Chrome books at primary school?...

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#1490126 11-Feb-2016 08:58

tchart:

Just an FYI but we ordered one of these off Amazon a few weeks back (about NZ$300);

http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/04/acer-chromebook-11-cb3-131/

This one?

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Chromebook-11-6-inch-CB3-131-C3SZ-Celeron/dp/B019G7VPTC

tchart

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#1490150 11-Feb-2016 09:25

Jaxson:

tchart:

Just an FYI but we ordered one of these off Amazon a few weeks back (about NZ$300);

http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/04/acer-chromebook-11-cb3-131/

This one?

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Chromebook-11-6-inch-CB3-131-C3SZ-Celeron/dp/B019G7VPTC

Yes, turned up about 3 or 4 days after ordering.

Jaxson

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#1490166 11-Feb-2016 09:32

tchart:

Yes, turned up about 3 or 4 days after ordering.

Thanks, I'll consider this.

No issues with the US side of things, charging cables etc?

Likewise, no issue with setup outside of the US? No region locked hassles around the user account etc?

2GB ram seems small for a traditional laptop, but if everything you use is web based then that should be more than enough.

ZiglioNZ

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#1490233 11-Feb-2016 10:39

I've bought for my son a NZ$300 Windows laptop: the Lenovo Ideapad 100s from Harvey Norman.

There are many laptops like that around US$200, like the HP Stream 11.

Any Windows laptop can also run Chrome :-) Our school doesn't care, they basically need to use Google Docs.

I've added a 64GB microSD so there's plenty of space, as these laptops come with only 32GB internal flash, and Windows is bigger than ChromeOS of course.

The Lenovo comes with Windows 32 and a 4 core Atom, so it performs slightly better than the HP Stream.

I've got my son the Windows version of Minecraft, he's been asking for many years, and that works well too.

nathan

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#1490240 11-Feb-2016 10:49

Jaxson:
tchart:

Yes, turned up about 3 or 4 days after ordering.

Thanks, I'll consider this.

No issues with the US side of things, charging cables etc?

Likewise, no issue with setup outside of the US? No region locked hassles around the user account etc?

2GB ram seems small for a traditional laptop, but if everything you use is web based then that should be more than enough.

They're not Geo locked

You potentially have issues with warranty, keep that in mind, no consumer guarantee act etc

That one has a US clove style plug, so you'll need an adapted or a new $3 power cord

Jaxson

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#1490249 11-Feb-2016 11:01

nathan:

That one has a US clove style plug, so you'll need an adapted or a new $3 power cord

Figure 8 or jug/desktop plug job?

Lots of cool options coming here, thanks.

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#1490251 11-Feb-2016 11:04

Jaxson:
nathan:

That one has a US clove style plug, so you'll need an adapted or a new $3 power cord

Figure 8 or jug/desktop plug job?

Lots of cool options coming here, thanks.

No a Clover style not either of those

But you should double check

But that's what both my Lenovo and Acer chrome books use

tchart

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#1490356 11-Feb-2016 13:33

Jaxson:

Thanks, I'll consider this.

No issues with the US side of things, charging cables etc?

Likewise, no issue with setup outside of the US? No region locked hassles around the user account etc?

2GB ram seems small for a traditional laptop, but if everything you use is web based then that should be more than enough.

No problem with setup. This is our second Acer purchased from the US. The power adaptors were both 110-240V, you just need an NZ clover lead (3 pin, not the figure 8 one). I just used one from another laptop adaptor.

We went for Acer as they A) have international warranty and B) have proven more robust than the other ones our kids (or friends kids) have used

PS for the first Acer buy I made the Best Buy guy take the adaptor out to check for 240V

Ruphus

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#1490686 11-Feb-2016 18:07

At my Wife's primary school, Chrome books are being introduced for year 7 and 8 pupils from term 2. Whilst not compulsory, chrome books will not be provided by the school for those that do not have them. Parents have to option of buying the devices through the school on a weekly plan over 2 years (including insurance) or sourcing a device themselves.

There was an interesting TV episode with Niger Latta covering education last month which covered some interesting topics.
http://www.tvnz.co.nz/content/tvnz/ondemand/shows/n/nigel-latta/s1/e2.html

I also work in IT and don't have the best handwriting but who cares. Today, I haven't written a single word but I sure did type up plenty of emails and mark up a few documents.

Jaxson

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#1490762 11-Feb-2016 20:14

Ruphus:
I also work in IT and don't have the best handwriting but who cares. Today, I haven't written a single word but I sure did type up plenty of emails and mark up a few documents.

Similar. I wrote a picture note to explain a concept to someone. It had some letters on it, mostly half the word because I got bored with writing the whole thing.

I learnt to touch type at school. One of only a few guys in the class (#missedopportunities) but it was one of the single best things I did.

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#1490774 11-Feb-2016 20:43

Jaxson: ...mostly half the word because I got bored with writing the whole thing....

My wife just looked at me sideways after I lol'd at this. Funniest thing I've read all day.

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

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#1491070 12-Feb-2016 12:02

Anyone know what one of these MacBooks would be worth second hand, in good condition:

http://www.macworld.com/product/464058/apple-macbook-pro-mc374ll-a-notebook.html

https://support.apple.com/kb/SP583?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

That new Acer Chromebook from Amazon does look the part. IPS screen and designed with a bit of thought to being ruggedized sounds ideal. Comes in under the import tax threshold too, so no issues there.

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#1491103 12-Feb-2016 12:49

Jaxson: Anyone know what one of these MacBooks would be worth second hand, in good condition:

http://www.macworld.com/product/464058/apple-macbook-pro-mc374ll-a-notebook.html

https://support.apple.com/kb/SP583?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Check TradeMe expired listings. Macs hold their value. If you go down that route, ideally replacing the HDD with an SSD would make the device a bit more kid-proof and give it a noticeable performance boost.

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

Jaxson

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#1491108 12-Feb-2016 12:57

Yeah will do. The macs not being used at home at the moment, so figure I'll look to sell it and change to the chromebook for school.

jaymz

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#1491115 12-Feb-2016 13:10

I do a lot of work for schools (Primary, intermediate, and high schools) and there is a school community wide push for more devices to be used.

Mostly I see iPads for the younger school (first years) but these are school provided to the kids, then chromebooks start becoming popular in the senior primary school ages.

One thing that I have heard is school's asking parents to purchase a Chromebook for their child to use at school and asking them to purchase a Enterprise Enrollment license - if you get asked to do this, question why you need it. If you enterprise enroll the device, the license becomes the schools. You dont get it back. and further to this, you need to get the school to deprovision the chromebook from its licensing if you leave the school (otherwise it stays locked to the school and its google policies)

There is another option for you technically minded out there, where you can turn any laptop into a chromebook using an image from ChromiumOS (http://arnoldthebat.co.uk/wordpress/)

Perfect if you have an old laptop that you are happy to run chromeOS. Just make sure it has at least 2GB RAM in it for better multitasking in Chrome.

All schools i have dealt with provide the students with a google apps account (%username%@schoolname.school.nz) that is best to use on the chromebooks. This is because the school may use a service like Hapara or Google Classroom to assign work and monitor progress on assigned work.

There are even touchscreen versions of chromebooks out there for users to use. From my experience the HP, ASUS, Acer, Samsung chromebooks suffer from issues with the screen hinges becoming loose or breaking after a year's worth of use. The best one i have seen so far was a Lenovo Chromebook that was pretty rugged (although more expensive)

That is about all i can think of for now, but if there is anything else let me know, i will see what i can find out.

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