Chromebooks Are Winning In The Education Sector

By Lucian Armasu
published

HP Chromebook 11 ( (Image credit: Google))

According to the IDC’s latest report on tablets and notebooks for K-12 education, Chromebooks are the best-selling category of devices. Google said that students and teachers like Chromebooks for three main reasons:

Easy to use. From the very beginning, Chrome OS has been about simplicity and ease of use. Everyone knows how to use a browser, and Chrome OS is designed to function primarily within the browser. This makes it ideal for both students and teachers.

Easy to share. Chrome OS makes it easy to switch between multiple accounts with no hassle. The fact that most user data is hosted on third-party cloud services makes it easier still to share these devices with other students. If the devices get lost or broken, the data is safe in the cloud, and the users can access it on other Chromebooks or any other Internet-capable devices.

Easy to manage. This is a boon for schools, because they need to be able to manage hundreds or thousands of devices at once. Google has made it easy to do so remotely, in part because IT admins don't have to install apps on every single device.

A student at Urban Promise Academy uses a Chromebook to design video games ( (Image credit: Google))

Although Chromebooks are great products on their own, Google seems to have played a major role in convincing so many schools to adopt Chromebooks as their tool of choice in education. Chromebooks have been relatively successful in other areas as well, including the consumer market, where they are seeing a steady rise in popularity, but the education sector remains by far the most approachable by the company.

In addition to rapid popularity growth in the U.S. education sector, Chromebooks are also gaining ground in other countries abroad. Malaysia, for example, uses Chromebooks for its entire national school system. Google said that it will host the Global Education Symposium this week, where education ministers from 18 countries will participate. This seems like another great opportunity for Google to convince even more countries to adopt Chromebooks for their schools.

A combination of low price, simplicity, product quality, enhanced security, a move towards cloud computing, and Google’s own Education-related services and apps has led to Chromebooks becoming so successful in this market.

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Lucian Armasu
Lucian Armasu
Lucian Armasu is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers software news and the issues surrounding privacy and security.
10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • bahalol
    'Malaysia, for example, uses Chromebooks for its entire national school system', I'm from Malaysia and i could only laugh at this statement...hahahahahaHAHAHAH
    Reply
  • Nuckles_56
    The other reason is that the school doesn't have to worry about what they end up downloading nearly as much as there is far less malware out there targeting chromebooks when compared with windows or even apple products
    Reply
  • LordConrad
    I'm a computer tech, so I bought a Chromebook to get more familiar with them and find out why they're becoming so popular. I purchased the fully loaded version of the Acer Chromebook 13. This thing boots within seconds, is very lightweight, and (like most laptops) has a built-in keyboard. I use this around the house so much that I've mostly retired my iPad. I now use my iPad mostly when I leave the house as it's more portable than the Chromebook, which means I'm stuck with the on-screen keyboard until I get home.

    Obviously neither of these devices will replace my main PC, but for checking email or surfing the net around the house, the Chromebook is my first choice.
    Reply
  • Mr201
    "Malaysia, for example, uses Chromebooks for its entire national school system"
    what a flat out lie, did malaysia's government pay you to write this tom? The government give very low-end acer aspire one run on windows 7 that use people's taxes for fcking grade school for god sake, do they need that? no! while people in college in university suffering just to get a smartphone that just work for god sake!
    Reply
  • rmicro1
    I work in the as a tech in the IT department of a school district in Canada and many of our schools are purchasing chromebooks by the hundreds because they are cheap and easy to use. However, there are downsides. I attended a Google Summit last year and they stated that the Chome OS will only be supported for 3 years of the life of a product, meaning your chromebook only gets support for 3 years. Google likes to push out updates regularly to the back end of their system for managing the Chromebooks. Our fear now is that after 3 years, most of our chromebooks will be unsupported and possibly unusable. They are basically a throw away product. Just something to keep in mind.
    Reply
  • The3monitors
    Government Owned and Operated Government Leased Enterprise(GOOGLE). Wow this is a shocker to me.
    Reply
  • Ninjawithagun
    ....no wonder why our current generation of children have the lowest test an apptitude scores in years and don't even know how to write let alone type...

    Chromebooks are defintely NOT helping the situation!
    Reply
  • Ninjawithagun
    Typing too fast!

    "....no wonder why our current generation of children have the lowest test scores in years and don't even know how to write let alone type...

    Chromebooks are defintely NOT helping the situation!"
    Reply
  • majorlag
    Chromebooks are nice and simple, but here is a nice tip.

    Buy a windows laptop/tablet, install Google Chrome, install Chrome apps. You know have a chrome book, but now have the opportunity to run everything else.

    Replace windows with Linux if you want.

    ~Majorlag
    Reply
  • Darkk
    Replace Windows with Linux is great but the idea behind Google Chrome is that it's Google managed to free the user the hassles of updates and apps. This is something school IT love. The downside of the Chromebooks would be limited 3 year life before it needs to be upgraded. However, it's still usable even after three years. Just won't be supported anymore.
    Reply