Academics

1-to-1 Computing

Next year, Armbrae will continue with the plan for at-school student computing that we premiered during the 2020 – 2021 school year. This plan involves a combination of student-owned (BYOD) and school-owned devices. 

The Plan

Students in grades P – 4 will have access to school-owned iPads and Chromebooks. 

In grades 5 and up, students must bring their own device (BYOD) to and from school each day.  There are good lower-cost options for families who will have to acquire one or more devices for students who do not have them (see below). 

BYOD Options

Devices that will support student learning on our network include Chromebooks, Mac or PC laptops, and tablets with keyboards & pointing devices (if you are considering a tablet, however, please see below under Tablets). 

If you are looking to buy a device, there are many guides available for buying good learning technology for students. We recommend those at the New York Times' review site The Wirecutter. Their articles The Best Laptops for College Students, The Best Laptop Under $500 and The Best Chromebook have excellent advice that apply to Armbrae-age students as well as to older ones! For those who would rather skip the research, below are some notes, current as of June 2023, that may prove useful. (But really, it is worth at least looking over the reviews!)

Chromebook – Chromebooks are an excellent choice for a student device. They are very easy to use and maintain and have very good battery life. They also offer the most value for the money of any available option. We recommend avoiding the lowest tier of Chromebooks and sticking to mid- or higher-level models. The current ChromeOS version is required (you can follow these directions to see when your Chromebook will stop receiving updates). 

Some recommended Chromebooks are: 

• Acer Chromebook Spin 513 (CP513-2H-K62Y)
  Processor: MediaTek Kompanio 1380
  Memory: 8 GB
  Storage: 128 GB eMMC
  Screen: 13.5-inch 2256×1504 touch
  Tested battery life: 10.5 hours
  Weight: 2.82 pounds

• Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5i 13"
  Processor: Intel Core i3-1115G4
  Memory: 8 GB
  Storage: 64 GB eMMC or 128 GB SSD
  Screen: 13.3-inch 1920×1080 touch
  Tested battery life: 6.5 hours
  Weight: 2.97 pounds 

MacBook – Either the Air or the Pro models in any configuration are excellent choices for school computers. For an older MacBook, MacOS 11 or higher is required.  

• Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020)

• Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022)

Windows Laptop – For those who wish to use Windows-only apps or games a windows laptop may make sense. Please read the Wirecutter notes, however, and be aware that Armbrae's support staff are less familiar with the Windows OS than they are with other OSs and may be unable to provide as much support to students as they can with Chromebooks or Apple products. Windows 10 or higher is required. 

• • Asus Zenbook 14″ OLED (UM3402YA-WS51T)
    Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 7530U or Ryzen 7 7730U 
    Memory: 8 GB or 16 GB 
    Storage: 256 GB or 512 GB SSD 
    Screen: 14-inch 2880×1800 OLED touch
    Tested battery life: 11 hours
    Weight: 3.06 pounds 

  • Acer Aspire 5 (A514-54)
    Processor: Intel Core i3-1115G4 or i5-1135G7 
    Memory: 8 GB 
    Storage: 256 GB SSD 
    Screen: 14-inch 1920×1080 non-touch
    Tested battery life: 8.5 hours
    Weight: 3.2 pounds 

Tablets – While tablets (iPads, Windows Tablets, etc.) are excellent for taking digital handwritten notes, teachers have reported that they can be difficult to use with some software used in our classrooms. For this reason, we strongly encourage families to choose a Chromebook or laptop as a primary learning device. 

Please note that Armbrae is no longer able to lease or loan devices to students.