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Perfect for Back to School: Chromebook Review and Giveaway

Disclosure: Staples sent me a Chromebook to review in exchange for my honest review. Keep reading to find out how one of you will win one!

chromebook review

I’m supposed to teach my kids to share.

But the one thing that I absolutely hate to share with them:  my laptop. I’ll hand over an iPad or even my phone, but I cringe at handing over my laptop, since I cannot live without it for work.

And though my boys know how to use a laptop and they are very careful, I still felt a bit cringe-y when they would use mine.

But, my first and third graders need to do some of their homework on a computer. Those sorts of homework assignments start in kindergarten at their school. They have to practice math on Sumdog, reading on Raz-Kids, spelling on Spelling City, plus type up different assignments to either print or e-mail their teachers. My oldest even has to watch some lessons online.

chromebook review

Add to that Reading Kingdom(that all three of my boys do to help improve their reading) and Book Adventure(where my oldest takes practice AR tests), and they need a quite a bit of computer time.

So the thought of getting a Samsung Chromebook from Staples for my boys to use as their laptop had them so excited they barely let our UPS guy out of his truck before they were asking if it was here yet. (Thankfully, our UPS guy is awesome and humors them. And he knows to only hand packages to me).

My boys have been using it for the past week, and here’s what we think of it so far:

Chromebook Pros:

Easy set up: I did set this up with one of my google accounts(my personal one, so my boys aren’t going into my work or blog email). It was extremely quick and easy.

Simple to use: You can click right to your email, google chrome, youtube, google search, or apps from the start bar. While yes, kids are so tech-savvy these days that they could pretty much figure anything out, it’s nice that there’s no learning curve here.

chromebook review

Google Chrome: While you don’t have to have a Chromebook to use Chrome, obviously, I do like how easy this browser is for my boys to use. I bookmarked all the sites they need for school(plus a few for fun- they love them some Club Penguin) and they can click to those right from the toolbar.

Google Docs: Anything my boys need to type up, they can do in google docs and either print or email to their teachers. I could not live without google docs and apparently I’m passing this obsession on to my boys early.

chromebook review

Portability: the Chromebook is only slightly larger in size than an iPad, so it can easily be taken anywhere. t’s 2.5 pounds and 0.8 inches thin. My third grader has to take a school-issued laptop back and forth to school and it is heavy and awkward. After using the Chromebook, I’m wondering why the school didn’t go with them instead. Honestly, I’d be super tempted to “borrow” this from my boys when I head out of town on my next trip.

The price: Okay, so I did get mine free. But, I had actually been looking at the Samsung Chromebook when we were doing back to school shopping, but it ended up at the bottom of our shopping list and got put off to the Christmas list. At $249, it’s a good deal.

Chromebook Cons:

The only problem we’ve encountered so far is that the mouse got stuck twice for a few minutes. Though my boys were easily able to fix it.

If you work on your computer all day long, with a million tabs open, this wouldn’t be the laptop for you. I did use it a bit this past week, just to get some personal experience with it to go along with what I saw my boys doing on it, and I couldn’t have this as my only laptop. However, for what the kids need for school (or what your casual computer user would need), the Samsung Chromebook is a great laptop.

Chromebook Giveaway

chromebook

One of you will win a Samsung Chromebook(retail $249) from Staples. US, 18+ only. See Rafflecopter for all official rules and to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Comments

  1. My boys are always fighting over the iPad. I would love for my oldest to start learning more about the computer, especially since they are using them in Kindergarten.

  2. Oh man.. My son and I would fight over this for sure! It would help so much with trips to keep him busy, and me to get some work done!

  3. Honestly I would probably use it as my laptop since I don’t have one yet. I want to eventually get a MacBook but this would be nice for right now. I’ve been using and old Ipad and sometimes it’s SO SLOW. 🙂

  8. I’m laughing because my iPad won’t let me enter. Off to archaic desktop – my technology homework kids need this! Thanks.

  10. I have that same cringe feeling whenever I have to hand over my laptop, and it is happening more and more often these days. My daughter would definitely get a ton of use out of this for her homeschool work that needs to be done on the computer. 

  11. Oh this would be fantastic for us in our house. We currently have one laptop that is old as dirt and my boys are limited as to what they can do. Seriously. Even me am limited to what I can do. 

  12. Right now my daughter is using a pretty chunky laptop (or snagging mine!). So I might give it to her. BUT my mom really needs a new laptop. Like yesterday. So it’d probably be headed that way.

  13. Great review!! I’d definitely consider a Chromebook over a tablet after reading this. Thanks for the excellent consumer guidance! 🙂

  15. Also, I was trying to enter my Pinterest username up there, but it shut me out before I was finished. *huffs and puffs* I’ll just go over to Pinterest myself and follow you that way. 🙂 (Janet Gonzalez/passoonofthemom)

  17. My wee ones are in love with the iPad, but at the moment, it is primarily for learning games. I’d love to let them work with the laptop to use some of the more sophisticated learning software/sites that are out there.

  23. As our home computer just bit the dust, this would go a LONG way with our high school student and homework he needs to do! 🙂

  24. If I won, this would be for my teen son. This would be perfect for his doing homework and also to bring to school. What a super prize. Thanks you so much.

  25. Thank you! Our electronics are dying so we could really use one of these. My son would use it for typing reports and playing games. He’s in middle school now, land of reports..

  29. Now that my son is in first grade, he is having to log into certain sites to get homework done (Scootpad). I don’t mind him using my laptop, but then I can’t use it while he is. I think it’d be nice to have something that is “his” that he can use for his homework, and the occasional playing. Then I can distract him with one while I get some blogging/writing/Pinterest pinning done.

  30. The Chromebook looks fantastic and I would definitely use this because I am going back to school next fall! Thanks!

  32. My kids would use it to write papers and other homework…including research as needed. I would love to take it with me when I travel…to keep connected. 🙂 Thank you.

  37. I would take the ChromeBook to my classroom to have another opportunity for students to get on-line to practice math facts and other concepts.

  38. I have a laptop for my personal use, but since starting my dog rescue, I could really use a separate laptop to be able to keep track of our files and be able to take it with me to events, etc.  Winning this laptop would be a real godsend!

  39. We would use the Chromebook to research school projects and stay in touch with their school.

  41. WE have 5 people and 2 computers and with 3 kids in school and needing to complete assignments it is hard to make sure everyone gets enough time. We would use it for homework & online games for kids. I would use  it to pay bills, email, do photo stuff, blog, shop online, pinterest. and everything else one could use a computer for.

  46. My dear daughter will be using this for her school homeworks , explore the topics discussed in her class for detailed knowledge and also for her project works. She will be exited. She has to wait for her turn to use my husband’s laptop as he will be woking all the time even from home.

    Thank you for the chance to win. Fingers Crossed.

  52. My daughter would love this, she can never squeeze time in on the desktop because her younger siblings are always wanting to use it. It would make a great Christmas gift for her.

  62. I would use it for myself when I go back to school this Spring. I’m career-changing to Nursing and it would be helpful not to be chained to a desktop computer. Thanks!

  67. I would love to win this since my kids look for information they need for homework on my cell phone

  68. I think this would be a great laptop for the whole family to use.  I’d love to win!!

  73. My daughter could use it to practice her weekly spelling words on spellingcity.com!

  85. Great review! my kids are grown(2 brothers I raised like my kids lol) , so I would want it for myself, because my laptop is SO old school ha..It is barely still working & I could really benefit from this chromebook to get me into the present times lol

    Thanks for the chance to win!

    Joey J.

  88. We are getting to the school age where we need more than one computer in the house! The kid would definitely make good use of this and mom wouldn’t have to keep turning over her laptop!

  89. I don’t have kids. This would be my husband’s for his school work, web surfing. He’s currently working with a busted computer just getting by.

  91. the kids would use it for homework. several of their teachers post homework online and this would help them out a lot

  92. I would use this because my daughter dropped my other laptop and broke it beyond repair.  It would be nice to have a laptop again.

  96. My kids are too little for a computer so I would give this to my husband. He really needs one!

  97. omg this would be the greatest blessing for our family, one of my daughters is in special services & 99%of her class work& home work obligations are digital..to make matters worse our district doesn’t provide the children with a computer so we have had to spend a lot of time at the library

  100. I would use it to skype with my brother who will be in Cali when he gets home from deployment this month. 🙂

  104. I would give this to my youngest son Travis for Christmas so we would stop fighting over my desktop! 🙂

  105. Hello, I would use this when I need to take care of mom is she is sick or when I go to my sister’s to watch my two nieces. Thanks for a great giveaway!

  108. My current laptop is old and bulky. I need to be accessible for work everywhere I go and this Chromebook would be perfect!

  113. My daughter is not old enough for a chormebook, but I would most definitely be using this laptop for creating photobooks of our familiy!

  114. this would be my daughter’s introduction to computers and in this case laptop, so she would be doing almost everything…

  117. My husband is actually just starting to use technology, so this would be a great web surfing vehicle for him.

  118. If I had a Chromebook I’d use it to surf the internet when I’m away from my desktop. It would probably be great for traveling. 

  120. My son would use it to do his homework for school. It would be a big help with his vocab assignments

  122. We love google products! I bought my husband his first tablet (so proud, I know!) – a Google Nexus – and we’ve been so happy with it, so I can imagine that it’s chromebook is even better!

  126. When i watch my grandkids, they would use it for writing their school papers, doing research for school, etc.

  127. My kids would use it for school homework and study as yours do but also for games and surfing the web.

  128. My son would use it for everything! School work, games, browsing the web, etc.. you name it.. he would do it! LOL! 🙂

  129. Definitely school.  It’s amazing they have to have one in school but it’s almost a necessity.

  130. Our kids are still young so at most, they’d play a few adult supervised games. I’d love it to check my email

  132. i would want this for my boys because we are always fighting for my laptop which they use alot because of speech impairment and for reading for my 1st grader who’s having trouble with this. This would really help us alot.

  133. I would use this for college. My parents are paying for my education, and instead of asking them for one I would to get one for myself. I am really short on money and cannot afford this as much as I would like.

  135. I would give it as a gift to my husband, who is currently using a net book. It’s hard for him to read with such a small screen. This would be so much better for him to use.

  136. I want to learn how to take my pictures and home movies to another level. Id start with some software.

  140. I would use it to listen to music while I workout! It’s so sleek and compact, I don’t think it would be a hassle at all like my current laptop!

  142. What a great giveaway!! I would give it to my partner as he doesn’t have a computer and he has to blog from his phone!!

  145. i would use it for entering more giveways 🙂 thanks for teh chance to win. bekki b

  148. We would use it for everything. My computer has stopped working. My kids would love to play educational games on it and type letters

  152. That’s super cool.  Jack has a lot of homework stuff he does on our computer as well.  I’d love for us to have a dedicated computer for that stuff.

  153. I might actually give this to my daughter when she graduates high school. Or keep iy for myself… lol

  154. I would use it for e-mail and writing short stories. We currently only have an iPad, which I love, but it’s a pain to write anything longer than a few sentences on it.

  156. I homeschool my kids, and we could really use another computer so that they don’t have to take turns on the one we have. It would make things run much more smoothly around here!

  158. my kids would use it for educational games and learning and chatting with nana and pappy

  160. Actually, I would be using this.  I really need a new computer.  
    Thanks for the giveaway! =)

  161. I don’t have children yet- I’m a bride to be trying to get my blog going so I can run it as a business… Then when the kiddos do come along in a couple years I can be a stay at home mom (I hope!)

  164. I have a ten month old baby. It’s ridiculous but I am already considering when to buy him an iPad. If I won this I would configure it so that eventually he can use it to play educational games!

  166. They would use it for doing school stuff, mom and dad might sneak it too check some email.

  168. My laptop went to the land of the great tech devices last winter, so this would be for the whole family to use for homework, take a long for work etc.

  169. We would use the Chromebook to write papers and create classroom materials using Google Docs! I would also use it for email and watching Netflix 🙂 Thanks!

  172. I would either give this to my mom as a gift, or give it to my husband, and then give mine to my mom! Thank you

  174. I would use this the most for work and sharing pics with family. My niece and nephew would also use it to play some online games and log into their elementary school reading sites.

  175. This would be perfect for my middle school daughter to use for her homework or school work.

    jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com

  185. My kids are homeschooled and currently share one computer. This would be used for tests and reports.

  188. My middle child just started high school. She would use this to do homework on after school in the library before sports practice.

  189. I’d gift it to my sister so she can keep in touch with us when she’s traveling for work!

  192. I don’t have a laptop and if I won, I would keep it for myself. Gaming and entering giveaways would be what I would use it for.

  193. I am disabled and use a laptop from bed. I gave my laptop to my son who needed it at college when his broke. I am using one my husband found at a garage sale. A Chromebook sounds great. Thank you for the opportunity.

  195. It would be great for everyone in the family to use. The kids for school and us for work and play.

  198. I would use the chrome while my daughter uses the desktop..I enter sweeps and contest s  every day,Im on a fixed income so it helps a lot to win  gifts for my kids…

  201. My oldest son’s school posts games and little videos to help the kids with whatever they are learning at school, so he would use it for that
    thanks!

  206. I home school my 4 kids so they could use this.My older kids would use it for research on topics they have to write papers on and my younger ones could use it for learning websites.

  211. My boys would use the Chromebook for school….and FUN! Like the saying goes…All work and no play, lol.

  214. the kids would use it to play games and work on school work. i would use it to read your blog!

  217. Dylan said he would play SesameStreet.org

    Abbey said she would email her friends (which is interesting because she doesn’t have email…)

  221. I’d use this for reading blogs, entering sweeps, and other online stuff on the sofa while the rest of the family is watching TV shows I can’t stand 😉

  225. I would use it for work and at home as my old laptop is verging on 7 years old!!!

    brich22 at earthlink dot net

  228. My daughter has to use the computer more and more now that she’s in middle school. I wold much rather her use this than my laptop.

  229. I would use it to shop online for great deals.  Especially for black Friday deals coming up!!

  233. My daughter is in the seventh grade and has been borrowing my laptop for her school reports I would love for her to have her own to do her school work.

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