Google has said it will not support Chromebooks beyond five years. This means that a student issued a Chromebook as a 4th grader will not have the same Chromebook at high school graduation. It probably surprises some people when they hear that the lifespan is only five years, but it's actually fairly typical of computers. Standard laptops would never make it longer than five years before some needed OS update that costs nearly as much as a Chromebook. The point here is that the school district needs to be able to argue that a five-year lifespan is not short or strange. The school should have an end-of life plan, however, and it should be transparent. Is it five years and then let students keep them? Is it a buyback system that recovers parts? Recycling? Taxpayers will want to know where that $1.5 million will be in five years.
The next flaw is the inexpensive construction. Most school districts will offer some sort of protection, but most school districts get this one wrong. If the school offers insurance at $25 a year, a parent is paying $125 over the aforementioned Chromebook lifespan in order to fix it when it breaks. Looked at another way, a parent is paying $25 in year one to fix a $150 device. In year two, it's now $50 to fix a $120 device. Then it's $75 to fix a $90 device. Then $100 to fix a $60 device, and finally $125 to fix a $30 device that loses all value after that. The five-year lifespan costs the parents as much as the district in the insurance scenario, which is why many districts opt for covers.
Soft covers are big and bulky. They work to protect the Chromebooks from damage and proper use of inputs, but students love to take them out. Hard covers are usually cheap and pretty. They snap right off when you least want them to. Rubberized cases are overkill with prices to match. The Cranium by Educabana
is the Award-Winning, economical solution to Chromebook covers. At under $20 retail, these protectors/whiteboards offer a unique solution that fits the budget. Breakage rates decrease without teachers policing students, since the Cranium is permanent. After five years, you'll still have an arsenal of whiteboards, meaning your Chromebooks can outlive Google's lifespan. Find out more about bulk orders from Educabana.
