In the last quarter, schools have purchased more than one million Chromebooks, outpacing Apple. In response, Microsoft, another competitor, has announced it will soon offer a low-cost windows laptop for $199. 

According to EducationNews.org, at $200, Chromebooks fit well into school budgets. Schools also get a maintenance-type agreement that replaces non-working devices at no additional cost. (Microsoft does not have such a turn-key program for schools in place.)

"The affordability and easy maintenance of Chromebooks clinched the deal -- we could buy three Chromebooks for the price of a single desktop computer, and the district's small IT team wouldn't have to struggle to keep up with the repairs and updates on aging PCs," said David Andrade, CIO for Bridgeport Public School district in CT. 

Bridgeport public schools were able to give every high school student a Chromebook, and 95 percent of these students receive free or reduce price lunches. 

With the Chromebook winning 20 percent of the education market, the devices are beginning to compete with the iPad in classrooms. Chromebooks have a physical keyboard, making it easier for students to create content. Also, Chromebooks update automatically and are cloud-based (Google Docs and Drive).

"With the advance of the Web, a lot of the learning material, traditionally only available at library or bookstores, is now available at the fingertips," said Ken Lin, engineering manager for the Chrome education and business team. "We are seeing a huge trend for classrooms to adopt technology, because it helps teachers to teach better, and enables kids to access knowledge like never before. We are very excited for Chromebooks to be part of this trend."

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Article by Kassondra Granata, EducationWorld Contributor