Google’s Chromebooks Make Up Half Of US Classroom Devices

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According to a report from Futuresource Consulting, it seems that Chromebooks make up a huge chunk of US classroom devices.

How big, you ask? According to the report, it has been suggested that at least half of devices used in the classroom is a Chromebook. This is pretty impressive especially when you consider that back in 2012, Chromebooks only accounted for less than 1%, so for it to jump to 53% in three years is a very impressive feat.

According to Rajen Sheth, director of product management for Android and Chrome in business and education, “It’s been amazing to us to see that growth happen just in that short amount of time. If you look at the overall market for devices in education, it’s actually expanded a lot and Chromebooks have actually taken a lot of the expansion.”

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Wow, 53% of school computers are Chromebooks. I think the back-to-school sales on Chromebooks make a lot of students, and schools buy Chromebooks since you can buy a Chromebook for $100 or less sometimes.
 
Well, there is a very high number of students who hate them. I know three members of my forums who are forced to use Chromebooks in high-school and absolutely dislike them. You can't do anything on them except homework and browse the internet.
 
Chromebook users can run Chrome Applications and Extension from the Google Chrome Store. There are now more offline Applications which work when users are offline. There are also a few Android apps like Vine, Tapatalk, and Google Keep which work on Chrome OS.

I think schools and libraries sometimes lockdown their Windows and Apple Mac computers, so users can just browse the web, and use the school's pre-installed programs like MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. Schools lockdown their computer to prevent viruses from users installing virus-infected software on their computer, and to stop users from being distracted with games, and entertainment when they should be studying.

One of the benefits of Chromebook, is that it does not need third-party security programs, and user permission control software like parental control software which can slow down a regular Windows, and Mac computer, and sometimes makes a computer unstable.
 
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Well, there is a very high number of students who hate them. I know three members of my forums who are forced to use Chromebooks in high-school and absolutely dislike them. You can't do anything on them except homework and browse the internet.

isn't that what they are meant to do? Do homework and use the internet for school related tasks?
 
isn't that what they are meant to do? Do homework and use the internet for school related tasks?

I think most students who use computers are suppose to use them for school related tasks, and using the internet for school related tasks.

But, more students now probably feel that they should be able to use the school's computer, and internet connection for playing games, and editing videos and photos to upload to YouTube, and Facebook.

Some school usually do not want students to play games or edit videos on them because games and larger programs can overheat the schools cheaper computers which are only good for school and office work, but not good for gaming, and using larger programs because a lot of cheaper computers don't have good cooling fans or power supplies which can cool down a PC, and provide enough power to the PC when playing an intensive 3D game, or editing large HD video files.
 
isn't that what they are meant to do? Do homework and use the internet for school related tasks?
I would agree with that. They are given by the school for free for the students to use them for educational purposes and not be used to play games while in school
 
Considering that the kids don't have an additional laptop and rely on their Chromebook for everything, they should offer a little more, such as allow Skype or other video-calling programs, like ooVoo...

There is Google Hangouts which has a video calling feature. Everyone who uses a Chromebook can use Hangouts without making another account because their Google Account for their Chromebook also works for Hangouts.

A lot of schools have older Windows desktop in the computer lab, library, etc, so students can also go to the school library and computer lab to use Windows if they need to use Windows. But, a lot of schools don't let students install, and run software like games, and chat programs like Skype that the school's computer workers did not install in Windows, so the experience using Windows at school is more restrictive because there is usually just MS Office, Web Browser, and school software installed on Windows PC.
 
Installing a lot of programs, games, and apps will cause most cheaper computers to slow down, and sometimes even randomly freeze, reboot or shutdown, so sometimes the computer staff change permissions to not-allow students to install software.

Plus, the internet and network at many schools are usually slow, and old, so the internet and network may not be usable if too many users are video chatting, playing online games, and downloading large files like game, software installers and software patches for large programs like games, and video editors which can be many GBs in size.

Bandwidth is also expensive in countries like Canada, and some parts of the USA. I think some schools who are on a limited bandwidth internet plan will try to save their bandwidth by not allowing students to watch online video, or play games. Users sometimes need to pay extra money for going over their bandwidth limit, or having your internet connection disabled, or slowed down when you use too much bandwidth.
 
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