Google will offer support for Chromebooks for 10 years

Google has renewed its commitment to provide support for as long as possible to its Chromebooks. Today, those from Mountain View announced that will extend automatic software updates to your laptops with ChromeOS, which from 2024 will be for 10 years.

At first the change may not seem too noticeable. After all, Chromebooks currently receive 8 years of software support. However, Californians have taken additional steps to make their computers more durable.

It is worth mentioning that software updates for 10 years They will be for Chromebooks released in 2021 and later, and will start next year. What will happen to devices that hit the market in 2020 or earlier? According to Google, once they receive their last regular automatic update, users or IT administrators will have the option to extend them up to 10 years from the launch of their platform.

This means that, for example, Chromebooks released in 2019 that would originally receive support until 2027, once that date arrives, they will be able to extend it for two more years. This applies equally to any other device that is under similar conditions of use.

Another interesting element of Google’s announcement is that has launched a simple repair program. It has been especially designed for schools that provide Chromebooks to their students and teachers.

Google renews its commitment to extend the life of Chromebooks

These measures aim to solve a very important problem that is occurring mainly in the United States. Last August, The Wall Street Journal published an interesting report on how these devices went from being a great option for educators and students—especially during the pandemic—, to become electronic waste. And all because expiration dates imposed by Google to support for their ChromeOS laptops, even if the hardware still works.

Therefore, it is also not surprising that Californians have highlighted that they have deepened their commitment with their main partners to produce more Chromebooks using post-consumer recycled materials. An initiative in which manufacturers such as HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer and Asus already participate.

Finally, Google plans to introduce new features to ChromeOS power management to extend the battery life of Chromebooks. One of them is the adaptive loading, a feature that avoids charging devices to 100% when not necessary. According to Mountain View, this tool keeps the battery at 80% to reduce degradation.

Although the operation of this option has not been explained in depth, Google indicates that the battery will only be fully charged when the computer detects the moments in which it is usually disconnected from electrical power. It is logical to assume that the software uses AI to define schedules and usage patterns that allow this behavior to be detected and adapted as needed.

Chromebooks too will receive a power saving mode which will work similarly to Android. It will activate automatically when it detects that there is only 20% charge left. It is worth clarifying that both adaptive charging and battery saving can be deactivated from the device’s power management settings.