In recent years, laptop computers have been playing a ubiquitous role in society. Generally speaking, there are more and more people carrying them along in restaurants, airport lounges, and bookstores. Students use laptops for many uses, especially for projects and classwork. Green Level High School has HP Chromebooks only for the ease of use and the low cost for it. But, are these school computers the best thing for us, or would personal ones be better?

According to education.seattlepi, many people buy laptops for portability, accessibility, and convenience. Here at Green Level, Social Studies teacher Mr. G said that he prefers his own laptop, especially a MacBook, because it is faster and efficient. He also said that the old school he worked at used MacBooks for each and every student, which created an awesome environment. 

Let’s compare the school laptop compared to a sample laptop that a student could bring to school. The Microsoft Surface Go is a smaller laptop, but more powerful. The processor is newer as well, making this computer a powerful device. The Surface Go also can be folded into an iPad like the HP Chromebook. The fact that this computer is more expensive than the other makes it difficult to choose which one to buy

HP Chromebook 11 x360 

• Ranges from $200-$300
• Chrome OS™
• Intel® Celeron® processor
• Intel® HD Graphics 500
• 4 GB memory; 16 GB eMMC storage
• 11.6″ diagonal HD touch display./

Microsoft Surface Go

• Ranges from $299-$399
• Windows 10 
• 10” diagonal screen 2 in 1 tablet and laptop
• Intel® HD Graphics 615
• 1.6GHz Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y 

The big benefit of school laptops are that they’re available to use when you are at school, you do not have to carry them around with you as you would a personal laptop. They are also cost effective–the $100-$200 you might pay for a basic personal laptop or chromebook is not in everyone’s budget.

Still, if you are able to do it, we think the variety of laptops you can use if you decide to use your own makes a personal laptop the best option for students. A personal laptop grants you more freedom and you can use it anytime you want.