As the socially distant summer comes to a close, students are beginning to prepare for a new academic year. But back-to-school shopping will look different for many folks engaging in remote learning this autumn. To make matters worse, the US is facing a shortage of laptops—a must-have for any virtual education.
Like most things in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on computer manufacturing and distribution—starting in China, where New Year’s holiday closures and virus-related slowdowns disrupted the supply chain, Axios reported.
PC sales rocketed in March, as novel coronavirus began spreading across the US, forcing children and adults to study and work from home. Five months later, Acer America is “not even close” to stocking enough Chromebooks for remote schooling, according to company president Gregg Prendergast. Citing “historic” demand, Acer last week received requests for hundreds of thousands of new devices from officials in California and Nevada.
“Sales have been up 20 percent to 40 percent every single week,” Stephen Baker, a consumer tech analyst with The NPD Group, told Axios. “Some of the education channel sales got pulled forward into March and April, but there’s been no overall slowdown.” As of Monday morning, 16 of Best Buy’s 30 Chromebook models were sold out online, with another eight available only in stores, making it difficult for those self-isolating to pick up a new machine. The site’s other in-stock laptop options range from $173 for a 10-inch Dell Venue device to $4,300 for Razer’s 15-inch Blade touch-screen notebook.
New computers aren’t the only products in short supply, though. Manufacturers are facing shipping delays for internal components like screens, batteries, chassis, and processors, which in turn could exacerbate the problem in the coming months. And even if school districts do manage to source and distribute enough devices to students this year, Axios pointed out that access to reliable broadband remains a barrier for many students.
