Ask HN: Chromebook leads for K-8 school in need?

Relevant recent publication about laptops and students:

https://fortune.com/2026/02/21/laptops-tablets-schools-gen-z...

But I get it OP, you work with what you're given. I'm sorry I don't have any good suggestions.

https://chromeos.google/products/chromeos-flex/

1. Find older Intel Core Based Windows Laptops (at least 6GB of RAM) 2. Put ChromeOS Flex on them 3. Students will be sad it is still ChromeOS, but they will be happy it is like 3x faster.

I had an old Windows laptop laying around and I did this for my 80 yr old parents and they were super happy.

In New York the biggest driver behind technology is the state testing regime. Make the case to your administration that the chromebooks are insufficient for the state testing program and they will come up with the funds for upgrades.

If you haven't already looked into PCs for People, they might be a low-cost option for your school: https://www.pcsforpeople.org/tech-for-nonprofits/#Eligibilit...

PCs for People is a non-profit organization whose mission is to bridge the digital divide (e.g. through sales of low-cost refurbished computers, internet access, and digital skills training).

They refurbish and sell computers to eligible organizations, including schools and offer bulk orders (6+ units) via email at "partner [at] pcsforpeople [dot] org".

If the order is 5 units and below, you use their publicly available online store link at pcsrefurbished.com/sales/salesHome.aspx

For a K-8 environment, it might be worth looking into local e-waste recycling non-profits or university surplus programs. Often, large institutions rotate their hardware every 3-4 years, and they are usually happy to donate older but functional Chromebooks to schools in need. Also, check out 'DigitalEquity' initiatives in your area; they often have streamlined pipelines for this exact scenario

I realize this does nothing to solve your problem, but for the sake of discusion, internally at Microsoft, pretty much all the developers I know have switched to using "Devbox", which means we use a remote desktop client to access our dev machine.

A lot of us resisted this at first, but then just kindof came to accept it, and it made it so we have a lot more capable machines to do development on than the laptops that we would have to recycle every couple years.

I know there have probably been a lot of "thin client" products/services in the education space in the past, but I think it might be time to try again.

Like another poster here, I think it's "sad" that kids are using laptops. Laptops have small screens and poor ergonomics.

A thin client setup with a good keyboard, mouse and monitor could be better and more affordable / future proof.

Quite honestly, those kids will get more technology education out of using 15 year old linux machines or slow as hell raspberry pis than the eternal distraction machine that is a modern laptop wired to the internet and youtube/tiktok/instagram.

The real problem is that chromebooks are designed to run web applications which you rely on and which have become more bloated over time.

The real question is what are the students supposed to learn on those laptops? Is it how to type? Use Google Docs? How to program?

A Chromebook has sufficient hardware to do all that. Heck, a 20 year old laptop is sufficient for doing that.

I'm 37, and remember learning how to type on wildly out-of-date Apple II machines in the mid 90s.

I don't have any solution for you, but I want to say thanks for caring about your students like this.

I forgot the person but they have a non-profit that upcycles old chromebooks.

Maybe someone knows but you could try to upcycle to nixbooks.

https://github.com/mkellyxp/nixbook

what type of school, private or public or charter or anything else in particular? whether donations are tax deductible is important, as is education philosophy, as are communities served.

Which hardware are the current chrome books running on? I'm fine running current Chrome on 15 year old hardware

Your PTA is the fastest way.

Is it possible to acquire used refurbished laptops over new Chromebooks? A lot of companies tend to swap their corporate laptops every few years or so, and those usually happen to be solid Dells or ThinkPads with no faults whatsoever. If you can get a hold of any such corporate entity and work with them, you might be able to secure them for as low as ~$250 per piece.

I am currently using a refurb for personal use right now and I've been using it without any issues since 2023, not because I'm wanting for money but because you don't replace what hasn't broken yet.

This post makes me sad for two reasons:

1) kids k-5 are using laptops 2) websites are so bloated today that browsing on a Chromebook is causing agitation

Otherwise I don't have anything topical for this post, but good luck OP

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