Many students around Shorewood are asking themselves the same question: Why did we switch chromebooks? In practicality, they work pretty much the same as the previous ones, with the only big difference being the stylus needing to be charged. If so, then what’s the point in changing them?
The new computer is a Lenovo 500e Chromebook Gen 3, while the old laptop is a Lenovo 100e Gen 2. They are the exact same with the exception of the processor, with the new one having 2.8 GHz, while the old one only has 1.1 GHz. The display, storage, graphics, and operating system are all the same as the old chromebook, despite being $300 more expensive than the old computers ($584 to $274).
The old chromebooks have been used for what feels like forever, and manyShorewood students used them to show how their personality has changed over the years. A key part of this was stickers. Stickers were a perfect way to show your personality and interests, giving a small glimpse into people without needing to speak. Then the chromebooks were switched out and all of those stickers were no longer useful.
The stylus change is the worst difference between the chromebooks by far. The old stylus was a thick plastic stick that could be replaced pretty easily, and makeshift replacements could actually work on the computer. The stylus was almost perfect, with the only drawback being that losing the stylus was really easy. The new stylus has only has negative changes. The computer barely works with it , and it doesn’t accept other plastic replacements, leaving the only other thing working on the touch screen to be your finger. The stylus is also much more fragile, it consists of two different pieces, the main black part and the red end, being connected loosely with small wires that can be pulled apart with a small amount of force put onto it. The worst change: the charging. There is no point in a stylus needing to be charged at all. Teachers are even complaining about it. With many classes using online editing sites such as Kami, the need to charge the stylus becomes a very unnecessary hassle that the old stylus didn’t have.
A small change between the two chromebooks that is just a weird choice is the lack of a charging port on both sides. On the new chromebooks, it’s only on the left, while on the old chromebooks it was on both sides. A port being on both sides was extremely convenient simply for wire management. If you are on either side of the classroom and you are far away from the socket, but not far enough to leave your chair, it doesn’t matter because there’s a charging port on both sides. However, with the new chromebooks, you have to be sitting on the left side of the class for it to work, which just adds another unnecessary layer to the change of chromebooks.
People don’t like change. Most of everything else has stayed the same, with some minor changes such as a lock key instead of a power key which doesn’t really change the flow of the chromebook. The chromebook change feels generally not good. The quality of changes between the two were only negative, and it seems like an overall unnecessary change.
