There’s a lot of laptops in schools these days. From elementary to college campuses, the web’s incredible tools for students to do sufficient research, document processing, as well as web/display-enabled presentations has only helped the school sector. The relationship betweens these entities was first a bit of a delicate thing. Those oversized Macintosh, or iMac Power PCs from the 90’s are long gone, but even then, they were helping children get used to learning on a different, yet very tangible surface. Today, the best kind of computers for the school environment, meaning both teachers and students, have been the simple yet versatile Chromebook. Partly because Chromebooks run a specific OS that happens to be limited to web-only browsing and resources, these PCs tend to have just enough for kids to be focused and not distracted, and as an added bonus, usually feature pretty rad battery lives.

Chromebooks, of all sorts, are exactly what the doctor ordered. Many school systems only require the basics, and in turn need to stay within their budgets (ahem, each child is not going to go home each semester with a new iPad for “school work”). History has already shown that the education sector and the Chromebook fit quite well together. Its most valuable tool is the fact that it balances what schools are equip for- meaning not razer-fast speed/gaming, but simple web-only browsing, content, and data formation. Of course, certain colleges and programming schools have their own monster laptops/rigs built for learning the latest technologies of today. Yet, take the new 360-degree convertible from HP. The Chromebook x360 11 Education Edition (EE) is the company's latest rugged Chrome OS-operated machine debuted alongside Acer and Asus competitors.

Like Dell’s Chromebook 11 3180, said to be a “durable student laptop”, HP’s machine is also an 11-incher. As noted in its x360 11 name, it bends all the way back for different viewing modes, and works with an optional stylus. There is also a microSD card reader, a pair of USB Type-C ports, as well as a pair of USB 3.0 ports for peripherals and even accessories, if needed.

The 1.1GHz Intel Celeron CPU processor features two cores, and is accompanied by 4GB of RAM, 32GB of eMMC storage, and a Gorilla Glass touchscreen LCD display to hold up to that wear and tear that happens inside the classroom. HP claims the battery may last up to an entire 11 hours on a single charge. This is probably a perfect amount of time, because even though outlets are plentiful, if students are running laps around a device’s OS, it’s nice to have that extra cushion so nothing gets lost. The last bit of news for the X360 EE includes a promise from Google, related to all Chromebooks released in 2017 and onwards. These laptops are supported by Android apps, which until now, were limited to the Chrome OS Beta Channel. Hence, the X360 11 Education Edition has the Play Store on the Chrome OS Stable Channel. As the top computing device in Swedish schools, just as an example, Chromebooks are on the rise all over the world. Their assistance to the growing brains inside the classroom and out have shown how valuable computers can actually be, and that you don’t have to be an avid gamer and/or professional to utilize their worth.