iPads vs. Chromebooks: One student’s opinion by guest blogger Mitchell Rodriguez

This year at Lynnfield High School, seniors and freshmen were given Chromebooks, which is a change since the other classes got iPads. In my opinion, this was a great decision. I prefer Chromebooks since I love everything Google does, but as biased as it seems, I will give the iPads credit. Both devices are different in many ways, and each one has pros and cons. When it comes down to it, personal preference is how people will choose. It can be a matter of which is better, yes, but it all comes down to what the person wants to use it for. If for games, go with the iPad. If it’s for affordability, writing papers, and using the internet, go with the chromebook. Either or, you’re getting one of the two great devices that will do what you want and make you happy — hopefully.

Overall Summary – iPads

Photo by GameSpot.com

An iPad should not be considered a replacement for your computer; let’s just get that out of the way. With this said, though, it sets itself apart from other devices. A full aluminum body, thin and relatively light weight, the iPad is incredibly portable and sturdy — unless you drop it. We all know what happens when you drop one of these devices on its glass display. The iPads exterior is very simple. A big display and an aluminum body with Apples logo on the back has been its look for the past few years, along with its buttons for volume and locking the device. Hardware and software does not  really need to be mentioned on the iPad, besides its great battery life and remarkably long standby time. For software, you’re getting the same old simple iOS that millions of people have come to love. iOS on the tablet is very similar to the iPhone’s iOS, and hardware is similar as well. An iPad, overall, is an expensive piece of technology that is fast at times, can play games exclusive to iOS, watch movies; it’s what you’d expect from an iPhone and iOS, just bigger, which will be relatively easy to adjust to since most people own an iPhone.

Performance is where the iPad suffers. Apple releases an iOS update to certain apple devices per year with minor improvements. With this, Apple purposefully slows down previous generations so that the user feels compelled to go out and buy a new one. It may be a great business tactic, but it really makes a lot of iPad users unhappy. It’s also frustrating when you’re like me and own an iPad 3, update to iOS 8 and get the slowest, buggiest, piece of technology you’ve ever seen. It doesn’t make me want to BUY another iPad, it makes me want to avoid them. Apps crash, stuff doesn’t load correctly, sometimes the touch screen is not responsive; it’s stuff like this that really compounds our hate someone can hate an iPad. Of course, when you first purchase an iPad it is very fast and hardly glitches. Give it two or three years and apple will have slowed it down to the iPhone back in 2008.

The iPad for school is just alright. The tablet is not bad but not impressive. Sure, it’s light and portable but so are other tablets that are also lower in price. It’s good for taking notes in class, and for math when using notability, but honestly, it’s not anything impressive. The iPad is not something that will blow you away; it does what you’d expect it to do. Anyone using an iPad will quickly adapt to the simplicity of iOS. Unfortunately, it’s very expensive for what you’re purchasing. It works most of the time, and it gets the job done sooner or later. Even though the iPad isn’t anything impressive, that doesn’t mean the chromebooks are either.

iPad

Pros

• Great Battery Life

• Easy to use

• Gets the job done

• Portable

 Cons

• Performance can be inconsistent

• Lack of a USB Port

• Device cannot be reliable for long term

• iOS doesn’t take advantage of the tablets large display

• Horrible integration with Google

 

Overall Summary – Chromebooks

Photo by Gigaom.com

      While the Chromebook isn’t impressive, it’s certainly a big step over the iPad. For one, it’s incredibly affordable. For $200 you’re getting a great package. One, the chromebook is much cheaper than the iPad. Two, it’s faster than the iPad. And three, it’s a computer, and computers can do much more than the iPad. It’s fast, it’s light, and it’s just the right size to be able to bring wherever you go. With the Chromebook you’re getting the ChromeOS, which isn’t updated to slow down your device every year. With ChromeOS, you can download files but you cannot run them, but the iPad cannot do that either. ChromeOS is simple, easy, and fast. You connect to wifi and you go; but once there isn’t any internet connection the chromebook isn’t of much use. What people don’t realize is that most of what people do on their computers involves requiring a connection to the internet. The Chromebooks are incredibly productive. Booting up the PC is extremely fast, and web browsing is a breeze. Battery life is great and the laptop is portable and can be used wherever there is an internet connection.

 The only flaw I have seen with the Chromebooks is loading certain websites that have tons of ads on them or are very complex. There will be a delay when loading it, but once its done loading its relatively lag free. Along with this, opening too many tabs can also slow down the chromebook. Even with these two flaws, though, it’s not very noticeable, and if it is, it does not happen often.

 Chromebook wins this one for me. I use my Chromebook a lot, and my iPad is just getting slower and slower. My Chromebook is great. It’s fast, convenient and it does everything I want. I never take out my iPad for anything anymore. I only use it at home and it’s still a pain. Taking the Chromebook everywhere just works; great battery, great performance, great price. What is there not to like? The Chromebook is a great investment and I highly recommend purchasing over any iPad, even if the tablet is discounted. If you really have the cash, you could drop a good $1000+ on the Chromebook Pixel with a gorgeous glass super high resolution display and blazing performance. This may not be practical, but it’s really nice to look at and use when you can.

 Chromebook

Pros

• Great performance
• Great battery life
• Extremely easy to use
• Very Affordable
• Always reliable
• Integrates all things Google

 Cons

• Can be slow when loading large websites
• Can be slow when having too many tabs open