Ask HN: Chromebook leads for K-8 school in need?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47113936

by techteach00 • 5 months ago

46 44 5 months ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hi, I'm a K-8 technology teacher in NYC. My students are in desperate need of new hardware. The Chromebooks they use now are so slow that they make the children agitated when using them.

I'm aware of different grant opportunities that exist, I just thought it was worth inquiring here for a potentially faster solution at acquiring them new hardware.

Thank you for listening.

krapht• 5 months ago

This post makes me sad for two reasons:

1) kids k-5 are using laptops 2) websites are so bloated today that browsing on a Chromebook is causing agitation

Otherwise I don't have anything topical for this post, but good luck OP

streptomycin• 5 months ago

Also sad that NYC spends like $40k per student per year and they still have to resort to this.

armchairhacker• 5 months ago

Laptops can be useful: they can (and should) be locked down, and there’s lots of digital media that teaches effectively, probably even better than anything on paper.

(EDIT: Actually, probably not better than paper. I remember a study that note-taking by hand produced significantly better scores than typing; moreover, drawing is easier on paper, and some assignments are better drawn. But laptops can still be useful, and some assignments (like coding) are better digital. So ultimately, I think laptops should be incorporated alongside pen-and-paper.)

For 2) I agree with the general idea (“static” websites should never be slow), but the aforementioned digital media includes some that can run on low specs. Worst case, you can give students PDFs of physical assignments (with form elements to put answers); but I’m sure there are some minimal websites with K-5 material.

cyberax2• 5 months ago

Laptops are NOT useful for any reason in a school classroom below the 9th grade or so. No, not even for test taking, educational videos, or interactive demos.

Maybe for computer science classes, but even there I'd prefer to use shared desktop computers.

There is a lot of research that shows that the depth of understanding the material directly depends on the amount of effort you put in. Or that actually writing down things by hand increases the amount of recall.

And to add to this, it looks like fine motor skills also directly influence brain development and may improve the IQ. The association of higher IQ with better fine motor skills is now well-established, but it also might work in reverse.

techteach005• 5 months ago

I think them being locked down is a big part of their agitation. But we live in a sue first society so the school has no choice but to lock them down. It's not like the 90's when I was in school. We were allowed free reign to tinker with the machines.

fakedang• 5 months ago

Is it possible to acquire used refurbished laptops over new Chromebooks? A lot of companies tend to swap their corporate laptops every few years or so, and those usually happen to be solid Dells or ThinkPads with no faults whatsoever. If you can get a hold of any such corporate entity and work with them, you might be able to secure them for as low as ~$250 per piece.

I am currently using a refurb for personal use right now and I've been using it without any issues since 2023, not because I'm wanting for money but because you don't replace what hasn't broken yet.

ghaff• 5 months ago

Are you volunteering to provide the free technical support resources for these refurbished laptops?

That's really the attractiveness of Chromebooks. Students don't need more than a web browser for most things day to day. Heck, I don't need much more than a web browser day to day.

locusofself• 5 months ago

I realize this does nothing to solve your problem, but for the sake of discusion, internally at Microsoft, pretty much all the developers I know have switched to using "Devbox", which means we use a remote desktop client to access our dev machine.

A lot of us resisted this at first, but then just kindof came to accept it, and it made it so we have a lot more capable machines to do development on than the laptops that we would have to recycle every couple years.

I know there have probably been a lot of "thin client" products/services in the education space in the past, but I think it might be time to try again.

Like another poster here, I think it's "sad" that kids are using laptops. Laptops have small screens and poor ergonomics.

A thin client setup with a good keyboard, mouse and monitor could be better and more affordable / future proof.

Waterluvian• 5 months ago

You don’t have to recycle laptops every few years. That’s a sandy foundation to build the rest of that “came to accept it” on. You weren’t just made to do it and retconned justification for compliance?

basch• 5 months ago

Chromebooks are thin clients of sorts, its a web browser rendering google docs locally.

If anything is making them slow its the javascript bloat of modern webapps that could be doing more serverside.

fma• 5 months ago

Laptops have small screens and poor ergonomics.

This is a huge gripe of me and my wife. Growing up we all had desktops in the computer lab at school (elementary+) and you had decent size screens. Now kids pull up their little 12" chromebook in their classroom. Kids have eye strains, myopia etc...

doubled112• 5 months ago

We used G3 iMacs with the puck mouse until high school. You can't convince me it was the epitome of ergonomics.

They were an upgrade from the Mac LC II. I don't recall those having very big screens either.

15" and 4:3 was about as big as it got in high school. A computer on a table and we sat on a normal plastic school chair.

kuerbel• 5 months ago

Of course they switched to devbox which is nothing more than azure virtual desktop with some added bells and whistles... also has the nice side effect that it's a subscription. Nice for microsoft at least, less for the consumer.

exikyut• 5 months ago

Devbox seems to be semi-public, and/or offered to customers: https://devbox.microsoft.com/

Curious if there's a way random people can test it.

pjmlp2• 5 months ago

This is basically the same as having an automated way to provision Azure VM instances that you would access via RDP, already quite common in many IT organisations, especially for temporary team members as contractors.

pjmlp2• 5 months ago

internally at Microsoft, pretty much all the developers I know have switched to using "Devbox", which means we use a remote desktop client to access our dev machine.

Everything old is new again, back to the days of using a single shared server for software development in timesharing setup.

Instead of Novell Netware, UNIX, VMS, AS/400,..., it is the cloud.

suobset• 5 months ago

The "cloud" is most likely running Linux so it's UNIX-like. Everything old is new again!!

notepad0x902• 5 months ago

Relevant recent publication about laptops and students:

https://fortune.com/2026/02/21/laptops-tablets-schools-gen-z...

But I get it OP, you work with what you're given. I'm sorry I don't have any good suggestions.

TheJoeMan• 5 months ago

As a former student using Chomebooks in Highschool (9-12), a K-8 laptop is a major “ew”. Paper textbooks have tactile reality, room for exploring/reading out of order. Paper exams you can skip around the questions easily, and if the teachers are really that backed up to grade them, good ole’ scantrons are doable. An assigned laptop has 0 attachment from the students and just get neglected to pieces, and no one is “learning computer skills” by clicking around Canvas lectures.

notepad0x902• 5 months ago

They could have gone with non-networked ereaders. But they just had to go with the "smart" and "connected" angle so they could do grading, spying on kids,etc.. similar to the current "AI" approach. scope-creep. but even with ereaders, being able to switch to different books easily is an impediment, or having access to too many at one time. Physical books force a certain focus and attention.

Your point about tactility is solid too. flipping through pages is very different from swiping. With educational textbooks, you'd have to look at multiple pages at the same time (flipping back and forth quickly) to connect and understand a topic by referencing another topic. Same with being able to easily lay out multiple physical books in front of you.

CodeBit26• 5 months ago

For a K-8 environment, it might be worth looking into local e-waste recycling non-profits or university surplus programs. Often, large institutions rotate their hardware every 3-4 years, and they are usually happy to donate older but functional Chromebooks to schools in need. Also, check out 'DigitalEquity' initiatives in your area; they often have streamlined pipelines for this exact scenario

throwup238• 5 months ago

Local liquidation firms and those in nearby metros like Baltimore where the biotechs are might also be able to help. I’ve seen entire palettes of Chromebooks sell relatively cheap at auction. I doubt the liquidator will be able to do it for free but they can ask clients if they want to donate certain lots instead of auctioning them off or if you find a sponsor they might be able to notify you and give you first dibs when a lot shows up.

whyagaindavid2• 5 months ago

Many Unis have stopped doing this - due to the current RAM/SSD price hikes.

jonahbenton• 5 months ago

Your PTA is the fastest way.

dzdt• 5 months ago

In New York the biggest driver behind technology is the state testing regime. Make the case to your administration that the chromebooks are insufficient for the state testing program and they will come up with the funds for upgrades.

ttecho88• 5 months ago

I forgot the person but they have a non-profit that upcycles old chromebooks.

Maybe someone knows but you could try to upcycle to nixbooks.

https://github.com/mkellyxp/nixbook

with• 5 months ago

I don't have any solution for you, but I want to say thanks for caring about your students like this.

techteach005• 5 months ago

This resonates. I'm in agony because I'm constantly up against IT and admin who seem to only care about lawsuits so they create an absolutely painful computing environment for the students. I see how using locked down slow machines makes them irritable and frustrated in my class and I just can't anymore. It's a losing battle really. But I need to collect a paycheck lol. In the meantime, anything I can do to make their situation less aggravating I will pursue.

dugvuivnhuihnvu• 5 months ago

If you haven't already looked into PCs for People, they might be a low-cost option for your school: https://www.pcsforpeople.org/tech-for-nonprofits/#Eligibilit...

PCs for People is a non-profit organization whose mission is to bridge the digital divide (e.g. through sales of low-cost refurbished computers, internet access, and digital skills training).

They refurbish and sell computers to eligible organizations, including schools and offer bulk orders (6+ units) via email at "partner [at] pcsforpeople [dot] org".

If the order is 5 units and below, you use their publicly available online store link at pcsrefurbished.com/sales/salesHome.aspx

manjose2018• 5 months ago

https://chromeos.google/products/chromeos-flex/

1. Find older Intel Core Based Windows Laptops (at least 6GB of RAM) 2. Put ChromeOS Flex on them 3. Students will be sad it is still ChromeOS, but they will be happy it is like 3x faster.

I had an old Windows laptop laying around and I did this for my 80 yr old parents and they were super happy.

whyagaindavid2• 5 months ago

This. Especially lots of i5-6300U based corporate laptops like latitude are on eBay etc for < 100$

fsckboy• 5 months ago

what type of school, private or public or charter or anything else in particular? whether donations are tax deductible is important, as is education philosophy, as are communities served.

cjbdndjc• 5 months ago

Which hardware are the current chrome books running on? I'm fine running current Chrome on 15 year old hardware

techteach005• 5 months ago

Ya. I'm starting to this it's the content management software running over the OS and not the hardware per say.

LarsDu882• 5 months ago

Quite honestly, those kids will get more technology education out of using 15 year old linux machines or slow as hell raspberry pis than the eternal distraction machine that is a modern laptop wired to the internet and youtube/tiktok/instagram.

The real problem is that chromebooks are designed to run web applications which you rely on and which have become more bloated over time.

The real question is what are the students supposed to learn on those laptops? Is it how to type? Use Google Docs? How to program?

A Chromebook has sufficient hardware to do all that. Heck, a 20 year old laptop is sufficient for doing that.

I'm 37, and remember learning how to type on wildly out-of-date Apple II machines in the mid 90s.

techteach005• 5 months ago

All 3 "Is it how to type? Use Google Docs? How to program?". You nailed it. In addition to being comfortable taking state exams on.

I used to do a deep dive on settings and browser extensions until IT locked the devices down further. The kids can't even access settings. But I give them credit for finding work arounds, ways to get past restrictions.

LarsDu882• 5 months ago

I think the problem here is relying on Google docs.

The absolute best programmers today got started on command line. You can linux command line on a literal potato. There are vape pens that have more computing power than what I grew up learning on in the late 90s.

You're students need less distractions not more. Even the most powerful AI applications like Claude Code run in CLI.

You can absolutely learn how to program on a $17 raspberry pi zero w connected to an old monitor and keyboard nowadays. Its not about the hardware, it's about what you do with it.

techteach005• 5 months ago

Thank you for the suggestions.

I think I realize the problem after reading many of the posts. What's slowing these devices down is the management software running over them. GoGuardian and whatever else IT has on them.

We also aren't allowed to use an ad blocker anymore. I used to have Ublock installed on all the devices before GoGuardian prevented it. It's a really depressing situation that I imagine will only get worse with time.

As to a few replies asking why students in this age group would need laptops, I'll explain. I start teaching Python in 6th grade. Grades 3-5 use Scratch. Grade 2 uses code.org. K-1 Scratch Jr on Ipads.

We have expensive mac desktops in the computer lab but they drive the students completely insane for two reasons. The keyboard is and mouse are terrible to use. Anti-ergonomic. The second reason is the amount of notifications and questions the students are bombarded with when they turn the macs on. I'm talking like 15 different pop ups or windows opening asking them to agree to this or that. I should probably have a lesson on just closing windows. I could say more but I don't know about social media anymore. I just wanted some suggestions and I appreciate the ones I received.

cloudking• 5 months ago

You should open the issue with your IT department and see if they can optimize the performance. You can gather proof that GoGuardian is causing slow downs by looking at it's memory usage in the Task Manager (right click empty area in Chrome tab bar).

ralphc• 5 months ago

I don't know your autonomy with regards to IT within the confines of your classroom but if you can't install ad blockers on the Chromebooks can you set up something like PiHole and direct DNS traffic through it? It won't solve the overall slowness of the Chromebooks but it will help with some web sites.

Ask HN: Chromebook leads for K-8 school in need?

Related Stories