Chromebook spec for a Computer Room used by over 300 pupils

[Caffeine11]

Hi Everyone

 

The school where I work want to replace the Windows machines in their Computer Room with Chromebooks. I have not used a Chromebook yet, just Windows laptops, and we have a minimum Windows laptop spec, i5, 8GB RAM, 256SSD. What is your minimum spec for a shared student Chromebook?

 

Obviously, most of the user's data is in the cloud, but, like windows, some storage is used for their profile. On some Windows machines, in multi-user settings, you have to delete old profiles to free storage space. Is this an issue on the cheaper Chromebooks with 128GB or 64GB drives?

 

Ideally, I would like them to be responsive enough so pupils don't get frustrated because they are slow, staff have a relatively stress free computing lesson and I only have to worry about wiping them once a year.

 

 

Edited May 12, 2025 by kha11

[synaesthesia]

You shouldn't be worrying as much about the device specs as you are the wifi capabilities of the school. The chromebooks themselves will generally be OK regardless of the spec unless you're spending under 200 a unit. Storage, don't worry about it unless there's any large 3rd party android apps you're installing because you should be *entirely* in the cloud.

Is your internet up to it?

[TheHyperTechie]

Obviously totally dependent on your budget, but I would go for something like the Acer Chrombeook Plus 515. We have a few here, and they are great. I believe they also get updates until 2032. So as long as they stay in good condition, you wont need to worry about upgrading them for nearly a decade.

[PotNoodleTech]

Sadly I would have to disagree with the above, 90% faliure rate on Acer chromebooks over the last 5 years, i wouldnt touch them with a barge pole.

 

Lenovo OR HP seem to do the job.  Might even lean more towards HP nowadays ad the Gen4 lenovos are not as sturdy as they used to be.

 

You may actually run into space issues if you have lots of play store apps allocated,  as chrome o/s actually (stupidly) installs each app to the user profile so the more users that use each CB the more apps and space gets wasted.  They are 1:1 devices first and formost and they have been designed like that.

Edited May 12, 2025 by PotNoodleTech

[TheHyperTechie]

2 minutes ago, PotNoodleTech said:

Sadly I would have to disagree with the above, 90% faliure rate on Acer chromebooks over the last 5 years, i wouldnt touch them with a barge pole.

 

Lenovo OR HP seem to do the job.  Might even lean more towards HP nowadays ad the Gen4 lenovos are not as sturdy as they used to be.

 

You may actually run into space issues if you have lots of play store apps allocated,  as chrome o/s actually (stupidly) installs each app to the user profile so the more users that use each CB the more apps and space gets wasted.  They are 1:1 devices first and formost and they have been designed like that.

Interesting. Out of interest, what model Acers did you have issues with? the "Plus" models appear to be very sturdy. Haven't had a complaint, and they have been in use for nearly a year.

[PotNoodleTech]

2 minutes ago, HyperTech said:

Interesting. Out of interest, what model Acers did you have issues with? the "Plus" models appear to be very sturdy. Haven't had a complaint, and they have been in use for nearly a year.

514 and 314

[dhicks]

56 minutes ago, kha11 said:

we have a minimum Windows laptop spec, i5, 8GB RAM, 256SSD.

 

That seems like a reasonable specification for a Chromebook, too. You don't actually have to replace your physical Windows machines, you can (probably) simply reformat them with ChromeOS Flex instead. ChromeOS does work on devices other than laptops, so if this is a fixed classroom with desk space you could get PCs with screens and keyboards (cheaper, although more stuff to tinker with - a Mini PC with screen and keyboard will be around £300) or all-in-one PCs.

 

55 minutes ago, kha11 said:

On some Windows machines, in multi-user settings, you have to delete old profiles to free storage space. Is this an issue on the cheaper Chromebooks with 128GB or 64GB drives?

 

ChromeOS should take care of removing older profiles if it starts to run out of space - I think there's a setting in Google Workspace where you can set the percentage of disk space you want to use for profiles. Best to allow enough disk space so that the machine isn't having to constantly swap profiles in and out, though - 256GB should be a good amount these days.

[PotNoodleTech]

Most chromeooks come with 64GB some with 128GB if your paying a bit more. (256GB is quite rare assuming your trying to keep it at under £500 per chromebook)

[Jaan]

I'm sure we nuke the profiles on log out on our chromebooks. We don't have Google play/Android enabled tho. 32GB storage don't have any issues. (Dell 3100)

 

Once upon a time when we did have play store we had to disabled this and ran into storage issues.

 

Devices

Chrome

Settings

Users and browsers

Force ephemeral mode

 

Edited May 13, 2025 by Jaan

[Jaan]

1 minute ago, Jaan said:

I'm sure we nuke the profiles on log out on our chromebooks. We don't have Google play/Android enabled tho. 32GB storage don't have any issues. (Dell 3100)

 

Once upon a time when we did have play store we had to disabled this and ran into storage issues.

 

Devices

Chrome

Settings

Users and browsers

Force ephemeral mode

 

Duplicate post..... not sure how to delete?

 

1 minute ago, Jaan said:

 

 

Edited May 13, 2025 by Jaan
duplicate please delete

[Danp]

There are some decent very hard wearing HPs in the market. I won't get a Chrome device with less that 8gb ram as I find they run better with more. Profile space can be a problem, but it's easy to clear via Admin console.

[ITGuyNW]

On 12/05/2025 at 15:00, dhicks said:

 

That seems like a reasonable specification for a Chromebook, too. You don't actually have to replace your physical Windows machines, you can (probably) simply reformat them with ChromeOS Flex instead. ChromeOS does work on devices other than laptops, so if this is a fixed classroom with desk space you could get PCs with screens and keyboards (cheaper, although more stuff to tinker with - a Mini PC with screen and keyboard will be around £300) or all-in-one PCs.

 

Does anyone know how easy it is to manage chromeOS flex on google admin if you're only on fundamentals? Can you just buy individual licences?

[Danp]

7 minutes ago, ITGuyNW said:

Does anyone know how easy it is to manage chromeOS flex on google admin if you're only on fundamentals? Can you just buy individual licences?

Correct. Most decent resellers will supply them, then you can apply them to devices as you enrol them.

[PotNoodleTech]

You buy a 20 quid licence like you do for all the other chromebooks.