Chromebook costs

[Edward Crist]

Hey folks

We're considering purchasing 200+ Chromebooks (new)

Any recommendations you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Also, what kinds of per-unit costs would be typical? (accidental damage coverage would likely be needed per unit)

Thanks so much!!

Edward Crist

Technology Manager

City Charter High School

__________________________

201 Stanwix St.

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

(412) 690-2489

(412) 690-2316 fax

www.cityhigh.org

cr...@cityhigh.org

[Lisa Fusco]

Here's my 2 cents:

We have Samsungs, HPs and Lenovos - the Lenovos have proven to be pretty durable although if the students set their minds to it they can pull the keys off :) Samsungs seem to take a licking but the bushings started to go in year one and we needed to supply mice because the trackpads stopped working - HP G3 are great, durable and reliable but we had a horrible experience with the G2.

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Lisa Fusco
Director of Educational Technology & Innovation

The Moriah School
53 S. Woodland Street
Englewood, NJ  07631
201-567-0208 ext. 325

 

[Bjorn Behrendt]

We bought 500, for a take-home 1:1, we chose to do a 2yr lease, and I am glad we did, because after 2 years they are worn out.   If they are not going home that is a different story.

I personally don't like the accidental insurance, and would rather spend the money on a few extra chromebooks.  90% of your damage will be broken screens.   We had the Acer 720's and currently replacement screens are $35 a piece and take 2 minutes to change.  Last year screens were about $50 a piece. 

The Lenovo N21's that we picked up, we didn't like.  They were durable, but over half of them we had trouble getting on our wifi and enrolling.   I was happy we only had 25.  But that may have been a bad batch too.

For next year I am looking closely at the Asus c202, mostly because it designed to have replaceable parts.   Accidental damage is inevitable, but sending it away and going through the hoopla of what is covered and what is not, was a pain.  (We did insurance the first year and we got denied because someones hand was shut in the CB, and they called that vandalism. )

Bjorn Behrendt M.Ed ~ Never Stop Learning

   b...@edlisten.com | Blog: Edlisten.com

On Mon, Mar 14, 2016 at 1:58 PM, Edward Crist <cr...@cityhigh.org> wrote:

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[Robert Holiday]

We have been a huge fan of the Acer c740, basically a more durable c720.

We have been getting the extended warranty on them (not the accidental damage), and like Bjorn, I wonder if a few extra chromebooks would be better than the warranty, a school intern can be shown how to replace screens if you don't have the time to do it.  We don't send ours home, so that swayed us from the accidental part of the warranties we've been buying. 

We are nearing the three year mark with some Samsung chromebooks and we'll be hard pressed to make them last another year. Mostly the screens are starting to short out or have a hue covering them. These are one of the first Chromebooks mass released, though, Samsung XE303C12 so that is probably not helping those model's cause.

I'm really interested to see how the Acer c740s last down the road, only time can tell that, though

One thing to keep in mind for the cheaper Chromebooks you'll inevitably find is their End of Life date

https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?hl=en

Each model of device has an End of Life date in which Google will no longer release updates to Chrome OS for that model.

[Edward Crist]

So much great information.

Our high school's 1:1 program is a take home program.  We are a warranty repair center for Dell and Lenovo laptops and so far it's been a great program for my 'tech team' of students to learn how to repair these machine.

But like most public schools, we always have to consider our expenses.....and as a public non-profit charter, we are dependent on funding from sending districts and cannot generate our own funds through taxes.

So I continue my research to see if I can cut some costs using Chromebooks as well as application virtualization to give Windows based program to our users.

Again, thanks soooo much for the information!!

Edward Crist

Technology Manager

City Charter High School

__________________________

201 Stanwix St.

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

(412) 690-2489

(412) 690-2316 fax

www.cityhigh.org

cr...@cityhigh.org

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[Bob Clay, 619-567-3237]

We're running one to one at three of none schools with about 6000 chromebooks.  We're getting ready to add more schools and buy 6000 more chromebooks.  We had been using Acer c720 and considered Acer c740.  Instead, we're going with  the Samsung Chromebook 3 500C13.  You really should take a look at these units.  Intel chip, 11 hour battery life,  screen folds flat, screen is reinforced, price is low.  We 're getting big discount off of list price.

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[Edward Crist]

Looks great. Can the battery be replaced by the customer?

Edward Crist

Technology Manager

City Charter High School

__________________________

201 Stanwix St.

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

(412) 690-2489

(412) 690-2316 fax

www.cityhigh.org

cr...@cityhigh.org

[Shircliff, Paul]

​we have Acer CB5 311 and the power ports have issues...loose connection

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From: k12ap...@googlegroups.com <k12ap...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Bob Clay, 619-567-3237 <rc...@guhsd.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 11:07 AM
To: Robert Holiday; Google Apps K12 Technical Forum
Subject: Re: Chromebook costs

 

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PLEASE NOTE: This email and any response to it is being archived for later retrieval and may constitute a public record and therefore may be made available upon request in accordance with Ohio Public Records law (ORC 149.43).

[Bob Clay, 619-567-3237]

We repair the units ourselves so I have technicians that can open them up and replace anything.  I don't know if a non-technician can replace the battery.

[Dennis Stellern]

We have purchased 1100 Acer 720P for our middle school.  They are on their second year of service and holding up pretty good. Last year we purchase Dell 11 Chrome books for the 3-5 students.  They are holding up great but aren't as heavily used at the middle school. Only 5th grade can take them home.  Our next round of Chrome books will most likely be the Acer R11.  The ability to rotate the screen to tablet or tent mode we be good for our 1st and 2nd graders.  As far as price we try to stay under $300 with the management cost included.

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Dennis Stellern

Network Manager

Oak Lawn School District 123

[Lori Brennan]

hi edward,

we have 65 chromebooks in circulation total from 4th to 6th grade and are planning to expand to 7th next year in place of the macbook air's they have been using. 

we've had samsung, acer and lenovo.  lenovo is by far my favorite and all but a dozen of our systems are now lenovo. the N21 model is what we have now. its by far sturdier than the others and ive had very few repairs in huge contrast to the other systems. 

a couple of thoughts:  

1) i would get 4GB memory as opposed to 2GB.

2) if you do any video or other programs that may not work in a chromebook environment, you may want to have a small pool of ipads or something similar to bridge the gap.

3) google device management is crucial but if you're looking for classroom management beyond the basics that google apps provides, we've just recently started using GoGuardian and we are really happy with the results. You can get a free demo and it's very reasonably priced. Also super easy to set up and intuitive for faculty to use. It also includes web filtering, which is always challenging.

4) if you're looking for purchasing help, we've used both Promevo and CDWG with very positive results.

Im happy to share more info if anyone is interested.

lori

Lori Brennan

Technology Specialist

The Mandell School

775 Columbus Ave

NY, NY 10025

212-222-2925 x5420

lori.b...@mandellschool.org

On Monday, March 14, 2016 at 1:59:22 PM UTC-4, Edward Crist wrote:

[Reggie Ryan]

Hi Edward,

We utilize the Lenovo Yoga Chromebook (convertible, touch-screen). From CDW we pay $390 per unit (200 at a time), $27 per unit for GAFE license, and if they go home, $129 per unit for Lenovo’s ADP 3-year warranty. 

We expect these units to last 3 years, and purchase an additional 20% extra for breakage and loaners (to last the 3 year lifespan of the device). 

We do not charge our students for breakage and have a $140 per year tech fee. Our goal is to have the tech fee cover 50% of the program cost.

The Lenovo ADP warranty has been great. They send a box, we send the unit back, they fix in about a week or two. 

Reggie Ryan

Director of Technology 

Northbrook School District 27

Northbrook, IL 60062

[Bryan Warren]

We have just over 1000 chromebooks in our district. we are 1:1 in our 2-6 grade and are close in 7-8. We also have a couple carts for HS. None of ours go home they all live in carts in classrooms. We have gone with mostly Samsung and have been happy. We do non-warranty repairs in-house. We also have been getting the Edugear line branded by CDI Computers. They have a couple different models that are worth a look. Pricing is in the $200 range I believe.  

[Kevin O'Donnell]

Great to see the thoughts of others! The last batch I bought was the CTL2s. I did get the 3 year full accidental damage and extended warranty, and the management fee and it was still under $300. Warranty and damage cost was about $85.
I can get the CTL4s for sub 300 this summer. You can also become a certified repair person and they will ship your parts to make repairs.
Devices don't go home - yet - so we diced to get the warranty in case