this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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I'm not so sure about cheaper. A quick google search shows the desks I used in school are priced around $400-$600 depending on type (different subjects had different desks), whereas the Chromebooks are around $250. I definitely agree with your second point, though.
Huh. Never realized chromebooks were priced that low.
Thanks for the correction.
Chromebooks are designed to be cheap and disposable. I've seen some as low as ~$100. That doesn't mean you can't get some very expensive ones, but since they basically only allow you to use Google and a select few apps from the play store, I don't know why the expensive ones exist.
I got an EOL Chromebook for $50, dropped Mint on it & use it to run a 3D printer instead of a raspberry pi.
laptops > raspberry pi imo. Having a screen is SO useful. I just got an old laptop to watch YouTube and mp4s on my TV without ads. Way better than the slow ad filled Roku OS
I used to have one as my primary work device for a few years. Honestly, it was surprisingly usable once you find online analogs for all typical things you do on a computer.
The biggest issue is you'd be using a free online service for some application, and then they start charging per month or the company goes under and you lose your work, so you have to keep finding new services and exporting your work to a common format that won't disappear to a central file system like Drive diligently.
They are very cheap. We had to buy them ourselves for our kids, which at least gave choices. We settled n $400 because for the cost of the cheapest piece of shit laptop, we could get a high end Chromebook that ran circles around it: faster, much more durable, much lighter, multiple times battery life
i don't know much about school desk but I can get a nice standing desk for $600. That is nuts.
Also I wonder if they sell replacement parts.
Industrial strength furniture that can withstand decades of abuse is not cheap.
I'm sure the schools don't pay that much for the desks (or the Chromebooks) since they buy in bulk -- those are just the prices I could find for single units. I was more trying to show the difference in price, rather than exactly how much the schools spend.
Not even that, but they are simple and repairable. I remember we had these sleigh-style desks (same idea except the seat was one-piece molded plastic) that were a total of four parts (two rails, the seat and the desk top) aside from bolts/hardware, and they had a graveyard of parts to replace pieces as needed. And those desk were tough as all hell.
Sounds great, but... unfortunately, it seems impossible to tilt on the chair with those, which I see as an essential part of going to school.
Also, the heights of the chair and table seem unadjustable, and it seems the pupil is seated too far away from the desktop to actually be comfortable.
What a useless piece of piss. Yeah, at least it's repairable, but is such a stupid piece of faulty furniture even worth repairing?
Again, that was the style and not the exact ones we had, but yeah they were all fixed position, however ours weren't too bad. I dunno, I don't remember anyone complaining much, I was on the taller side of my peers and fit fine while I recall even the smaller kids were alright too. Id wager a big reason they were chosen was so kids couldn't balance on the back legs, fall back and crack dome. They were great for cracking your back!
Oh man you could hook your feet in the legs and get a stretch going that was like a chiropractor visit! Not sure what the other commenter is on about those desks were indestructible and served their purpose well. I do remember being excited when we got to start using free-standing chairs we could adjust where ever we wanted.
Also, most school laptops are old. Someone did this at my school and got charged (iirc) $175 since it was the really old kind
its cheap when you consider the desk could still be fully functional 100 years from now. good luck getting a chromebook to last even a quarter of that