“In my experience, especially in the hands of middle schoolers, those Chromebooks aren’t going to last 10 years,” says Emily Stapf, customer success manager at Incident IQ. “We’re going to replace these in a timely fashion, not necessarily because of the operating system but because they’re in a pile of plastic on the floor.”
How can schools expand the lifespan of their Chromebooks to take advantage of extended support and increase their ROI? Here are three ways schools can get the most out of their devices:
DOWNLOAD THE INFOGRAPHIC: How can you maintain the device lifecycle?
1. Repair Chromebooks and Recycle Usable Components
When a Chromebook breaks, IT professionals should determine whether they can repair the device by replacing the piece that’s broken. Stapf says that LCD screens are commonly damaged in K–12 environments but are easy to replace without cycling out an entire machine.
“In the district I worked for, the LCD was a universal part. We could pull it out of one Chromebook and put it in one of three other models,” she adds.
When a Chromebook cannot be repaired or the repair is more costly than replacing the device, Stapf recommends that schools use them for parts.