In our cloud driven technology world of today, we see more and more schools and colleges making the switch to chromebooks from laptops & desktop computers. There are tons of chromebook manufacturers to choose from out there which can be rather confusing than helpful. Every chromebook will come with different specs, speeds, storage space etc. Are you in the hunt for the best chromebooks for education?
Best Chromebooks for Education: Best Chromebooks for Students & Educators
Most educational institutions will be on a state contract which allows them to purchase Chromebooks in bulk and with educational discounts. When ordering a batch of Chromebooks for schools, getting a model that is subpar is the last thing you would want. The cheapest price often gets you the most number of Chromebooks but quality will suffer. Finding a medium between both quality and price is often difficult. Here I will put together a list of the best Chromebooks for education so to simplify the whole process. Working for a school technology department, I do have some experience regarding the matter which I would like to share in this article. The following list of the best chromebooks for education is based on my findings during the date of this publication.
Dell CRM3210-1207BLK
Dell has now entered the chromebook market with a few rugged models which holds up pretty well for student use. The CRM3210-1207 is what I recommend from Dell which provides shock absorption as well as 180 degree LCD hinge rotation. This protects the chromebook from major damage caused by drops and prevents stress on the monitor/lid. The keyboard and trackpad on this machine is water/spill protected which makes it ideal for a large deployment in schools. This model is also available with a touch screen at an additional cost. If you do most of your work using Google products then this speedy and compact machine is for you. Specs for this Dell Chromebook are as follows.
- Intel Celeron Dual Core Processor clocked at 2.16GHZ
- 4GB of DDR3L memory
- 16GB SSD
- IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi
- 11.6″ Anti-Glare Display
- Weight 2.7 Pounds
Acer C720-29552G01aii Chromebook
The Acer C720 is an affordable Chromebook that is small and suited for educational purposes. It is easy to carry around and easily fits inside your school bag. Acer C720 is a powered by an Intel Celeron 2955U dual core 1.4 GHZ processor and provides enough horsepower to run the Chrome operating system and its extensions. The C720 comes with 2GB of system memory and a 16GB SSD hard drive. Please note that the system memory is around 2GB so you may start to feel the lag depending on the nature of the tabs that are open (Ex. multiple tabs open for YouTube, flash games). This model offers Intel HD graphics and 8.50 hours of run time. It does offer a very attractive educational price point. The exterior build quality of this laptop could be better but at the current price point we can’t complain too much. Here are the quick specifications for this affordable Chromebook for school.
- Intel Celeron Dual Core Processor clocked at 1.4GHZ
- 2GB of DDR3L memory
- 16GB SSD
- IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (note that the IEEE 802.11ac standard isn’t available on this Chromebook)
- 11.6″ LED Display
- Weight 2.76 Pounds
Acer C740-C4PE Chromebook
The C740-C4PE weighing at 2.87 pounds is a step up from the C720 model and provides a much better build quality speed and efficiency. It is also very aesthetically pleasing to look at, the keyboard layout is very well spaced out which provides a wonderful typing experience for students and educators. It is equipped with a dual core Intel Celeron 3205U chip running at 1.50 GHZ which is beefy enough to run the Chrome OS without any hiccups. The C740-C4PE also comes with 4GB of system memory and that means you can have more tabs open on Google Chrome without sacrificing performance. It also contains the new 802.11ac wifi adapter which boosts speed up to 3x more than the previous 802.11n generation. This model also comes with a 11.6” display and 16GB SSD hard drive. You have the option to also slot in an external SD card for additional storage. The compact display of this Chromebook makes it very mobile for student use. With an attractive educational price point, it is one of the best selling chromebooks currently out there. Here are the quick specs.
- Intel Celeron Dual Core Processor clocked at 1.5GHZ
- 4GB of DDR3L memory
- 16GB SSD
- IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi
- 11.6″ Active Matrix ComfyView LCD Display
- Weight 2.87 Pounds
Lenovo N420-20 80VJ Touch Chromebook
If you are in the market for the best Chromebook for schools and colleges at a very attractive price point, this is it. The N420-20 Touch chromebook, not only offers great build quality but comes with touch screen as well. As many of you already know Lenovo is well known for their quality laptop builds. I would say that the quality of a Lenovo laptop keyboard can compete with a MacBook Pro keyboard any day. It is nice to see Lenovo transfer this reputation over to their chromebooks line. The typing experience is very enjoyable on the Lenovo N420-20 Chromebook and the keyboard and touchpad are water resistant as well. The N420-20 comes with an Intel Celeron N3060 clocked at 1.6GHZ and 4GB of system memory. This dual core processor can go up to 2.80GHZ on turbo mode.
Hard drive size is comparable to other models listed above at 16GB and Lenovo also offers the wireless 802.11ac standard in the N420-20. The integrated SD card reader comes in handy when transferring photos from your camera to Google Photos. This Lenovo chromebook provides a 14” screen real estate which I think every Chromebook manufacturer should now make a standard. Although this chromebooks weighs at 3.31 pounds, a larger screen is ideal for Google Sheets, Blogging and YouTube.
- Intel Celeron 1.6GHZ processor – Turbo Boost up to 2.80GHZ
- 4 GB DDR3L SDRAM
- 32GB SSD Hard Drive
- IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi
- 14″ HD Touch Display
- Weight 3.31 Pounds
Note: Below affiliate link is for the non touch model of this Chromebook which Amazon carry – Most educational vendors such as CDW-G will carry the touch version as well.
Acer Chromebook 15 CB5-571-C09S
If you are looking for a Chromebook for personal use as well as education. The Acer CB5-571-Co9S is a great choice because it provides a large screen real estate of 15.6″ which is ideal for media content. Image quality is excellent with an IPS screen that large. It comes with 32GB of Solid State hard drive space which is plenty for all your needs. Here are some quick specs for this model.
- Intel Celeron 1.5GHZ processor
- 4 GB DDR3L SDRAM
- 32GB SSD Hard Drive
- IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi
- 15.6″ Full HD IPS Display
- Weight 4.8 Pounds
Weight is slightly on the higher end so it may be more suited towards high school or college students. This is also a very sleek looking Chromebook that makes a very good gift for someone.
All of the chromebook models mentioned above comes with an integrated webcam and mic. They also contain sufficient USB ports for all of your input devices. If you are buying these chrome devices for personal use, Google will provide you with 100GB of Google Drive space, free for 2 years. Chromebooks tied to a school domain will always have unlimited Google drive storage ability. All of the above models also come with a manufacturer’s warranty up to one year.
If you are purchasing for a school through state contract, you can find the chromebooks mentioned in this article through vendors like CDW-G. Simply, do a search on their site using the model number. If you are making a personal purchase, you can visit affiliate links listed under each model. Prices will fluctuate from time to time depending on availability & a better model of the same variant may be also available. I hope this article was informative in choosing the best chromebooks for education. If you have any questions or comments be sure to post them below. Also, I would love to hear your feedback.
Which Chromebook models have you had the most success with in a school or business environment?
