In a scenario where educational institutes actively look for devices that can provide them with the highest level of productivity, Chromebooks are king. According to analytics research by Edweek Market Brief in 2019, Chromebooks make up 60% of the devices sold for K-12 schools in the United States of America. This figure since then has only seen improvement as Chrome OS continues to dominate the educational sector.
But why is this so? How has a simpleton Chromebook managed to achieve this level of success across the world? There is more than what meets the eye here. Chrome OS didn’t have it easy becoming this popular, and there are multiple reasons why schools use Chromebooks instead of other laptops, such as Windows or Macbooks. This article will talk about just that and explain why these sleek devices are number one for learning.
- Recommended read: 5 unconventional ways to save storage space on Chromebook.
Best reasons why Chrome OS is picked up by schools the most
The following is a carefully assessed collection of different reasons schools use Chromebooks instead of laptops or Macbooks.
Unmatched battery runtimes
Chrome OS is unrivaled as an operating system when it boils down to the battery runtime that it can boast. Where most other devices, such as Windows laptops and Macbooks, gas out at 2-6 hours, except for the ultra-expensive range, you’ll find Chromebooks lasting you far more than what one would typically expect. For instance, the Lenovo Chromebook Duet is a $250 Chromebook that lasts about $12 of normal usage on a single full charge.
Combine that with the fast charging potential of a USB-C Power Delivery port, and you’ve got your students a great package in this regard. Another device that falls in the spotlight is the Asus Chromebook C423, dishing out 10 hours of usage daily. Functionality such as this will last your school day as a student with plenty of juice still left in there for a tad bit of entertainment.
We can go on and on about Chromebooks that last pretty long—more than what an average laptop can offer—so it’s genuinely no question why a school would want to prioritize this feature. This can allow students and administrators to get a lot of work done without worrying about plugging in the device frequently. It’s an every-now-and-then scenario with Chrome OS in terms of charging their batteries.
- Related read: Top 10 Chromebooks with the best battery life.
Affordability
Another compelling reason why schools think of plunging toward Chrome OS is cost. Affordability is, perhaps, the greatest selling point of a modern-day Chromebook. Like every business globally, schools and educational institutes have to be wary of their budget and financial spending. Chrome OS, being relatively inexpensive, is easy to spot in this regard and proves to be much more valuable than what it’s originally worth.
However, this isn’t to say that all Chromebooks are cheap and reside within the $200-$300 price bracket. Some devices cost well over $1000, such as the HP Elite c1030 Chromebook, but that is not what you should be focusing on as someone who has to manage the IT department of an educational institute. School-ready Chromebooks bought in bulk, such as the HP Chromebook 14 and the Asus Chromebook Detachable CM3, cost less.
However, if certain schools with higher funding would want to gravitate toward top-end options, they’ll also find these slick devices affordable to a certain extent. That is to say, several Chromebooks with high-tier features also sell well, such as the Galaxy Chromebook 2 and the Dell Inspiron.
- Don’t miss: Top 10 Chromebooks for school.
Robust presence of educational applications
Google has done a great job providing education-centric applications for children eager to learn with Chrome OS. Chromebooks comprise a fleet of productivity apps like Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Google Word, not to mention Google Classroom. The latter is a specialized software that provides teachers and students with a learning environment.
A swath of features is included in Classroom, such as switching between different tasks effortlessly and reserving some commonly used phrases for later use. Teachers, in particular, are going to have a great time utilizing Classroom to their needs as they manage the grading of students and keep in sync with the Student Information System (SIS) of your school.
The latter is basically where all the students’ records are kept, yet Classroom manages to integrate into the domain quite profoundly. Other than this adroit platform for making the lives of both teachers and students easier than ever, Chrome OS allows young children to get into cursive writing as well, specifically with the help of Google Cursive.
This is another high-quality application that stylus-ready Chromebooks, such as the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2, can make the best of teaching curious students how to write cursively. Cursive writing is when you join letters together to scribble down notes and words faster, promoting the nurturing of calligraphy in students and making them more technically aware of the craft.
Easy management features
Chromebooks are the devices of choice in multi-user settings, particularly in schools where many students have been allotted computers for learning and completing their classroom tasks. Our thorough research across educational institute forums says that lab technicians and IT administrators find it relatively easier to manage a Chromebook than a Windows laptop.
That is to say, Chrome OS is more of a limited software that doesn’t hoard junk as much as other operating systems. There’s only so much that you can download from the internet on a Chromebook, and the best part is that all of the downloaded items are tied to a single account. This means that other users cannot access the downloaded data of a particular account even if they want to.
Another advantage that makes a Chromebook highly desirable for schools is its easy deployment. Google offers a management console called Google Admin, a hub for IT admins. With just the click of a button, policies get applied school-wide, and there’s no need to tend to each device manually. Google Admin is highly advanced, user-friendly, and definitely what schools need to make their lives easier.
Relentless security
If one sentence sums up how secure Chrome OS truly is, then it’s the next one. Chromebooks are devices that have never been hit with ransomware, ever. This says a lot about the operating system, but let us take you down a trip and explain why this is so. First off, Chromebooks utilize a sandbox environment where every tab opened Chrome tab is self-contained.
This means that if a virus of some sort were to invade the infrastructure of your device, it would only do as much damage as being locked inside one tab. That is to say, as soon as you close the affected tab, the virus will vanish like magic. It won’t execute malignancy or travel to other parts of your operating system in most cases, thus the purpose of a “sandbox” state. This form of containment consolidates the overall security of Chrome OS by a significant margin,
On top of this comes another top-tier feature called Verified Boot that makes even shorter work of impending threats. You have Chromebooks as one of the most secure types of devices. This is one of the many benefits of having one’s base set up on the cloud. Furthermore, if we were to speak about the build of Chromebooks, these devices feature what Google calls “tamper-resistant hardware.”
In the end, we have the automatic updates side of Chrome OS, which, perhaps, is the greatest strength of this security-oriented operating system. Major system updates that come out for the stable release drop every 3-4 weeks or so, with minor tweaks for the dev channel releasing every other day. Security is one of the foremost reasons schools look for when setting up an IT department or computer labs, and here’s Chrome OS taking full marks in this regard.
Simple, fast, and effective
Another major reason Chrome OS dominates this realm and has a radian future is its simplicity, effectiveness, and speed. Chromebooks are popularly known for booting up in less than 10 seconds. In a direct comparison with Windows laptops in this facet, Chrome OS blows the competition out of its way. Next comes its straightforward user interface.
There’s no clutter of app icons on the desktop, and it’s reserved to showcase your wallpaper only. All the magic is at the bottom of the Chrome OS interface, called the “Shelf” and the Launcher section that you can fire up by pressing the “Search” key. Everything is well-kept, organized, and simple to access. The applications are arranged so that you can catch all of them at a glance and sort them according to your preferences.
Other than that, Chromebooks are generally faster than Windows laptops. There’s no inclusion of a significant number of processes in the operating system that can pull it down from its optimal performance and render it slow. If you’d like to look at some of the best-performing Chromebooks in the business now that we’ve mentioned this point, don’t forget to check out the interlinked guide.
Terrific portability
Another selling point of a modern-era Chromebook pertains to its portability. When you combine best-in-class security features and the reliability and security of Chrome OS with ultra-portability, you get a ground-breaking deal, don’t you? The aforementioned Lenovo Chromebook Duet is a detachable device that can transition into a tablet upon removing the magnetic keyboard.
In that case, the Duet will weigh even lesser than 1 pound, making the whole scenario nothing but feather-like. Students require tech that isn’t hard or heavy to carry and fits easily inside their backpacks. This is what most school Chromebooks can provide to users, so it’s just no wonder why they’re getting picked up so frequently by educational institutes across the United States and the rest of the world.
Durable build quality
Most Chromebooks are built like a tank with military-grade durability and robust build quality. The top-ranking Chromebook manufacturers of our time realize the importance of creating rugged devices that can stand the test of time and the torture of little children who treat pieces of tech like toys. The Acer Chromebook 514, for instance, is a little up than the budget range but can hold its ground like a rock.
Its tolerance levels are high and attributed to establishing what one can call a sturdy Chromebook. If you go higher up the price bracket, you’ll come across the ever-brilliant Acer Chromebook Spin 713, and this is a doozy of a device. This specimen is certified military-grade durable, making it an excellent choice for school-going children and educational institutes.
Chromebooks across the board are all known to be tough devices, so this is another splendid reason schools would want to opt for the way of Chrome OS compared to other devices.
Oriented around the cloud
Chromebooks employ an operating system that is based on the cloud. If you’re not aware of it, a cloud-based computer boasts tremendous functionality on the fly and takes the shackles off that are holding back locality-based devices. If you lose your personally stored data somewhere but lose it, you’ll find it quite hard to recover your lost stuff.
In addition, there’s a ton of hassle to deal with if you’re switching devices and need to transition your saved preferences, settings, and other saved data. However, that is certainly not the case with Chrome OS. These are oriented around the cloud, meaning that all of your set preferences will stay in sync and carry over to other Chromebooks whenever you need them to. All that would be required is your Gmail account that you’ll use to sign in to the device, and that’ll be it.
The chief program that helps Chrome OS achieve its cloud-based goals is Google Drive, offering up to 5 GB of storage with a free user account. Drive integrates right within Chromebooks’ “Files” app and lets users interact with stored files almost instantaneously.
Combine that with the wealth of productivity applications offered by Google and their interconnection with Drive, and you’ve got yourself a picture-perfect winning formula of a device.
- Here’s how to download files and folders of Google Drive for good measure.
Conclusion
Chromebooks have come a long way from merely being “web browsers” to boasting state-of-the-art functionality. They’re super secure, boast many educational applications for students and teachers alike, and even cost less than other options in the long run. All of these are reasons enough for schools across the spectrum to pick up the working capacity of Chrome OS compared to a Windows laptop or macOS for employment.
By the time you’re done reading this guide, you’ll be caught up on the best reasons Chromebooks have garnered a high reputation for themselves in the educational sector. If you’re using Chrome OS, do let us know what you like about the operating system the most in the comments section.
As always, Chrome Ready wishes you good luck!
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