For some time now I have been looking at alternatives to desktops in the classroom. At the school district I work for we have 4 student computers per classroom in K-8, which is costly when it comes to electricity usage and keeping up with life cycle replacement. Thin clients had been promising due to each unit using anywhere from 20 to 65 watts, depending on the device, and reduced work orders for fixing viruses and Windows issues. Although the initial investment is still high with the servers and software licensing required for virtualization.
What is a Chromebox?
The Google Chromebox is relatively new low cost option which is similar to the Chromebook as far as running the Chrome OS but it doesn't come with peripherals or a screen. Most models have USB ports, HDMI or display port for video, LAN port, and built in wireless. The Chromebox also only uses 65 watts of power making it a attractive replacement for desktops. The ASUS model ships with a 16 GB SSD hard drive allowing for some local storage if needed.
With everything moving to the cloud and having all services being web based, there is very little need for windows based systems in the classroom. Sure, you still need Windows based computers for your labs to meet course requirements that run productivity systems like Office, video editing, and CAD. In the classrooms though there is little need for Windows when Chrome OS can handle Google Docs, web browsing, and other web based services.
Let's talk about savings
The ASUS Chromebox runs for a total of $209.99, $179.99 for the box and $30 for the license. This can be a significant savings when it comes to life cycle replacement compared to paying $500 per desktop computer. For our district we would need to replace 488 units, which would be a total cost of $102,475. Compared to buying desktops it would be a savings of $141,525. Not to mention the huge cost savings per year on the electric bill, going from 350 watt power supplies to 65 watt.
Other thoughts
Other things to think about is reduced licensing cost for Microsoft Office and antivirus since it is already built in, so one less thing to worry about if you happen to pay for antivirus. By going the route of Chromeboxes it should significantly reduce work orders and allow an organization to increase devices without having to hire additional tech staff.
For the next school year we plan on testing this with a couple of classrooms for the first semester and see how teachers and students react to the devices. If it ends up working out well, it very well could be a full replacement option in the future.
Have you considered looking into Chromeboxes?
