Google brought one of its newest products to NC State Monday, as students were able to rent Acer model Chromebooks at Google’s Lending Library set-up on the Brickyard.
Students who rented one of 300 Acer model Chromebooks can keep the Chromebooks until the lending library leaves campus Thursday or they will be required to purchase the Chromebook, according to Maggie Shepard, the assistant manager of the Lending Library.
“The Chromebooks are affordable for students, they start at $199, have a battery life of 10 hours, weigh three pounds and don’t get viruses,” Shepard said.
Samerrian Johnson, a Google specialist, said the Chromebook is Google’s version of a laptop.
“Google wanted to create a laptop that was easy to use with a simple interface, something that people could have security with their built-in antivirus, something that was also fast, faster than what people are traditionally used to,” Johnson said.
The lending library is housed in a sleek shed with tables for students to congregate around, surrounded by bicycles.
The inside of the set-up showcases a series of laptops, including Samsung, Pixel, HP eleven, HP fourteen and Acer Chromebooks for the students to try inside the lending library, Shepard said.
NC State is one of only six schools on the east coast that the Chromebook Lending Library is traveling to, according to Shepard.
The Chromebooks being showcased range from the $199 Acer to up to $1,300.
Johnson said the Chromebook is optimal for students who use their laptops for typing documents and streaming media.
“The standard versions for the majority of the Chromebooks have 16 gigabyte solid state hard drive with two Gigabytes of RAM,” Johnson said. “They all are capable of having 100 gigabytes of cloud storage for two years.”
Muhammad Akram, a sophomore in poultry science, said he came out to get a Chromebook because he has heard they are competitive with other top brands and he wants a reliable machine.
“It’s affordable, and the most important thing is that it won’t get any viruses,” Akram said. “I’m pretty sure every computer gets viruses, and I want to see why it doesn’t get any viruses. I have a MacBook pro, and I had a windows computer before that, but it used to get a lot of viruses.”
Akram said he was ready to take a look at the laptop, but he was not ecstatic about the Chromebook Lending Library initiative implementation.
“The campaign is really good, but the line is too slow,” Akram said. “It took over ten minutes to get the laptop and the deadline is in two days. If you don’t bring it back by the deadline they’ll charge you for the whole laptop. Things could happen, you could get stuck in traffic or inclement weather.”
Cynthia Molina, a junior in international studies, said she wasn’t planning on renting a Chromebook.
“I heard they don’t have that much memory, and you need memory when you’re at college,” Molina said. “The school already has computer labs all over the place; why get a laptop for two days?”
Lorrie Marcial, a senior in business administration, said she rented a Chromebook because she likes Google.
“They’re a good company, and I’ve used Chromebooks before,” Marcial said. “I’ve been wanting to buy a smaller laptop or tablet for taking notes in class because my laptop is really heavy. They also gave me a T-shirt, which is awesome.”
