Chromebook expiration date, repair issues 'bad for people and planet'(theregister.com)
theregister.com
Chromebook expiration date, repair issues 'bad for people and planet'
https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/18/chromebook_expiration_date_and_repair/
4 comments
I got a 99 USD Chromebook, AArch64 based, and I think it's amazing. It's so underpowered that it's incapable of consuming more than about 4W of power even at 100% CPU, which is a major benefit if you care about the power consumption, battery life, and being able to use the laptop on your lap.
It has better battery life than latest Apple M1/M2 products that cost 10x+ as much! Even if you enable the newest "Low power mode", because it's effectively still a performance-optimised mode by Apple.
It has better battery life than latest Apple M1/M2 products that cost 10x+ as much! Even if you enable the newest "Low power mode", because it's effectively still a performance-optimised mode by Apple.
The update at the bottom of the article points out that new Chromebooks (released since 2020) are supported for 8 years, which is pretty close to the 10 years requested, and longer than most other devices.
Note that it's 8 years since first release. Which means that the device you buy brand-new might only have 6 years left if it was first released 2 years ago — even if it was assembled just a month ago.
E.g., you can't even use the Manufacture Date from the box to tell how long the thing will be supported for.
There's already plenty of articles about how to check these expiration dates. When it was 5 years, it was effectively common that the thing you buy at Best Buy as a brand new device, would actually only have 3 years worth of support — if it was initially released two years prior.
E.g., you can't even use the Manufacture Date from the box to tell how long the thing will be supported for.
There's already plenty of articles about how to check these expiration dates. When it was 5 years, it was effectively common that the thing you buy at Best Buy as a brand new device, would actually only have 3 years worth of support — if it was initially released two years prior.
My 2009 bought laptops are still getting updates, I let you do the math.
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My chromebook together with crouton was excellent until Google obsoleted it. I'll never buy another one.
Can expired Chromebooks run Windows or Linux?
Actually, Chromebooks have proprietary firmware, without the standard BIOS, so often it's a NO.
However, on some of the earlier x86 machines, it is possible to install a more standard boot environment:
https://mrchromebox.tech/#devices
Because of "security" considerations, the process often requires disassembly of the Chromebook, and toggle of the RW switch (or disconnect of the battery in a specific way), so it's basically much more involved than simply installing Linux over Windows. (There's also a bunch of blogspam which incorrectly tells you how to boot Linux without doing any of the above mandatory steps.)
So, tl;dr: if you want good Linux support, you may as well buy a Windows machine than Linux-based Chromebook, ironically!
However, on some of the earlier x86 machines, it is possible to install a more standard boot environment:
https://mrchromebox.tech/#devices
Because of "security" considerations, the process often requires disassembly of the Chromebook, and toggle of the RW switch (or disconnect of the battery in a specific way), so it's basically much more involved than simply installing Linux over Windows. (There's also a bunch of blogspam which incorrectly tells you how to boot Linux without doing any of the above mandatory steps.)
So, tl;dr: if you want good Linux support, you may as well buy a Windows machine than Linux-based Chromebook, ironically!
As noted, take it apart and remove a screw. I think some newer ones can be switched to developer mode in other ways. Then install seabios or the like and then neverware cloudready (or whatever its named now) to get a generic but supported chromeos.
The arm chromebooks are pretty sad for support, the x86 ones are the way to go.
The arm chromebooks are pretty sad for support, the x86 ones are the way to go.
Yes, if it is amd64 (not arm64), by installing UEFI. I installed newest Debian 11 and Chrome 2 weeks ago:
https://github.com/xet7/chromebook
https://github.com/xet7/chromebook
But - Google themselves don't support Chrome that old. Google docs doesn't function correctly. Performance wise, it's fine, but the I bar showing the cursor location is in the wrong place.
It's ARM, and old ARM, so the only distro producing images is Postmarket OS. And those images can't drive the internal display properly.
Once bitten, back to x86 for future laptops. I'd consider something like the Pinebook that had Linux support from the beginning, but not something that didn't support normal Linux out of the box.