New Chromebook laptops will be introduced to the students of RCMS in the school year of 2024-2025 to replace the current Dell Latitude model.
Kruthik Nyshadham, a seventh-grader in A pod, says there’s things to improve on from the current laptop model.
“I would make it so that they run faster,” he said.
Chromebooks that the school will be purchasing are $444 per laptop (and that’s including a four year warranty). Chromebooks will have a 14-inch 1920×1080 screen and 8 GB of RAM (which is how fast the computer can run applications). That’s twice more than what Dell can offer. Kruthik, however, thinks it’s still not quite enough for home use.
“I had a Chromebook once, and it would run so slow,” he said.
The Chromebook has 64 GB of hard drive storage, though the main method for storing files is through the cloud service. Features include USB-C phone-compatible chargers, a 12-hour battery life and a linux-based ChromeOS operating system. Since they won’t be using Windows, they won’t have applications from Microsoft Office such as Word, PowerPoint and others in the service. Kiyan Patel, a seventh-grader in B-pod, is concerned about the lack of Windows applications.
“You won’t have access to countless applications,” Kiyan said, “but it wouldn’t be a downgrade either because it’d be much faster.”
After four years, the Dell Latitude hardware is failing. The battery, one of the most deteriorated components, often can’t go through the whole school day without needing a recharge. The lithium-ion battery capacity has been reduced from constant charging, so the battery can’t store as much power as it used to.
“In the morning, it’s at 100%, but by 6th period it’s at very low charge,” Kruthik said.
Mr. Michael Hale, a member of the IT department at RCMS, says that the number of laptops returned for repair or replacement is around ten per day (average throughout the whole school year). He also said that the number of problems with the laptops caused by students and problems caused by the hardware itself are roughly equal. One of the main points of getting Chromebooks is management and control.
“They’re easier to manage centrally,” Mr. Hale said. Chromebooks can be managed by a single console.
The school paid around $480 for each Dell computer and its 4-year warranty. They have an Intel CORE i3 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and a 1366×768 screen resolution. Dell laptops are also advertised to be durable enough to survive a 30” drop onto steel. Kruthik isn’t sure if the Chromebooks will be as strong or, at least, strong enough to endure the school conditions.
“They’re so slim, they’re going to break easily,” Kruthik said.
Though students like Kruthik don’t see any major cons with the Chromebooks, they have some minor issues with them.
“They run really slow and the trackpad is bad,” Kruthik said.
While Kiyan and Kruthik don’t see a big improvement in the new laptops, they are tired of issues that their current computers face and are open to new options.
“I think that you all will be happy with them,” Mr. Hale said.
