Chromebook or laptop for high school?

[BlueStargazer]

Which is best? I have no idea. I've seen that you can put Microsoft office on a chromebook so perhaps that would be fine for high school? Thanks

I did a huge amount of research over the summer as DD needed a laptop for secondary school. She uses a laptop in class rather than writing by hand, so my list of needs might be different from someone who just needs it for homework.

Criteria were 14", light-weight, robust, at least 8hrs battery life, a work-horse that wasn't going to run slow or take forever to start up, under £500.

Her secondary seem to use a vast array of different apps and programmes for homework so needed something that would download and run those. Also needed to run Office 365.

In the end we went for the HP Pavilion 14-ce3602sa which was £499 at Currys. Also took out an insurance policy with ProtectMyBubble which is about £3 a month.

Three weeks in, it does everything she wants and no complaints.

I went through this decision process recently. Was about to purchase a basic windows laptop then the nice salesperson suggested I should really speak to the school before making a decision. I spoke to the school IT department who recommended a Chromebook as they are trying to get all pupils set up with google classroom for the event of moving to online learning. They also recommended some affordable models. It does exactly what we need it to so far. So I would definitely just check with the school on what would be most compatible with their home learning plans and requirements.

Thank you both for your really helpful replies.

Be aware that if your school requires any YouTube clips for learning, these automatically block anyone under 13 from viewing them. And a chromebook requires a google id which will know your age.
So my son can’t view YouTube clips embedded in his homework and home learning as his chromebook knows he’s under 13 ...
YouTube kids would be fine but many of the links aren’t on YouTube kids

My DS had various problems over lockdown with his Chromebook - it wouldn't play sound files embedded in powerpoints, for example. If I could afford it I'd be getting a normal laptop for him.

Great thanks, I'm definitely leaning towards a laptop then. I think I'll ask the school and take it from there x

Hm. My daughter's chromebook allows YouTube viewing and she's 11 as per her google ID .

@cooperage

My DS had various problems over lockdown with his Chromebook - it wouldn't play sound files embedded in powerpoints, for example. If I could afford it I'd be getting a normal laptop for him.

If you open the presentation in PowerPoint online rather than in Google Slides then it should play the sound clips fine.

I have a Chromebook and so does ds. Best decision I ever made. They are a laptop and tablet in one. I'll never go back to a laptop with rubbish battery life, over heating and noisy fans and rubbish internet browsing capabilities.
Whatever you buy, don't go to Currys. They have the worst after care service in the world. There's a thread somewhere about them, it might be in AIBU.

Laptop but do your own research to decide

MintyIguana I think it’s because we use the Google Family Link app to keep an eye on content, screen time etc. It’s great for peace of mind but on the other hand it automatically blocks YouTube and there’s nothing you can do about it ...