 

Thanks

[dhicks]

Do you have any particular models you would recommend

 

We've just bought 50 more of the Lenovo 500e - flip device, so can be used as a classic laptop or as a tablet, complete with front and rear cameras and a stylus which is stored inside the case. Around £320 (that price includes VAT), don't forget to budget for Google management license (£30, one-off fee per device) and any kind of extended warrenty if you want (maybe £20). We ordered from Getech in Ipswich, we've found them to be reliable suppliers - if they say devices are in stock then they mean they're actually in stock. Our existing Lenovo Chromebooks have lasted well so far, they seem pretty rugged - we've had a bunch of this model in use since September with no particular issues so far. They take a 45W USB-C charger and can be charged from a USB-C port on either side, although there's a charging LED only on the one side. This model is just a little less wide than the previous one, so fits better in charging cabinets designed for iPads - the previous model just about fit, but we had to use extra right-angle USB-C connectors to be able to close the charging cabinet door. About the only damage we've had to this and previous models is some of the ports failing to charge - our guess is that this is due to rough handling by pupils, and for the most part we can simply turn the device over and use the other port, and it's not a huge number we've had this problem on.

[DavR]

If they want front and rear facing cameras, I'm not sure it's a Chromebook you're looking for, that's more tablet territory.

 

Howsabout a 2-in-1 with a 360 degree hinge, that starts as a regular clamshell, but folds over to operate in tablet mode? That should give you both camera aspects.

 

We bought Dell Chromebook 3189 for this a few years ago, the current model is the 3100 I think - https://www.dell.com/ae/business/p/chromebook-11-3100-2-in-1-laptop/pd. That's the entry level, if you've got money to spend, there's maybe more and better in the upper end of the range.

 

We have the Lenovo 300e that does 2-in-1 also, but the amount of failures we've had, and the price of parts, I'd be loathe to recommend Lenovo to anyone right now.

@dhicks beat me to it - our opinions differ on Lenovo, but we can agree that Chrome management license and extended warranty are both good ideas!

Edited November 24, 2021 by DavR

[dhicks]

If they want front and rear facing cameras, I'm not sure it's a Chromebook you're looking for, that's more tablet territory.

 

It maybe depends on what, exactly, the rear-facing camera is used for - tablets (and phones) are set up to be able to take pictures / video more quickly, you can whip a phone out of your pocket and be taking a photo or video a few seconds later, with a ChromeOS device you might have to log in first, switch to tablet mode, then point at whatever you're taking photos / videos of. For most pupils I'm guessing that should be fine, though. The cameras on Chromebooks aren't as snazzy as those on phones, either - generally just the one fixed-focus lense rather than the standard smartphone 3 or 4 lense setup these days, but again for most things your average pupil is going to be doing I'd guess that's okay.

 

We have the Lenovo 300e that does 2-in-1 also, but the amount of failures we've had, and the price of parts, I'd be loathe to recommend Lenovo to anyone right now.

 

Our experience with the 500e has been good (so far...), although I'm guessing our pupils are (hopefully) quite careful with the devices. They do also stay in school, they aren't carried home in bags each day, so they aren't getting the full workout they might get in other schools.

[mikkydoos]

I found it very hard to find a Chromebook with dual cameras. Only ones I could find were Acers/Lenovos.. I think 500e's like @dhicks says.

 

Not great cameras though.

Edited November 25, 2021 by mikkydoos

[PrimaryNetMan]

If you want something a bit better speced than the 500e, the only real option currently would be the Lenovo ThinkPad C13 Yoga Chromebook, but stock looks thin on the ground and they also suffer with CPU throttling when running on battery.

[dhicks]

If you want something a bit better speced than the 500e

 

If you mean in terms of CPU / RAM / disk space, we've not found any performance or storage size issues on our ChromeOS devices. ChromeOS seems to handle sorting out profiles for multiple users with little fuss (user logs on, profile settings are synced, if disk space is lacking then oldest other profile is flushed), although we've made an effort to keep any per-user apps to a minimum so there's very little to sync for a user's profile. The processor and RAM provided seem sufficient - I'm guessing the devices might struggle if you had a lot of different tabs open, but in general use, and for video (WeVideo) or audio (Soundtrap / Flat) editing they seem fine. Worth checking your internet and wireless infrastructure is reasonably up-to-date and you have good coverage so you can handle multiple devices in a classroom all in one go.

 

Depending on what, exactly, the teacher is planning to use the front-facing camera for, ChromeOS devices will accept pretty much any camera that identifies itself as a generic USB webcam, so you could use something like the Hue camera to plug straight into a USB port.

[Danp]

I've been buying ASUS Chromebook Flip C433, been really happy with them. Only slight niggle, they needed to be USB reinstalled out of box as the OS was stuck on v74 and even after a couple of days would not update. It was quicker to USB them all

[paulkerton]

Search for Chromebooks with "world facing cameras" or look into the Lenovo Chromebook Duet, The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 or Lenovo 10e Chromebook Tablet.