The Maryland government is offering to give away 133,000 free Chromebooks to people in need.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore announced a $27 million investment to provide Chromebooks across 27 local governments for "underserved households."
In cooperation with HP Inc. and Daly Computers, Maryland aims to supply the tools Marylanders "need to succeed and to connect with more opportunities."
The University of Maryland's TechExtension will also give free tech support and one-on-one coaching for the new Chromebook owners.
Maryland already distributed early batches of Chromebooks to several communities back in February and October.
Other jurisdictions also receive funding to assist with the issuance of the devices.
Why Chromebooks?
Chromebooks were selected for distribution due to their low cost, speed, simplicity, and rock-solid security.
The Google-produced devices are cheaper in comparison to computers manufactured by Microsoft and Apple.
Chromebooks are pre-installed with Chrome OS software, so it will not need to install a Windows or Mac OS to operate.
Most of the work done on Chromebooks is mainly done online and saved into cloud drives, removing the need for a fast processor or large storage capacity.
The devices are also automatically and regularly updated by Google with an integrated Google Workspace to it.
Over the past years, Chromebooks have become a popular computing device for lower budgets, selling more than 88 million copies worldwide.
Free Access to Computers in the US
Other states and counties have distributed laptops across their households throughout the year to increase its population's access to the Internet and modern devices.
The State of Illinois handed out 1.1 million refurbished computers to households lacking at-home access to computers. The project is part of its Computer Equity Network state-wide program.
Smaller communities like Kent County in Michigan and Mecklenburg County in North Carolina also gave out used computers to their adult residents.
These efforts are made to decrease households that lack computers and access to online resources.
