Chromebook Chargers (HP, Samsung, and Dell)

Again with the Chromebook posts, right?  There are tons of reviews out there.  But you can only rehash the same specs so many times.  In the K-12 market I need to know about the physical properties of the devices too.  Let's face it, these things are going to take some abuse.  What takes more abuse than the power connector?  The charger is going to be plugged up every day, it's got to be tough.

My first experience with a Chromebook was the Samsung Chromebook.  No model number, just the Chromebook.  That was the first ARM based one that was priced at $249.  My thoughts initial thoughts were wow, it's light, it's thin, maybe a little flimsy, but what's with that crazy small charger connector.  Really, is this a Nokia phone from 2008?  In saying that, I still love that particular model.  I was just worried about unleashing a hoard of students on that small connector.  The teachers haven't had an issue with it, but I feared the students.  I've seen what they were capable of with much more robust connectors.

Then I came across the HP Chromebook 11.  Not as thin or light, but not as flimsy either.  So how did that charger connector stack up?  It's micro-usb.  That's great, right?  I really thought it was.  It's micro-usb! Most of these kids are used to plugging these up with their cell phones.  My toddler can plug up a micro-usb connector.  Not to mention that micro-usb chargers are everywhere which should have been a huge advantage (but it's not, just Google it for the details, the short version is that cell charger doesn't provide enough juice, Chromebook battery will die while trying use and charge at same time).

All micro usb connectors are not the same.  The HP Chromebook 11 appears to have a micro-a usb socket.  What is that you ask?  It's almost just like the ubiquitous micro-usb connector.  In fact, the micro-b usb connector that you're used to works in a micro-a socket.  The big difference is that that micro-a connector is a rectangle, it doesn't have the "clipped" corners that make the micro-b connector look kind of like a trapezoid.  Here's a link to the USB Wikipedia article, they cover it better than I do and they have pictures, too.

What does the different connector mean to you? It means the socket doesn't have an obvious up side (or downside).  I know I'm guilty of blindly trying to plug a cable in, doesn't fit, flip it and try it again.  With the more common micro-b connector this isn't a problem.  The metal casing on the connector will only fit one way so if it doesn't fit, it just doesn't fit.  But the HP Chromebook 11 doesn't have a micro-b socket, it's got a micro-a socket.  This means that the metal casing will fit either way.  The only thing stopping it from going in upside down is the thin little plastic strip that holds the metal contacts.  Do you see the problem with this?

So enough about the Chromebook 11, how about the Chromebook 14?  It doesn't have the same problem as the 11.  It's got a more standard barrel connector.  It seems fairly robust.  I haven't spent much time with this one so I don't have a lot more to say about it.

Now let's get to the latest Chromebook that I've tried out.  The Dell Chromebook 11. I got it out of the box and was thrilled to see the standard Dell barrel connector.  The power adapter is a 65W adapter.  It's got rounded corners and doesn't look like the other Dell power bricks that I'm familiar with, but the business end is the same.  It even has the light up ring where the cord goes into the back side of the barrel connector.  I checked it out, it looked pretty cool.  But I didn't plug it up.  Right there on my desk was another Dell power adapter from another Dell laptop (not a Chromebook), I picked it up, plugged it in and.... It blew up.  Wait, no it didn't.  It just worked.

So there we go, the Dell Chromebook 11 has a nice big, fat, rugged power connector.  And it's not unique, it's a Dell connector.   There's a thriving market for Dell laptop chargers.  Try finding an after market HP Chromebook 11 charger (which isn't the same as a HP Chromebook 14).  Heck, try to find an OEM adapter for that matter.  The HP is always out of stock.  Good luck finding a replacement if your dog eats homework, er.... Chromebook charger.

An affordable Chromebox.... Finally

I really like the idea of ChromeOS devices for school use.  Think about it, automatic updating, very narrow attack vector, fast boot, plain and simple operation.  What's not to like about it? Ok ok I understand, everything has to be web-based.  But is that so bad?  Really, how often is your connection to the internet down?  I know lots of people talk about how good the cloud is and a lot of people preach about how bad the cloud is.  Wait a minute, I'm getting side tracked, I'll save this topic for another post, let's move on to what I was wanting to talk about.

Chromeboxes.  More importantly, affordable Chromeboxes.  Asus has announced a new Chromebox starting at $179 (really, read about it here http://www.asus.com/us/News/xjbJtLA1HEyUSUeo).  That's pretty cheap, right?  But you might be saying the Samsung Chromeboxes for $300 or $500 were affordable too.  Yes, they were affordable, until you consider that you can buy a refurbished computer for $500 (with a monitor.)  That's a full PC too, it runs Windows and everything.  Chrome versus Windows is going to be another post.

Back to the affordable Chromeboxes, in education every dollar counts, $179 is much more affordable than $300.  That's a lot more computers being made available for the students.  I'll call that a win.

Now for my rant.

Chromeboxes have been out for some time.  Just a small computer that runs ChromeOS, nothing particularly special.  The prices have been ridiculously high though.  Before today's announcement they were around $300 dollars.  That doesn't sound too bad for a computer.  But, Samsung has a whole Chromebook for $249.  Some might point out that that's obviously different because it's an ARM processor and the Chromeboxes all have Intel processors.  I could care less about that.  I need a computer that runs, the ARM based Chromebooks do that just fine.  Why not strip out the portable bits of a Chromebook and squeeze them into a super small package?  How much could you save if you cut off the screen, battery, keyboard and trackpad?