Need a laptop for a few days and don’t mind one that runs Chrome OS? Google’s going to be loaning Chromebooks to students on college campuses through a new Chromebook Lending Library program.

The Lending Libraries will pop up at 12 college campuses this fall, and students will be able to sign up to borrow a Chromebook for up to 4 days… because that’s how long the library will stick around at each school.

chromebook lending library

If you haven’t returned the Chromebook by the time the Lending Library packs up and leaves, you’ll be billed for it.

While Google is playing up the strengths of Chromebooks for college students (ease of use, long battery life, cloud storage which means you won’t lose your assignment if you lose your laptop, and collaborative Google Docs features), this is clearly more of a promotional stunt to let students try out Chromebooks than a way to actually let people check out Chromebooks any time they need a laptop.

The Chromebook Lending Library isn’t a permanent fixture and will only be around for a few days. Still… if you happen to find yourself needing a laptop during those days, it could come in handy.

via Google for Education

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,547 other subscribers

3 replies on “Google is bringing Chromebook Lending Library to college campuses”

  1. this is clearly more of a promotional stunt

    Yup. Get’em while they’re young, and you get’em for life. I still use the same brand of toothpaste I used when I was a kid, and I still have an account at the same bank I opened my first account at when I went off to college, many moons ago. Companies know how much the habits and inertia of their customers mean to them, if only they can win them over in the first place.

    And the thing is, Google probably doesn’t care if people know it’s a promotional stunt. It’ll still work.

    I took my parents to the Texas coast a number of years back, not knowing that it was the height of Spring Break season (hey, I’m English, we never had such a thing when I was a student). After being advised by the staff at a beach-front hotel that it might not be the quietest place to stay that night, we found a motel a couple of miles inland to stay at. When I walked into my room, both beds had two large goodie bags filled with toiletries and other stuff (including condoms. of course) provided by one of America’s mega-corporations. There were probably a dozen different branded items in each bag, and even if only one spring breaker in each room started using one of them branded items on a regular basis, it paid for itself many times over.

    1. This is how credit card companies hook Americans, too — get them while they are young and away from home at college.

Comments are closed.