When students picked up their Chromebooks at registration for the 2025-26 school year, some ended up with a different, slightly smaller chromebook with a new case and screen protector. The Chromebooks that were used in the 2024-25 school year were the Acer R853T series. But this year, some students have a Lenovo 100e Chromebook Gen 4, a slightly older model with a plastic black case and a slightly blue tinted screen protector.
“I don’t like the new Chromebooks,” sophomore Krish Kapoor said. “The screen feels way more narrow, and the protector is so annoying to look at.” The screen protector also cannot be removed.
“I wish I had the old one, the new one is so annoying to look at in the sun and it doesn’t have two USB ports,” sophomore Jack LaSalle said. “It also can’t do everything that last year’s can.”
Specks wise, the Acer comes with more RAM, and uses a more powerful Intel Pentium Silver N6000 processor than the Lenovo’s Intel N100. The Acer also comes with two USB-C ports, rather than the Lenovo’s one. The Lenovo does come with an HDMI port, however this feature is not as well known .
The main difference? Tablet mode. The Acer features a 360 degree hinge and stylus, for the use of tablet mode. The Lenovo, however, doesn’t have this feature.
“It doesn’t even have a stylus anymore,” Kapoor said. “I used to use it all the time when I was doing Peardecks, and now I can’t anymore.”
The stylus was included along with tablet mode, but since the new Chromebooks do not have the feature, they don’t have the stylus. However, when it comes to the day-today student use of a Chromebook, the school’s Chromebooks don’t really have to do a whole lot. They essentially just need to run a web browser. So even though the Acer was technically more powerful, does the change really matter?
“I mean, at the end of the day, if you don’t like the school Chromebooks, just bring your own from home and use it within the boundaries that the school allows for outside laptops,” sophomore Krishvik Mohan said. “I feel like we all know that the Chromebooks in general were never that great.”
If a student wishes to use a stylus, it doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be a part of the chromebook, they could just use an outside one, like in biology teacher Mrs. Sloan’s classroom.
“I enjoyed using my stylus for Peardecks, but my science teacher provides alternative ones for the class in exchange for phones anyway,” Mohan said. “This way, whenever there is a drawing portion in the Peardeck, I can work just as well.”
Whatever the students’ opinion on the Chromebooks, there will always be a fix or a way to solve any problem they have with the Chromebooks, like bringing their own laptop from home.
“I suppose I can live with the current Chromebooks, since I could bring my own laptop for some classes,” Kapoor said, “Especially this year, I’d much rather be using my Macbook at home than the school Chromebooks.”
At the end of the day, the Chromebooks do what the regular student needs and nothing more. If anything more is ever required, there will always be alternatives for Chromebooks if needed.
