Chromebooks are laptops that run on Google's Chrome OS. The machines also use the cloud for storage.
Once in a niche category that offered a budget-friendly notebook, Chromebooks' popularity is hindered by the laptop's lack of applications and their online dependence in order to become useful. Despite all these, Chromebook sales keep increasing at an impressive rate. Sales are expected to reach 5.2 million of sold devices which is a sharp increase of 79% from 2013. Moreover, sales are expected to almost triple by 2017 with around 14.2 million sold units of Chromebooks.
One of the top reasons that Chromebook sales are increasing is because of the Educational sector. In 2013, schools bought 85% of the total 2.9 million sold Chromebooks. Chromebooks are low-cost devices which seemed to be even expanding despite the fact that most PCs are losing customers. With a price tag that falls under $300, it's no wonder why Chromebooks look appealing to several industries which include education. HP, Acer, and Samsung are among those companies that manufacture Chromebooks.
According to a report by research analyst Gartner, it was Samsung which dominated the worldwide market of Chromebook in 2013. It earned almost two-thirds of the market. Acer landed at the fifth spot of the remaining sales while the rest are shared by Lenovo, HP, and Dell.
Chromebook seemed very appealing to the school system mostly because of its cost, management, and low maintenance. "Adding 11,000 devices would have killed us if they needed a lot of support," said David Andrade, Bridgeport Public Schools' CIO.
The Connecticut-based school has deployed 11,000 Chromebooks during the previous year. It plans to add another batch of 5,000 within the next 12 months.
Other school systems seemed to be doing the same thing. These would include the Cherry Creeks School District located in Greenwood Village, Colorado, which deployed 18,000 Chromebooks last year, and Boston which announced that it is deploying 10,000 Chromebooks.
Google, on its part, has created a management system that's authentically centralized. This allows a school system to perform website restriction and network access as changes can be achieved rapidly.
Bridgeport suggests that Chromebooks must have a refresh cycle of four years. "As long as there is no physical damage, these things can go on forever," added Andrade. "The Chrome operating systems doesn't bog down like Windows does over age."
The school system prioritizes the high school students for their deployment of Chromebooks because they are required to deliver the best performance. The student's Chromebook access begins when he reaches third grade and the agreement comes with a damage policy. This would involve screen breakage. The damage charge would be similar to charging students for lost or damaged textbooks.
Chromebooks are priced between $250 and $300. Screen replacement costs around half of the total cost.
