Though I am still a promoter of Chromebooks, we must now be aware of Chromebook’s planned obsolescence, and take extra extra care when buying a chromebook.
In the last month, my Acer C710 Chromebook was updated for the last time, with version 65. Google will provide no more automatic updates. Perhaps coincidentally, it began to freeze and crash with that update.
I bought it in April, 2014. It was manufactured August 2013, less than 5 years ago. It doesn’t matter when I bought it, or when it was manufactured. Last summer we bought a refurbished chromebook for the computer club that will reach its EAU just 11 months later, in June 2018. A bit of a waste of money. I will probably load it with Linux after that.
So please, be sure to check this link for the EAU of your prospective purchase, at the following link:
https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?hl=en
About half of the chromebook models have only about two years life left.
Here is a current excerpt of the longest time to EAU (5 and a half years) of common models you might buy:
Lenovo 100e Chromebook
Lenovo 500e Chromebook
Dell Chromebook 11 (5190)
Acer Chromebook 11 (C732, C732T, C732L, C732LT)
Acer Chromebook 11 (CB311-8H, CB311-8HT)
Dell Chromebook 11 2-in-1 (5190)
HP Chromebook 11 G6 EE
HP Chromebook 14 G5
Acer Chromebook 15 (CB515-1H, CB515-1HT)
Asus Chromebook Flip C213
Acer Chromebook Spin 11 (CP311-H1, CP311-1HN)
Acer Chromebook Spin 11 (R751T)
HP Chromebook x360 11 G1 EE
Lenovo ThinkPad 11e 4th Gen Chromebook
