This post generated by the Minnetonka Public School proposes that iPads offer a cost advantage in comparison to Chromebooks.
As of his most recent calculation, the total cost of deploying a five-year-old iPad 2 ends up being $0.38/day! Lower than their Chromebook counterparts.
….discovered that Chromebook’s lack of longevity and essential education tools makes them more expensive than iPad for their school district in the long run.
I must admit that I find this hard to believe having spent considerable time with both iPads and a quality Chromebook (first generation Google Chromebook). I like both devices, but for different reasons. The author claims that the lack of a keyboard was not an issue for students. This has not been my experience, but I write a lot. I purchased the iPad Pro with the keyboard which no longer works so my experience with a couple of machines has been very different.
The article does not break down the costs, but my guess is that cost issues have a great deal to do with how a district expects to use the devices.
only to find major limitations for the school district in the areas of educational apps, multimedia creation and editing tools, and even storage.
As a heavy Google user, I have never found storage an issue. I admit that multimedia creation is more challenging with a Chromebook. My personal preference for multimedia creation (with the exception of Explain Anything) is a conventional laptop. The price here for a Macbook Air would be comparable to my iPad Pro, but I guess the software would be a bit more expensive.
This post is an interesting cost analysis and it would be informative to have data from other districts with different instructional priorities.