News - Will your Chromebook reach its 'end of life' date next year?

[HEXUS]

Yes, if its an Acer AC700. Google publishes official 'end of life' timetable for Chromebooks.

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[MattEvansC3]

Surely this is false advertising? If its always up to date its always up to date and somebody arbitrarily deciding a fully functional product is "obsolete" and flicking a switch to stop it updating means they aren't always up-to-date?

[LSG501]

I know there's a little more to the os than this but considering that chromebooks are basically glorified web browsers making an item obsolete seems more likely a move by the google/manufacturer to keep additional money coming in.

[kingpotnoodle]

According to the Google site the EOL effect is a bit vague, it might get moved, it might mean updates cease or it might not...

Everything has an EOL, minimum 4 years is better than a lot of devices can expect to get updates and new features for. It'll still work just fine after that time if by some miracle the mostly disposable hardware is still serviceable...

Surely this is false advertising? If its always up to date its always up to date and somebody arbitrarily deciding a fully functional product is "obsolete" and flicking a switch to stop it updating means they aren't always up-to-date?

Surely you don't seriously expect updates to a product forever? Even when there is only a handful functional left in the world and the hardware is so old it doesn't even work in any useful way?

Hardware moves on, brand new features being introduced on 4 year old bargain hardware isn't likely to go very well anyway.

[moeburn]

This is a comment I made on the Facebook post, I figured I should share it here, because people need to know just how bad the Chrome OS is in its current state:

Little things added up, like how 'notepad' used up what appeared to be most of the CPU's resources when you left it minimized; or when you copy a large group of files into another group, it doesn't ask you to "overwrite, skip, or rename", it just forces "rename" on you. Or how you can't right click on a large group of files or a folder to find out how big it is (like you would do when you're wondering if your MP3 collection will fit on the small SSD). Or how it doesn't tell you that it won't fit when you try to copy it, it just keeps copying until you run out of space. Or how it doesn't tell you how LONG it will take to copy those files, just a tiny little progress bar in the lower left corner, no numerical percentage or ETA or remaining MB that one could do the math themselves with. Or how half of the SYSTEM settings are in a "Control panel", and the other half are in the Chrome Browser settings panel, or how half the apps you download are apps that you can launch from the app launcher, and the other half are just Chrome Browser tabs/plugins, but there's no indication as to which is which...

I love the idea of Chrome OS as a concept, but there are a ton of little things that need to be addressed but aren't. And a few big things that shouldn't have happened from the start, like requiring online internet to use offline apps. They advertise the Chrome Book as being great for "web surfing, email, music, and VIDEOS", but you can't watch your videos on the local harddrive on an airplane, because you don't have internet access.

I think every OS will have problems in its start, and I'd really like to see Chrome OS succeed, but right now, I feel incredibly guilty for recommending it to un-tech-savvy older people as an "easy" computer. It is not. In its current state, it is a bane of frustration that I wouldn't wish upon even a computer master.

[moeburn]

Surely you don't seriously expect updates to a product forever? Even when there is only a handful functional left in the world and the hardware is so old it doesn't even work in any useful way?

I might not expect it, but someone new to computers, who isn't very tech-savvy, who knows they are spending a lot of money, AND who happens to read the words "will always be up to date" in a Google-written advertisement... they might expect it.

[McEwin]

Whilst you can't expect updates forever you have to wonder just how much tech has moved on in the last 4 years (especially in laptops) to render these machines "obsolete". We used to build things to last - now it feels like the complete opposite.

[ubermik]

I dont think the problem is to do with google supporting every product to infinity and beyond, but simply that they shouldnt actively and deliberately "nobble" the aforementioned item as a way of making perfectly good and useable hardware artificially unuseable

"EOL" should be when the item ceases to work, end of support should be when a product stops getting updates

But a product should never be stopped from being useable as a means of trying to force people to spend money on a replacement that isnt actually needed

Because for many people an item that did the job they bought it to do 5 years ago will STILL do that same job now and in another 30 years and wont be "obsolete" until they dont want to do that job anymore or until that job requires new specs and features run what you need to do that job

If someone bought a chrome book to write, browse and read it will most probably never become obsolete for doing those. So for google to make the machine unable to do them is quite abhorrent in a time where sustainability should be an aim of all companies

[wasabi]

I love the idea of Chrome OS as a concept, but there are a ton of little things that need to be addressed but aren't. And a few big things that shouldn't have happened from the start, like requiring online internet to use offline apps. They advertise the Chrome Book as being great for "web surfing, email, music, and VIDEOS", but you can't watch your videos on the local harddrive on an airplane, because you don't have internet access.

Glad someone cleared that up. I nearly bought a Chromebook at Xmas and bought a tablet instead.
The ability to play videos on a plane is essential as the Chromebook would be primarily a travel device for me.

[Agent]

Glad someone cleared that up. I nearly bought a Chromebook at Xmas and bought a tablet instead.
The ability to play videos on a plane is essential as the Chromebook would be primarily a travel device for me.

It's FUD. You can play videos offline:

https://support.google.com/chromeboo.../3265094?hl=en

For the rare times when you’re disconnected from the Internet, you can use offline-ready apps to stay productive. Below are a few examples of things you can do offline on a Chromebook:

Read and write emails with Offline Gmail
Write a note or make a list with Google Keep
Write and edit documents with Google Docs
Create and edit presentations with Google Slides
Create and edit spreadsheets with the new Google Sheets
View and RSVP to events with Google Calendar
View and edit photos saved with the built-in photo editor
Enjoy mp3 files or movies with the built-in media player
And more: Check out the Offline collection in the Chrome Web Store

http://www.howtogeek.com/178519/how-...-a-chromebook/

Your Chromebook includes a variety of offline file viewers, so you can view a variety of different document and media formats when offline. For example, you could download video files to watch offline, download MP3s to play offline, download PDFs and other documents to read offline, download pictures to view offline, and so on.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/20898...d-offline.html

Chromebooks offer a few gigabytes of local storage, so you can save files there for offline use. Chromebooks also support flash drives and SD Cards. While you’re offline, you can open PDFs, Microsoft Office documents, images, videos, and even music files using the Files app, which functions in a similar way to Windows’ File Explorer.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/cr/rR2SHT7O08W7LRK (2011!!!!)

Offline Chromebook usage:
Offline, you can play music (mp3, wav) and video files (mpeg4), view photos (jpeg and bmp).....

I could continue, but you get the idea. A Chrome OS can play local video files back without an internet connection.

Chromebooks are okay - great for the kids as they can't malware / destroy them through methods you've never seen before, but you should factor in the price against what you get. Chromebooks have a serious FUD issue on the web though. Always check out the reviews from the reputable sites as half of the comments on Amazon and such are by people who just couldn't be arsed to Google how to do something (the irony). Most of the time, the solution is stupidly simple, but just a bit different.

[ty2010]

So for tax purposes they should be considered a service instead of a capital investment, MS has been skirting that for decades.

[peterb]

Glad someone cleared that up. I nearly bought a Chromebook at Xmas and bought a tablet instead.
The ability to play videos on a plane is essential as the Chromebook would be primarily a travel device for me.

Don't believe Facebook comments (Even if they are re-printed here!)

[wasabi]

Don't believe Facebook comments (Even if they are re-printed here!)

Don't believe the internet more like without double checking....

Trying to wade through reviews of Chromebooks at Xmas I couldn't find much detail in reviews of how to play videos or video playing performance - most Chromebook review seem to get stuck at the 'is it a valid platform' level of review and don't dig much deeper. So I chickened out and bought a Nexus 7 as i know my way round android already (and it was a cheap 2012 version for £100)

i'll probably end up with one at some point - I like light cheap silent laptops and really my only 2 requirements are chrome with all extensions, and play videos from USB offline.