OCTOBER 2020 PCWorld 85buy Windows 10 and keep using
the laptop rather than buying a
new one. With a Chromebook
there is no option to buy an
updated version of ChromeOS
— the only answer to continue
getting updates from Google is
to buy a new one.
(See our article comparing
Chromebooks to laptops [go.
pcworld.com/clap] for a
comprehensive discussion of
the differences between the
two, as well as buying recommendations.)
Google’s End of Life Policy (as it was
called before the less terminal-sounding
“Auto Update Policy”) first offered 5 years of
OS and security updates. Google later
changed it to 6.5 years, and now it’s 8 years.
Kind of.
IT’S NOT REALLY ‘8 YEARS’
ON NEW CHROMEBOOKS
Even the “8 years” the newest Chromebook is
supposed to last isn’t necessarily 8 years in
your actual hands. The lifeclock (go.pcworld.
com/lgcl) of every Chromebook is tied to an
introduction window and, like milk on a shelf,
it’s running even if no one has bought it.
For example, a Lenovo Chromebook Duet
(go.pcworld.com/lndt) announced in May and
released in June has an expiration date of June
- If you bought it today, you’d get about 8
years. If you bought that same Chromebook
Duet in June of 2021, you’d get 7 years of
updates. Buy a brand-new, never-touched
Duet in 2025 and you’d get only 3 years.
We suspect the June 2028 deadline will
hold for the majority of Chromebooks
announced over the next 12 months. Looking
at Google’s list of Chrome OS devices, they
tend to also expire in June or August.WHAT HAPPENS TO AN
EXPIRED CHROMEBOOK
Once a Chromebook expires, you no longer
get updates. Period. Ever. That’s different
from Microsoft, which updated Windows 7
on its last day. Intel even recently issued a
security update (go.pcworld.com/insc) for
PCs running Windows 7, 8, and 10, so you do
get some support.
The most important reason to keep your PC,
Mac, or Chromebook updated today is security.
All computers are under constant attack andNvidia’s GeForce Now streaming game service has come to
Chromebooks but it requires version 77 and up of ChromeOS, which
abandoned Chromebooks may not have.