By: Jonathan Nieves
January 21, 2025Basic hardware issues and improper care lead to broken and unusable Chromebooks. Students continue to mistreat these school-issued devices daily.
At the start of their freshman year, students are given a SDP issued Chromebook and are expected to use this throughout their high school career. But just because they are expected to, doesn't mean these Chromebooks actually make it to graduation. Carver's very own “IT Guy”, Mr. Silverman, has seen a lot throughout the years.
“Crack screens always happen. And trackpad issues, keys, won't press, stuff like that.” Silverman stated.
Not only can physical damage occur on these Chromebooks, but also internal hardware issues.
“Main issues that we see all the time are they won't turn on, so it's like a black screen, even though it was charging. And so that's resolvable 80 to 90% of the time with keystrokes” Silverman said.
All technology has problems. Surely students can't be the reason behind these damages all of the time. What could possibly cause such damage to these Chromebooks?
“A lot of students remove their cases, and then you'll see cracked screens. Not using them as phone chargers, like, especially like when I was at a cross country meets, you'd see kids from other schools, just like, with their Chromebooks open, just using them to charge their phones, which I get, but that, you know, when they're out somewhere, that's, that's when they can get cracked screens . . . I mean, it's regularly. You never can predict it” SIlverman explained.
Carvers certified "IT Guy", Mr. Silverman
Despite notorious damages, internal issues and students’ cloddish treatment, Silverman believes these devices are actually well suited for a high school environment.
“I think these Dell Chromebooks are very reliable, considering all the wear and tear that they get. Other brands aren't as much, but these are pretty much really built for education. So I'd say yes” Silverman said.
However, despite the certified “IT Guy” approval, not many students believe that these Chromebooks are actually worth it.
“I just think they're trash. They're slow, they're stupid, and half the time the Wi-Fi doesn't even work” said Cameron Cruz, a junior at Carver.
Students tend to believe that the Chromebooks barely work as they think they're intended to. And they certainly don't last them like they're expected to.
“I've broken my fair share of Chromebooks. This year alone I've already had to get two” Cruz stated.
Looking past the hardware issues and tech problems, do students have the same consensus on this device's reliability? Cruz had a strong answer.
“Absolutely not. Is that actually a real question?”
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