Distance learning plans crunched as laptop shortage hits U.S.
As school districts spin up with various remote distance and in-classroom learning plans to combat COVID-19, they’ve needed far more computers than typical for the back-to-school season. This is causing problems because — again, thanks to COVID-19 — the number of computers currently available for purchase is much lower than normal.
A number of factors are feeding the issue. Slower port inspections mean longer stock cycles. The United States Postal Service has suffered unprecedented slowdowns. Chinese factory production is pushing back up to pre-pandemic levels, but there are supply chain weaknesses that haven’t been fully addressed. The ongoing U.S.-China trade war isn’t helping anything move faster, either. All told, Dell, HP, and Lenovo are claiming they have a collective shortage of 5 million laptops.
SEE ALSO:NYU students use TikTok to expose the school's bleak quarantine meal planThat’s a hard place for kids and teachers to be in. A limited supply will drive up prices, exacerbating the digital divide at the worst possible time. Tom Baumgarten, superintendent of the Morongo Unified School District, had ordered 5,000 Lenovo Chromebooks when he was told they were banned due to the inclusion of a specific component.
He switched his order to HP and was told to expect the machines by Aug 26. As of now, they’ll arrive in October. As manufacturers come back online in China, they’ve been prioritizing corporate and government orders above school production.
The Commerce Department has imposed restrictions on who U.S. companies can do business with based on human rights violations in China. The various Chinese companies added to the list are accused of being “complicit in human rights violations and abuses committed in China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, forced labor and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR).”
The fallout from this policy change is going to exacerbate an already tenuous situation for many children this year. Schools and the communities they serve have options, including fundraisers, recycling/repair parties that update and improve old hardware so it can serve this kind of task, and, of course, eBay. The competition for these resources, however, is going to be fierce.
What would be great is to see one of the major OEMs or chip manufacturers get involved with this directly. Dell, HP, and Lenovo all accept recycled PCs. Funnel the useful PCs into the educational market, specifically, and sell them at good prices. It wouldn’t be enough to eliminate the problem, but it might help close the gap.
I thought about starting this paragraph by saying “If you’ve got some spare hardware,” but let’s be honest with each other. You read ExtremeTech. Your “spare hardware” might be a five-year-old video card or a 2GB stick of DDR3, but you’ve probably got something somewhere.In some cases, even desktops with a USB camera would be preferable to nothing at all. In my experience, school districts will often gladly accept needed tech donations, even if they haven’t put out a specific call to the community. If you choose to go this route, be straightforward, get the principal or IT guy on the phone, and ask what kind of equipment they need.
True, we’re not going to solve this shortage by digging lost hardware out of the couch cushions (I’m not talking about this). If companies and communities work together to recycle some of the hardware collectively stuck in storage closets, basements, and attics across the country, we might be able to make a dent.
-
South Korea beefs up drills amid escalating NK provocationsThe $355 million Trump fraud fine is even worse than it sounds.Reddit is down: Why you're getting a 502 bad gateway errorSupreme Court and religion: Judges put Christianity above other faiths.科创筑梦树立远大志向 蓄势赋能培养科技人才荔枝保果期遇连续强降雨,“大国农匠”分享护荔经验Best health deal: Score the Theragun Pro (4th Gen) for under $300Alexei Navalny’s death underlines the horrors of Tucker Carlson’s Putin interview.What to expect when a tech bubble burstsThe South Carolina primary results actually contain some bad news for Trump.
- ·PS5 Pro: There are new whispers that the release date is fast approaching
- ·Supreme Court ballot ruling: Effort to disqualify Trump was a disaster.
- ·Amy Coney Barrett will decide how deadly American weapons can be.
- ·New York redistricting map: This might cost Democrats the House.
- ·让法治建设成效更加可感可及
- ·Kyrsten Sinema leaving Senate: Her shtick was worn
- ·The Supreme Court helps Donald Trump avoid a Jan. 6 trial before the election.
- ·Voyager spacecraft gave us a scare. But NASA's bringing it back to life.
- ·First officially approved Gen IV nuclear reactor in the US breaks ground
- ·Sam Alito launches marriage equality attack in homophobic juror case.
- ·Home Depot Halfway to Halloween sale: Skelly is still available, but its dog sells out
- ·Trump immunity case: SCOTUS’ delay is not based on legal procedure. It’s to help Trump.
- ·18 Places for Epic Outdoor Adventure Across Colorado
- ·Kyrsten Sinema leaving Senate: Her shtick was worn
- ·Abortion and 2024: How pro
- ·Voyager spacecraft gave us a scare. But NASA's bringing it back to life.
- ·“大体老师”的故事:以生命点亮生命
- ·How to understand the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Colorado case.
- ·荔枝保果期遇连续强降雨,“大国农匠”分享护荔经验
- ·Aileen Cannon might get kicked off the Trump classified docs case.
- ·Yoon, US Senate's armed service committee chief discuss alliance, N.K. threats
- ·Mark Robinson: North Carolina Republican primary for governor goes to a Holocaust denier.
- ·Massive fire seen as Ukraine hits Russian oil depots with a drone strike
- ·Trump NATO comments: Europe basically can’t defend itself without the U.S.
- ·Why Kamala Harris triggers Donald Trump so intensely.
- ·NASA, Nokia’s 4G lunar network could enable historic ice discovery
- ·Is Mercury retrograde messing with you? Think again.
- ·Supreme Court metadata reveals last
- ·IVF Alabama ruling: The GOP is panicking over this horrendous decision.
- ·Let Biden have his ice cream!
- ·The AI stock bubble has burst. Here's how we know.
- ·How will Trump pay his legal bills?
- ·OpenCRISPR
- ·Home Depot Halfway to Halloween sale: Skelly is still available, but its dog sells out
- ·13 Places to Find Little Legends and Compact Cryptids
- ·Alexei Navalny death: One of Putin's biggest critics has died in a penal colony.