By Jonathan Chess

Messenger Staff Writer

Chromebooks were introduced to last years sophomore class and they are back again, but with improvements.

The Chromebooks introduced to last years sophomores was an attempt by placer to give students the ability to do their work at home and to incorporate into classes to bring modern technology to the students.

It doesn’t look like much of a computer at first glance and its price for what you get discourages many buyers. However, you’ll notice after use that these computers have a lot more to offer than you first thought.

“Its a cool laptop and I enjoy using it,” stated Jay Maloney.

The original Chromebook offered to the students was a Samsung Chromebook with an 11.6 inch display, 2 usb ports, hdmi port to connect another monitor and 2GB of ram. This may not seem like much, but since the entire laptop is dedicated to the internet, it gives unparalleled speed.

This year, Placer has given its sophomores a higher end Chromebook, the Acer C720P. When you first open it you’ll notice the auto boot which is a nice feature and you’ll notice that it boots in about 7 seconds, about the same as the previous Chromebook.

The next thing you’ll notice is the touch screen which the previous Samsung Chromebook did not include. This makes browsing webpages so much easier since the track pads are not of the highest quality.

Most, of the improvements are on the inside. This new Chromebook offers 4GB of ram as compared to the Samsung with only offered 2GB, this allows for faster browsing and more tabs to be running at the same time.

Also, the previous Chromebook had a Exynos 5250 dual core processor which is good for its purpose but can’t beat the new Acer C720p’s Intel Celeron 2955U.

These new Chromebooks are far superior than last years but the old Samsung Chromebooks will still get the job done. This year though, placer got smarter when it comes to protecting the Chromebook from being altered.

Now if students try to put a new operating system on their Chromebooks so they can unlock its full potential you’ll come across a blocked, message and be locked out of your Chromebook until you take it up to the library to be repaired.

These new laptops are superior in specs but more restricted to what can be changed or added. They’re good computers for web browsing but not much more. Some students feel like the Chromebooks are a waste and not worth it.

“The Chromebooks aren’t that good and money shouldn’t be wasted on them,” replied Danny Martin when asked his opinion of the new Chromebook.

Students are taking sides, some feel they are fun and worth it while others feel like they’re a waste of money.