This fall, Boyertown Area School District gifted all BASH students with new laptops. A big change from Chromebooks, two different laptops were distributed; the freshmen and seniors received Dell HP, and sophomores and juniors received ThinkPads. Although there are promising features of the new computers, students felt differently about them.
Many comments on what students think of the new laptops are the same. James Riefenstahl, 11th, Lexi Giampietro, 10th, Hailey Gress, 9th, and Gage Gehris, 12th, discussed how much they hated the new batteries. Giampietro explained how the batteries just run out really quickly, especially compared to her Chromebook, which could go on for days without her having to charge it. Gress told how her computer won’t even last until 9th period, and mentioned how the other day her battery died too quickly and she couldn’t get her work done for the last few periods of the day. Gehris plainly said the batteries are just non-existent.
With new computers came new keyboards, some of which light up. Gress expressed how much she loves her new light-up keyboard by saying, “I love it, it’s my favorite thing.” Riefenstahl said, “It’s nice, I like the keyboard.” There were also some neutral feelings toward the new keyboards, as Gehris explained, “There is really nothing to the light up keyboard, it is just a simple color.”
Compared to the Chromebooks, many of the students do appreciate how much faster their new computer loads. Gehris exclaimed, “My Chromebook was really good, but this does load faster, and doesn’t crash with ten tabs open.” Gress explained how there is an obvious difference with how much faster her computer now loads. Yet, Giampietro said that her computer does not load faster than her old one, but rather loads at about the same speed.
A common characteristic of the Chromebooks were how they would continually break. With the newer computers, some say they really don’t break as easily. Gress said, “Mine broke so many times last year, this computer is definitely better with not breaking”. Where Giampietro said, “I don’t know if they break as easily, but I have seen some people with completely mangled ThinkPads, but I don’t know if they do that purposefully.” Riefenstahl and Gehris did not see as much of a difference in this area.
A big issue for many of the students seems to be the Wi-Fi on these computers. Many said that the Wi-Fi was just so terrible, and that it would constantly go in and out. Gehris even stated that the Wi-Fi works better on his phone than his school laptop.
The students were also interviewed on special qualities about these computers vs some really bad qualities about them. Riefenstahl said he didn’t see any extra special qualities about the computers, and said instead he has a very inefficient mousepad. When Giampietro was asked if she had seen any special qualities, she said, “Not really, its just a computer.” She also brought upon an interesting point, since teachers can no longer block tests they have to use an app called Securely. Teachers often forget to unblock their tabs once the tests are completed, so students have trouble getting to websites needed for their other classes. Gress once again shared her love for her light up keyboard, yet said her distaste in having to “lug around a charger all day.” Gehris, like Giampietro, said there were no special qualities out of the ordinary, and described his hatred towards the battery life and many websites being blocked.
The process of giving these new computer to everyone was considered simple and easy. Yet, the computers themselves were definitely not a favorite for many of these students. Our school is thankful for the administrators work of getting these new computers, but many hope in the future the qualities of these computers would be more carefully thought through.
