[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Lenovo gives Chrome OS a try with Chromebook for Schools here

[gyffesgyffeshcr8]

While not enthralled by the ChromeOS, I do like fast and light computing -- I'm quite happy with my Lenovo S205 (ran Win7 just fine, runs Fedora even better), and it's not even close to being Chromebook thin.

Can you speak a bit about the ChromeOS' offline experience? I know there's some support there for working off-line and then uploading 'pon reconnecting to the 'net, but HOW well does it work? How robust is any off-line software that IS available?

[JackNFranFarrell]

Convertible? What about Google Voice Search (computer control) and user facing camera leads you to think adding a tablet to a PC adds any additional ease to the human/computer interface.

[thewazak]

" ...a “rugged” model for K-12 schools..."
What is a K12 school?
Like a K9 school - but without the woofing?
(Serious question, btw.)
Is it infants, juniors or what?
Can't imagine any senior school would want a half cocked Chromebook.

[compnovo]

thewazak, on 18 January 2013 - 08:45 AM, said:

" ...a “rugged” model for K-12 schools..."
What is a K12 school?
Like a K9 school - but without the woofing?
(Serious question, btw.)
Is it infants, juniors or what?
Can't imagine any senior school would want a half cocked Chromebook.

K-12 = Kindergarten through 12th grade.

[CarlForster]

One for Lenovo well done.
Looks great and the price is good, if I was Microsoft I would be worried about the opposition, will serve them right for their shoddy and unproductive WIN8 and their excursion into hardware.
Go Lenovo and Google

[ee2718]

Quote

" ...a “rugged” model for K-12 schools..." What is a K12 school? Like a K9 school - but without the woofing? (Serious question, btw.) Is it infants, juniors or what? Can't imagine any senior school would want a half cocked Chromebook.

It depends on what you are teaching. If you are teaching low level technicial or secretarial courses eg. Word typing skill courses, Photoshop graphics artist courses, or AutoCAD skills courses, then you will of course need to provide desktop PCs or Windows or Mac laptops that run those applications.

If you are teaching about computer hardware, interfacing and low level programming, a $35 Raspberry Pi computer plus accessories would be better.

If you are teaching high level programming on a particular OS, then of course you need a laptop or PC running that OS, although you could also run those on a virtual desktop on server and access them with a Chromebook.

On the other hand if the purpose of the device is to impart information and learning, then Chromebooks are better. Chromebooks are basically communication devices designed to tap in to the biggest source for research and information there is - the Internet, and they, and Google apps for domains are built for the sharing and dissemination of knowledge and information and do this more effectively than any other device around. They also fit in better to the way universities and higher education works. For example, most universities use web based course management systems like Moodle and Blackboard, and most use the BYOD approach with Citrix or Ericom access now IT cost of supplying, installing and managing Windows on students' laptops would be horrendous, not to mention the licensing associated with software given to students being pirated or sold. Chromebooks fit perfectly into this use, and the use of web based apps and Google apps for domains allow students to use any client device and OS that they want - they will work equally well on student Windows laptops or Macbooks if students wish to use those instead of Chromebooks.

The feedback that comes back from schools that have deployed Chromebooks, is how much Chromebooks have improved productivity in teaching and learning over previous Windows and Macbook solutions, simply because the operating system stays out of the way, and lets teachers impart knowledge and students absorb it without having to struggle or spend a lot of time time learning and managing/configuring the OS or applications, and instead spend time on learning the subjects they are supposed to be learning.

I would say that the basic difference between Windows/Macbooks and Chromebooks in education is that the focus in the former is about learning the OS or applications, and about learning the subject in the latter.

[ee2718]

Quote

While not enthralled by the ChromeOS, I do like fast and light computing -- I'm quite happy with my Lenovo S205 (ran Win7 just fine, runs Fedora even better), and it's not even close to being Chromebook thin. Can you speak a bit about the ChromeOS' offline experience? I know there's some support there for working off-line and then uploading 'pon reconnecting to the 'net, but HOW well does it work? How robust is any off-line software that IS available?

Offline apps like Google Docs apps are very robust indeed - more so than using any Windows or Mac app (although I can't speak from experience about others). Basically syncing is transparent, and the data will be cached locally if connectivity goes down, and sync in the background as soon as connectivity comes back on. Using Google Docs you work on data resident in the cloud which is redundantly backed up in different geographical locales to protect from fire, flood, earthquake etc. updated with the keystrokes and edits you type in every 3 seconds or so. If the connection goes offline, these edits are cached locally and sent as and when the connectivity is restored. It is very good at handling bad or intermittent connectivity.

The bottom line is that whatever happens when you are using Google Docs - whether you local hard drive or SSD fails, your battery fails while you are using it, your laptop is stolen, even run over by a bus or suffers a tactical nuclear strike as you are typing, you will only ever lose about 3 seconds of work and if any of the dire events mentioned happen, you just get another Chromebook, log in, and carry on where you left off as if nothing happened.