Chromebooks are gaining popularity in the K-12 education market, and Dell has announced its second-generation model on Thursday morning.
The new Chromebook 11 is designed to be well-built for the physical pressure that a student might put it through.
"The classroom is changing quickly, and innovative technology is a major way for students to enjoy a collaborative educational experience," said Sam Burd, vice president and general manager of Dell Personal Computing Product Group. "Education devices need to be really robust to make it through a school district's life cycle."
The new Chromebook starts at $249 and uses a new Intel Celeron processor. While this isn't Intel's latest Broadwell chip, the use of a powerful-yet-a-little-older processor will help keep costs down without any huge effects on the battery life, which is set to last around 10 hours.
The device uses rugged plastic as well as Corning's Gorilla Glass for the display. Interestingly enough, the Gorilla Glass is not to protect the display from fingers. According to the company, one way that students were breaking laptops was by putting pens and pencils on the keyboard and then closing the screen.
An interesting and unique feature of the laptop is the LED light, which resides in the top right-hand corner of the computer to indicate if students are ready or want to ask a question. It's unlikely, however, that this will catch on in classrooms, unless schools buy many of them for their students.
"Dell continues its commitment to teaching and learning, and is really focused on providing complete end-to-end solutions and services that help districts deploy reliable IT infrastructures that support the unique learning needs of their students," said John Phillips, managing director of worldwide education strategy at Dell. "This new portfolio ensures that technology remains an enabler of student potential."
The device also has an option for a touchscreen, which could be important as touch-compatible software becomes more popular. Schools will likely want to hold on to computers for as long as possible, which means purchasing computers that will be able to handle the next generation of software is important.
Another feature that can be bought with the computer is the option for LTE data rather than Wi-Fi. While most schools will have Wi-Fi, some schools will purchase LTE devices for students who might not have Internet access in their homes.
Apart from the new Chromebook, Dell has also released a newer Windows-powered 11-inch laptop, which it calls the Latitude 11. This computer comes with a sealed, spill-proof keyboard.
