Chromebook refresh

[ewikstromSD]

We’re coming to the end of a 4-year lease and are planning to refresh our 1:1 Chromebooks in grades 6-12 for students and teachers. We need devices that fold flat into a tablet (2 in 1) as well as have active styluses. We use Kami with Google Classroom to be as paperless as possible. We currently have Lenovo 500e Gen 2 devices for students and Acer Chromebook Spin 13 devices for teachers. What would you recommend for a refresh? Also, would you recommend 8gb ram for students and 16gb for teachers considering we would keep these devices for the next 4 years? TIA

[NielsBrockmeier · Accepted solution]

8GB and 16GB would be recommended from my experience, we still have some with only 4GB and those are getting considerably slower over the past 2 years. 16GB is definitely worth the investment for the next 4 years.

We are currently working closely with Asus, for both students and staff, but are also looking at Lenovo.
For students they will have the option of an Asus - BR1104C (CR1104) or a Lenovo - 100e G4, both are flipable and have a touchscreen + 8GB of memory.

For staff we currently run the ASUS CX34 Flip (CX3401) and are looking at the ASUS Vibe CX34 Flip, because of the brighter display, as replacements going forward.

[NielsBrockmeier · Accepted solution]

8GB and 16GB would be recommended from my experience, we still have some with only 4GB and those are getting considerably slower over the past 2 years. 16GB is definitely worth the investment for the next 4 years.

We are currently working closely with Asus, for both students and staff, but are also looking at Lenovo.
For students they will have the option of an Asus - BR1104C (CR1104) or a Lenovo - 100e G4, both are flipable and have a touchscreen + 8GB of memory.

For staff we currently run the ASUS CX34 Flip (CX3401) and are looking at the ASUS Vibe CX34 Flip, because of the brighter display, as replacements going forward.

[don_b_nashville]

Also check the CTL offerings. My all-time favorite CB (for its time) was the CTL CMT which was rebranded by CDI (now a part of TROX.) It had a replaceable battery and stood up better to abuse than any Acer, Asus, Lenovos we purchased. They're at ctl.net

The Lenovo 500e's we got for students were a little problematic. I got feedback that they were slower than their 300e's. And the styli are a nightmare. Prices seem to have come down since, but the ones that came with the 500e's we have had an orange top unlike the current ones. Someone built a clever connection so that when parked it would charge through a contact in that orange end. Beautiful theory, except for schools. Under real world conditions, it was the single point of failure, and when that orange top was snapped off there was just no repair. Replacements were north of $90 each. Might as well buy a Logitech crayon except for the form factor. Looks like prices are now more reasonable, YMMV regarding dockable styli. I just know that next time, I'm going to be looking at CTL first.  

[ewikstromSD]

I had the CDI (EduGear) CMT Chromebooks during our initial rollout prior to refreshing with the Lenovo 500e Gen 2. Fortunately we only had a 3-year lease, but about half-way through the lease, the factory that made replacement parts for the CMT just decided not to make parts anymore so it was a constant battle for repairs, comparable replacements and even replacement batteries. This was with the devices under a 3-year warranty with CDI. After that, I said I would never buy white-label Chromebooks again. The factory decided to stop making parts well before the official Google AUE. With the Lenovo's, I've been using Trafera which is an authorized repair shop. Even during the supply-chain delays, I was always able to get devices repaired.

[Kelly_McMahon]

I have the chance to purchase new HP G8 EE with 8GB RAM for students at a good price.  The end of auto updates on these devices is 2029 and we usually keep the Chromebooks for 5-6 years but only used regularly with students for 4 years.  I am debating if buying last years model is worth the 8GB.  Price is $230.  The G9 with 8GB is $325

[ewikstromSD]

I've gotten varying opinions so far, but most people have been recommending 8GB vs. 4GB for students since everything is web-based, and websites and Chrome are only going to get more memory hungry. I've had Windows desktops I've had to upgrade from 4GB to 8GB because they were freezing.

[MarkLoundy · Accepted solution]

Since forever, the law of computer purchasing has been to get the most RAM that you can afford. It always ends up being needed.

[Kelly_McMahon]

Absolutely!  I think that even though we get a year less of auto-updates, the 8GB will go far