Out with the old, in with the new laptops

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Mackenzie Miller

The ThinkPad laptops (right) were originally distributed to the students. This year the district gave the 9th and 10th graders new Dell laptops (left).

Laptops allow teachers to do so much more within their daily classes, but they can cause students a great amount of stress when these laptops are not working.

At Carlisle High School, every student has their own laptop to use.  Some students choose to use their own home laptop, but many students use the laptops provided by the school.

“The driving force behind getting the laptops was to make sure that all of our students had access to online resources,” said Stephanie Douglas, Director of Digital Learning and Technology.

This year 9th and 10th-grade students were issued brand new laptops, while the 11th and 12th graders continued to use the now older laptops.

Students with the new laptops began to see improvements from the older laptops.

Sophomore Kellan Ruf said,“The speed when loading websites has improved.” This helps students when trying to work quickly in class.

Other improvements have been noticed as well. 

“The battery lasts longer,” said sophomore Kristina Kauffman.

Douglas agreed with Kauffman, explaining that the battery life is a big reason why they got new laptops. The district chose the laptops with a variety of reasons in mind.

“The improvements with the new laptops is they’re much more durable,” said Douglas.

Even though the laptops are newer, many students still suffer technology problems.

“[One problem is] constant disconnection from the Wi-Fi,” Kauffman listed as one of the biggest issues. This issue has not been linked to the new computers; instead, there have been connection issues with the service provider.

These problems can occur in both laptops, old or new. CHS has only been providing students with laptops for five years now, so there are still little adjustments being made to make sure that students are enjoying the technological part of their learning experience.  

By allowing students to have laptops, they are able to constantly be updated with the newest information they are learning about.  Even though some days the laptops can be stressful, it’s an amazing piece of education that the school is able to provide for every CHS student.