Source for refurbished/used Chromebooks?

[K & M Weigold]

We are considering moving from shared desktop computers to assigned Chromebooks.

Do you know of any good source for bulk used or refurbished Chromebooks?  I've checked NewEgg, TigerDirect, TechSoup, and Lenovo.  I'd like a batch of 20. 

Thoughts, guidance, pitfalls to avoid?

We are on an extremely limited budget.  Our DSL internet is not the best at the school and we are hoping that a local cable company will extend the additional 2 miles to our building. Two miles in a rural setting is a great distance so we aren't holding our breath.

Thanks in advanced,

Kathi Weigold

[Jason Schmidt]

The problem with budget Chromebooks is that you are already getting a budget device, so refurbished devices don't necessarily save you much money in the long run since you'll need to repair/replace them more often. The other part of it is that refurbished devices are farther along in the update cycle than newer models, so you run the risk of obsolescence sooner than you would by spending a little more money upfront.

If you really must buy refurbished, CTL is probably the largest vendor of such products: https://ctl.net/collections/chromebooks/products/lenovo-n22-chromebook I'd probably trust their refurbishing process more than what others would do. This model will receive updates through June of 2022 so it'll cost you $75 per year for the machine before you would need to plan to replace it. To compare, a brand new J41 from CTL will cost you $200 upfront and will get updates through June of 2024, so your cost per year is $50 and you get 4 years to come up with a plan for replacement, or if you spend $300 for a Chromebook Duet that also works well with Android apps, you get updates through 2028, so your cost per year goes down to less than $40 per year and you get 8 years to plan for replacement...You see where I'm going with this.

In your planning, don't forget to include the cost of the Chrome management license. These are device licenses and cannot be reassigned to new devices unless they are direct replacements.

Jason Schmidt Google Education Trainer, Seesaw Certified Teacher m:402.415.9941 | e:jasonsc...@gmail.com | w:http://about.me/jasonschmidt123 Get your own email signature

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[Kyle J. Riess]

Agreed Jason.  That was a big surprise to me AFTER we went to Chromebooks... the planned obsolescence that is built in to each Chromebook, and it is not based upon activation of the license, but predetermined by Google based on the model.  I have some replacing to do as Google has stopped updating some of ours that are not that old, but they were not new models when we purchased them.  I'd highly recommend getting new ones on the less expensive side.  Right now we are looking at rolling the cost into our registration fee for 3rd grade so that it should follow them for the rest of their academic career at our K-8 school.

Kyle

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[K & M Weigold]

I'm glad you mentioned the Chrome Management License--I was just exploring it.  That they are not transportable is a great point. 

We will be assigning Chromebooks to each student (not sharing).  I was trying to see it the fee would be worth it for your case---from what I'm reading, I think it is...

I'm also investigating Moodle--side note.

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