Lenovo is polishing up its education offerings with a touch of Chrome—Google's Chrome OS, that is. The PC manufacturer today announced Lenovo's first Chromebook, a variation of the ThinkPad X131e using Google's Web-centric operating system, to be sold exclusively to K-12 schools.
Google's Chrome OS is a light operating system that supports the Chrome Web browser and a myriad of online and offline apps. With Google's Apps for Education, teachers and students have access to free apps for document editing, presentation slide show creation, spreadsheet editing, and more. Additionally, Chrome offers built-in protections and a single dashboard that can be used to configure and manage a fleet of devices from one place, and easily scale up to many systems.
The ThinkPad X131e, already part of Lenovo's educational offerings, is ruggedized to withstand the rigors of daily use—and abuse—that are found in schools. Rubber bumpers protect the laptop from drops and spills, while stainless steel hinge brackets, reinforced ports, and a beefy keyboard all stand up to wear and tear. This tough construction not only extends the life of the laptop, it also reduces the overall cost of ownership by reducing the need for repairs and replacements. Adding Google Chrome to the mix should further reduce costs, though pricing details were not released.
The ThinkPad X131e is equipped with an AMD processor (up to AMD Dual-Core E-Series E2-1800), an 11.6-inch 1366-by-768 resolution display, three USB ports, and outputs for HDMI and VGA. Equipped with a 128GB solid-state drive (SSD), the ThinkPad X131e should be speedy, and 802.11n Wi-Fi should provide a convenient way to stay connected throughout the day.
The ThinkPad X131e Chromebook can also be customized with a variety of colors, logo etchings, and asset tagging services to keep track of laptops even if lost or stolen. Though full details about the customization and configurations were not available, Lenovo has announced that the ThinkPad X131e Chromebook will be available starting Feb. 26.
Last month, Google offered a $99 Chromebook for schools during the holiday season. The search giant teamed up with charity website DonorsChoose.org to offer the discounted Samsung Series 5 Chromebook for less than $100 to full-time public school teachers in the U.S.
For more, check out PCMag's review of the Acer C7 Chromebook and the Samsung Chromebook Series 3.