When we first entered this school year, the Chromebook I had first received a few years ago had been absolutely pushed to its limits. The screen had detached from the keyboard on one side, the battery had been fried so it only worked when plugged in, and more keys had gone missing than a car thief could dream of. All of this despite my best efforts to keep it functional. 

The announcement that FCBOE was preparing to hand out newer, sleeker, better designed Chromebooks to students was a blessing. While I had some aura of caution about the new Chromebooks, I figured anything would be better than the broken machine that I had been stuck with. I gladly welcomed it. 

After months of actively using the new Chromebook, I can now say, my initial opinion of the new Chromebooks still holds up. I have not had any issues, and while this might not be true for every Chromebook, I have only noticed a handful of problems arising from external factors. The newer Chromebooks have clear benefits to the older ones. 

The new set of Chromebooks are stable pieces of equipment. They have a sufficient battery life to last a full school day and then some. The speed of the Chromebook itself is far superior to the previous old Chromebook. 

When we first got the new Chromebooks, I was scared that the technology would deteriorate like the previous Chromebooks. This has not happened. The technology has stayed relatively consistent in quality, and if there is some depreciation it has not been as radical as with the older Chromebook. 

The new Chromebooks have been nothing but helpful whereas with the old Chromebooks I felt like I was constantly at war. I genuinely believe that there is no need for a newer Chromebook. If exponentially more and more problems arise and affect the new Chromebooks, I will have to change my opinion but it seems unlikely, at least for a while. 

As a student who uses a Chromebook every day, I believe that having my current Chromebook is extremely helpful. FCBOE should not waste money on purchasing newer Chromebooks any time soon.