Dell beefs up its Chromebook 11 for the classroom

Dell Chromebook 11 featured

Dell entered the Chromebook market last year, focusing mainly on education with its Chromebook 11. Now it has a refreshed model with a few small tweaks, still squarely aimed at the classroom with a rugged build and unique activity light.

dell Chromebook 11 2015

The new Dell Chromebook 11 starts at $249 and uses a newer Intel Celeron chip than the previous edition. This isn’t the latest Broadwell chip from Intel inside the Chromebook 11; it’s a Celeron N2840, which has been around for a while. Still, that could help keep costs down without any huge detriment to performance or battery life, which is expected to be around 10 hours.

dell chromebook 11 classroomThat base price includes a minimal 2GB of memory and 16GB of flash storage, as well as a standard 1366 x 768 anti-glare display. The Chromebook 11 supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 for connectivity and has an integrated webcam.

Since it’s for the classroom, Dell beefed up the Google-powered Chromebook to handle a semi-tough environment. The laptop is “MIL-STD (U.S. Military Standard) tested for durability, pressure, temperature, humidity, shock and vibration so it can handle student life.” Choosing the optional touchscreen configuration adds a little more environmental tolerance: It’s a Gorilla Glass screen. The keyboard is also resistant to liquids so it’s safe for snack time and the hinge can rotate 180-degrees.

Dell added a very classroom-specific feature to the Chromebook 11 in the form of an LED light on the lid. It can change colors to indicate if a student needs help, has a question or is really good at programming LED lights from a command line. Maybe the latter item isn’t a real feature, but teachers can certainly benefit from seeing visual clues when a student needs attention. Dell says the new Chromebook is available immediately.

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