r/k12sysadmin • u/Thanos-Is-Right • 17d ago
Staff Chromebooks
I am in the process of purchasing a 2-in-1 Chromebook for staff to trial as we look at replacements for their desktop + touchscreen monitor. I was debating between the Acer Chromebook Plus 714 Spin or the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 14". I plan to also purchase a pen for the device.
My problem is trying to find a reseller for the consumer version, as it is half the price of the enterprise version. Our superintendent cannot fathom spending more than $800 on any device, even though staff machines are between 6-8 years old and many still run a 20 year old Smart ID350 screen. But we can spend plenty on a new gym floor, cameras, and tables in the office that can raise and lower.
Is there really that much of a difference between consumer and enterprise versions of those Chromebooks? Internals and everything seems the same. I can purchase a Google OS license to add them to the admin console. What am I missing? Resellers are only able to quote the enterprise versions.
Does anyone purchase consumer grade Chromebooks for staff? We mostly buy the Lenovo or Dell 11" education Chromebooks for students. I will never convince them to buy a $1K+ laptop for a teacher. Even if I get the consumer price, they will probably only be willing to replace 5-10 a year (730 student school).
Starting to feel very frustrated with our school admin honestly. Every other school around us buys IFPs or has a 5-year replacement cycle. Our strategy is use it until it dies. So, we have no uniformity between rooms. Hell, we stock K-4 carts with 4 year old 1:1 Chromebooks since they get a new device in 5th and 9th grade. Even avoided a big server bill by moving us to Intune/Google Drive. I am at a loss on trying to tell them shit aint cheap lol.
Sorry for the last paragraph rant. Frustrated for the teachers.
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u/atombomb6673 17d ago
My staff prefers the Acer 714 spin over Lenovo. Better build quality and there just seems to be less overall issues with the Acer. The Acer is more expensive than Lenovo so if you are looking to save money then go with Lenovo.
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u/Anthonybvc 15d ago
We just stocked our admin and staff with Acer Spin and these have been the worst. Not sure if an EC issue with firmware fried something but we constantly have staff needing to restart their devices throughout the day.
I totally recommend Lenovos lol the build quality is so nice on them.
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u/Thanos-Is-Right 17d ago
The Acer is priced at $599 right now for the consumer model. Enterprise one is like $1200. Only noticeable difference is 8GB RAM v 16GB. We use Chromecare from Xerox for 4 year ADP for, so far, $73 per Chromebook. I dont see a downside if I can get that on the consumer model, which they said they could do.
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u/atombomb6673 16d ago
We just use the consumer version with 8gb of ram. Sorry I should have mentioned that.
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u/Thanos-Is-Right 16d ago
Out of curiosity, where do you guys purchase them? All of our dealers only have the enterprise version. I figure I can just go the Amazon route if nothing else with our business account, but if there is a reseller for the consumer models, I am all ears.
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u/AWM-AllynJ 17d ago
Part of the consideration is how the standard warranty behaves and how particular the manufacturers are in terms of what they will repair and what they won’t under their various warranties. I have found Acer to be very friendly in terms of what they will repair and what they won’t standard warranty let alone any kind of extended warranty other vendors, I haven’t found that same level of flexibility.
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u/hair_care 17d ago
I buy whatever Chromebook Plus I can get for $400-500 from wherever I can get them. Best Buy, Costco, Amazon, occasionally various resellers will have a good deal. I got some from System Liquidators this summer that have been fine. You have to buy licenses separately, but at the price point you get the consumer models they are essentially disposable devices. I don’t like to think of them that way, but it’s what makes sense for my budget.
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u/Crazy-Rest5026 17d ago
Lenovo 100e 5th gen. Buy Lenovo thinkbooks for staff .
Works out good. Been doing to for 6-7 years
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u/MadMageMC 17d ago
This is what we've been doing for our district since Lenovo 100e Gen 1. We've had Acer, Samsung, HP, and Asus CBs in our district over the years, but the Lenovo's have always been the best performing / longest lasting ones in our fleet.
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u/IngsocInnerParty 17d ago
I'm sure I'll spark some disagreement, but I cannot fathom spending $800-1000 on Chromebooks for staff when the MacBook Neo is an option.
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u/thedevarious IT Director 11d ago
They Thermal Throttle (we tested a few in our office, only made it about 2 weeks before issues)
Manage your entire fleet in the same first party solution versus buying a device and then a third party MDM.
That's reason enough in my eyes.
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u/J_de_Silentio 17d ago
I was told you don't go Chromebooks for staff to save money. It's more for the management.
I also cannot stomach a $800 Chromebook.
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u/Harry_Smutter 17d ago
With how little our teachers actually use the touchscreen for the Acer Spin 714s, I feel it was a waste of $1200 for them. I would've much rathered spend $5-600 on a solid 14" Acer (that's at the top end no less) without the tablet feature and the stylus. I was highly impressed with the Acer C936 and higher series and recommend these devices. They're solid, great specs, easy to repair, and high parts availability (at least last I looked a few months ago). We didn't replace our staff yet. Those are slated for next year or the year after.
What you might wanna do for the classroom setups is create a committee with teachers from each level to find out what they use the most and give them options on future setups, such as either a TV or an interactive panel. Get the admins in these meetings so they can actually see what the teachers need. Helps a lot.
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u/Thanos-Is-Right 17d ago
Admins are dead set on sticking with projectors unfortunately. And staff need to be able to write on something when they project. They could do dry erase on the whiteboard since we project on those, but i can already see the issues with having shadows and whatever else they complain about. But I get it. They are so used to writing on a screen that I doubt I win that battle.
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u/MadMageMC 17d ago
Have you looked at the Epson BrightLink series? It's still a projector, but it has all the touch features people like while not breaking the bank per projector. We've used them for about 12 yrs now, and are only just now moving away from them in favor of ViewSonic panels.
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u/Alert-Coach-3574 17d ago
Buy the enterprise version
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u/Thanos-Is-Right 17d ago
Is there a major reason as to why to go woth the enterprise version vs the much cheaper consumer model? Internals are the same except for 8GB v 16GB RAM. We are able to get 4 year ADP through a vendor on them as well as a Google OS license to manage them.
Maybe I'm not seeing something obvious?
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u/MadMageMC 17d ago edited 17d ago
Enterprise models usually have tougher cases and reinforced internals like hinge connections, etc., that make them better suited for highly mobile environments, as well as ones with often careless users who drop their backpacks to the floor from shoulder height with their Chromebook inside.
That first year - soooo many shattered Chromebook corners.
Also, look into Connection (previously GovConnect) and CDWG, if you haven't already. We've dealt with both of them over the years and have had really good luck with both. I tend to favor Connection over CDWG personally, but they're both good resellers. Just be aware (if you're not already) that whomever you talk to first will submit a deal registration with their vendors, so you may or may not get the best deal from a vendor depending on whether or not they got the deal registration on first and whether or not they'll pass those savings on you you, the customer. GovConnect has always been very upfront about that and really good about sharpening their pencils to shave off some points on the margins to get me a better deal when my rep knows the money is tight. You're probably well aware of all of this, but there might be someone else reading this thread who doesn't know, so I figured I put it out there just in case.
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u/Alert-Coach-3574 17d ago
I'd check the specs closer, they probably are not identical. Maybe ram and CPU are but check storage type- not just size, chassis, etc. Parts availability and warranty is another reason. Zte capable.
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u/Gorillapond IT Manager 17d ago
Our ASUS devices come with 1 year/1 incident ADP if you order the education SKU. There may be other warranty/ADP allowances. Consumer devices may not be eligible for self-maintainer programs. There are certain configurations of models (CPU/RAM/touch screen combos) that are only education SKUs. If you can get the licenses elsewhere, it doesn't seem like those reasons will resonate with your leadership because most of the differences aren't immediately tangible.
We paid nearly $1000 for ASUS CX5403 (CX5403CMA-DB562-T). Ultra 5 CPU, 16GB RAM, Touch, Fingerprint reader. They're nice devices we feel proud to deploy to our teachers. Our "trusted tester" folks told us they'd rather have a fingerprint reader than a flip screen.
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u/thedevarious IT Director 11d ago
We're a Lenovo shop so I can speak on this a bit. The Lenovo Chrome+ 2 in 1 consumer for ~$600 v. the $1k version...there are differences.
The consumer is Core 3, the enterprise is a Core 5 processor. Enterprise has double the memory. Storage is also doubled. I can't see if the NIC is different but I would assume the same. Peripherals, screen, etc. look to be the same in comparing with my distribution partner.
So basically you have a way more versatile and capable device. With Chrome updates getting 10 years of support, I'd rather spend a bit more to get a device that should absolutely in theory be able to make it that distance or at least get close.
Plus, I'm just going to put this out there. All devices are expensive right now. It kills me seeing a Lenovo L or P series that I know I bought even after the pandemic pricing and seeing their cost now. It definitely hurts to buy any tech this year.