Chromebook Basic Use

[discoveranother]

Hi all,

 

Have a headteacher in a small school whose budget is very limited (aren't they all), they have an on-premise windows network, but he wants to buy some chromebooks, around 15 for pupils for basic use i.e. online use and office and that is about it (or so he says !!!).

 

I'd just like some feedback please on anyone's thoughts and experience with chromebooks, as to the best best way to set these up for online use and office use, or if you feel that this isn't really a good idea.

 

I want to give the head some feedback.

 

Thanks all

[3s-gtech]

Ideal use case. They really need a Device Management License to tie them to your Google Workspace, where you can then set the device restrictions and policies, then they just kind of work.

[mavhc]

Do they already use Google Workspace? Or are they using M365 and Onedrive? Or nothing online?

[LeMarchand]

Ideal use case. They really need a Device Management License to tie them to your Google Workspace, where you can then set the device restrictions and policies, then they just kind of work.

 

^^^ This. One-time cost per device (c. £30?) and (if not already in existence) you'll need to set up a Google domain/workspace.

[discoveranother]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for the replies.

 

I've setup Google Workspace for Education as it's free.

 

The school already use M365 for their emails and Onedrive.

[localzuk]

One thing to look at is integrating your sign in between the 2 with SSO, and making sure everything syncs up, so you don't need to know multiple account details/manage different passwords @discoveranother.

[jmak]

I did this in a primary years ago and it worked really well. I set up Azure AD Connect and used it to provision the Google accounts. Enrolled the Chromebooks and set the default domain meaning that username and password were the same on Windows and Chrome devices. I also set SSO to auto-login to O365. Essential to buy management licences, but very straightforward and effective and when I did it, very good value compared to usable laptops.

[DrCheese]

I did this in a primary years ago and it worked really well. I set up Azure AD Connect and used it to provision the Google accounts. Enrolled the Chromebooks and set the default domain meaning that username and password were the same on Windows and Chrome devices. I also set SSO to auto-login to O365. Essential to buy management licences, but very straightforward and effective and when I did it, very good value compared to usable laptops.

 

Yes, I'm very "Anti GSuite" but I utterly love our Chromebooks in this setup. They're fairly easy to butcher so all the GSuite gumpf is hidden away & replaced with Office 365 apps instead, with SSO done by Azure AD.

I wouldn't dream of deploying student Windows laptops anymore. MS occasionally make noises about replicating the Chromebook setup, but then just end up making a half baked job of the full fat Windows setup anyway, which runs super slow on low powered devices & is a pain to update.

[Steve21]

Do any of you guys have a setup guide you've followed to Windowfy the chromebooks?

 

Most the ones I've had a nosy at previously always seem to have large issues like having to type entire email addresses, or login twice on the chrome login then azure login etc and would be good to see if there's something they're missing

 

Thanks,

Steve

[jmak]

Do any of you guys have a setup guide you've followed to Windowfy the chromebooks?

 

Most the ones I've had a nosy at previously always seem to have large issues like having to type entire email addresses, or login twice on the chrome login then azure login etc and would be good to see if there's something they're missing

 

Thanks,

Steve

It's about 6 years since I set it up and 4 years since I worked there, so I don't have the details any more - sorry. As with most things I've done - most of the information I found was on threads on here.

 

I do remember it being not as straightforward as I imagined it would be, but it did work well once I had it running.