A New Kind Of Computer : The Google Chromebook

When I see something new or hear about a new product that would make my life easier, I usually have to buy it.  And that's exactly what happened when my principal, Joel, mentioned this new fangled device called a chromebook.  I had mentioned that I was thinking about buying a netbook so I could work on Progress Book at home (since Adobe and my Mac don't really get along).  He simply said, "Don't get a netbook.  What you need is a chromebook."  I had never heard of such a thing.  When I asked him what it was, he told me to go home and research it.  I looked it up and fell in love.  A chromebook is an internet based computer that boots up in less than 8 seconds.  It has no hard drive and runs entirely off the internet.  Everything is saved online on the cloud.  It's Google based. (I love Google and am still convinced that it is slowly taking over the world.)  I didn't believe it.  It sounded too good to be true.  Naturally, I had to buy one.  I purchased the Samsung Google Chromebook-WiFi only.  I bought it online for the low price of $349.00. (no shipping costs either!)  It shipped in a few days, and I was ecstatic when it arrived.  Could it be everything it claimed to be?


I'll be honest, at first I was not impressed.  Progress Book wouldn't open, and that was one of the main reasons I made this purchase.  Joel, being the tech freak that he is, offered to babysit it for the weekend and try to figure it out.  It was the perfect deal for me.  I didn't get frustrated from trying to figure everything out and Joel got his tech fix.  After contacting a few amazing people through twitter (@RVCPrincipal & @ericcurts & @jrsowash), Progress was working!  It was a simple solution.  An ie browser tab had to be installed...I'll go into detail about that amazing little tool on another day.


After I spent more time playing around on the Chromebook, I am in love.  It is everything that it claims to be.  It really does boot up in less than 8 seconds.  Everything does save to the cloud.  It really does run completely off of wireless.  I'm able to access all of my saved materials through Google Docs anywhere, anytime.   Joel reminded me of another neat feature the Chromebook has.  There are individual accounts and guest sharing. Never fear to hand your Chromebook over to someone. None of "their stuff" ever gets mingled with "your stuff." They can't edit or even see your settings, bookmarks, etc. That's why it's good for students, too. Now, our schools just need to all get Chromebooks so we can flip the classrooms! Check out the Chromebooks for Education video below.  It's amazing what could be done with these little machines.  Oh, the world is changing, and I love that I am getting the opportunity to begin my teaching career during such a techno-savvy time.