GEEK FREE
By Joe Callison
31 October, 2023
Chromebook Automatic Update Support Improved
Chromebook share of the laptop market has averaged about 1 out of 8 of the laptops sold over the last 4 years, primarily because of use by elementary schools. The comparatively low initial purchase cost has been a major driver, even with the relatively short 5-year automatic software update support for new models. This seems to have been of little concern for many schools where students were allowed to take them home because they tended to wear them out by then and needed to be replaced anyway. Schools that can not afford to buy new ones every few years or others considering Chromebooks will be happy to know about Google’s recent announcement further increasing a previously planned support period of 8 years (in line with current Apple and Microsoft support) to an industry-leading 10 years support, beginning with models from 2021. This should be good news for senior citizens who may have been avoiding Chromebooks because of the short support period, especially if they were aware that bargain Chromebooks were being sold on Amazon with as little as 2 years of support left. Now even two or three-year-old models will have a more reasonable amount of support time left.
With the change in support, Chromebooks may be an attractive alternative to more expensive Windows or MacOS-based offerings. Chromebook models with screen sizes larger than 14 inches may be harder to find, but an external monitor or TV might also be usable with a USB-C to HDMI adapter if the Chromebook model supports video output through USB. For most senior computer users, a Chromebook should fulfill their computing needs quite well.
