Right to repair for Chromebooks makes them more competitive with Windows machines

The consumer faces a seeming tradeoff between repairability and form, as manufacturers argue that the techniques used to make better machines — Ultrabooks with slim unibodies, larger batteries, more efficient boards and so on — reduce the ability for the layman to repair the machine. However, Google seems to have taken a step for the consumer by introducing its new repair program.

The Chromebook Repair Program, announced in a blog post, said that it’s starting a repairability program to help schools fix Chromebooks in-house, and turn it into a valuable training opportunity for students looking into the IT field.

“Sustainable features like these are particularly helpful to the education world, with 50 million students and teachers using Chromebooks made by our manufacturing partners. With such a large community of Chromebook users, we want to work with our partners to build towards a more sustainable device ecosystem — starting by helping schools find information about repairable devices. Today, we’re taking the first step by creating a Chromebook repair program for schools, beginning in the United States,” read the blog post.

Chromebook sales exploded during the pandemic, with OEMs shipping a total of 30 million of the laptops in 2020. Google already had a foothold in the K-12 education market, as nearly 60 percent of all computer purchases were reportedly Chromebooks in 2018.

Chromebooks target the education market, which often uses low-end windows machines. The right to repair might make Chromebooks more viable for some institutions. While Apple’s education discount and entry-level iPads are similarly priced, the addition of management software, keyboards and mice, and AppleCare raise the price for those machines.