Please don't buy Chromebooks - they come with "best before" dates

stragglebod

If this is a showstopper for you then consider installing Linux on it either to replace ChromeOS or alongside it.

https://www.howtogeek.com/162120/how-to-install-ubuntu-linux-on-your-chromebook-with-crouton/

https://itsfoss.com/install-linux-chromebook/

A very small number of Chromebooks actually allow you to install Windows 10 - generally only ones with replaceable SSDs - I've done this with an old Acer C720.

EveryWhere

stragglebod wrote: »

If this is a showstopper for you then consider installing Linux on it either to replace ChromeOS or alongside it.

https://www.howtogeek.com/162120/how-to-install-ubuntu-linux-on-your-chromebook-with-crouton/

https://itsfoss.com/install-linux-chromebook/

A very small number of Chromebooks actually allow you to install Windows 10 - generally only ones with replaceable SSDs - I've done this with an old Acer C720.

They would have done better to re-purpose an old laptop in this way, as opposed to have wasted money on a low spec Chromebook in the first place.

EveryWhere

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

I gave up with Windows in exasperation well before Windows 10.

Things have moved on since then. Especially with the advent of inexpensive SSD drives.

RumRat

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

I gave up with Windows in exasperation well before Windows 10.

A statement like that is meaningless unless you expand on it.

We could assume from it that you just weren't capable of using it....;)

stragglebod

EveryWhere wrote: »

They would have done better to re-purpose an old laptop in this way, as opposed to have wasted money on a low spec Chromebook in the first place.

Yes, but if this is where they are, this is where they are

And I know you disagree, and with W10 I can't see any reason to buy a Chromebook now, but around 6 years ago or so some of the Chromebooks were pretty good value for money when compared to low end W7 laptops.

Incidentally also have a look at Gallium which is a linux distro specifically built for Chromebooks.

EveryWhere

stragglebod wrote: »

Yes, but if this is where they are, this is where they are

And I know you disagree, and with W10 I can't see any reason to buy a Chromebook now, but around 6 years ago or so some of the Chromebooks were pretty good value for money when compared to low end W7 laptops.

Incidentally also have a look at Gallium which is a linux distro specifically built for Chromebooks.

Actually they weren't ever good value. Perhaps for people who were obsessive over buying new as opposed to a customer return.
I am still using the same Toshiba laptop that I purchased in 2009, costing £250.
HP Chromebook in 2013 cost £249. For that, you could get a Celeron 847 or Celeron 2955U if you were lucky, 4 GB of RAM and 16GB of storage.
Next to useless now.

They could have re-purposed old laptops even then.

Kronkis

Lets face it google, gmail and chromebooks are load of 'spyware' as in tracking and storing everything one does.

EveryWhere

Let the Chromebook users test their Browsers; https://panopticlick.eff.org

JP1978

One would hope that Google, whom even MS in the Windows comparisons above would have sorted most of, if not all any security issues in 6.5 years of release.

OK, after 6.5 years, you wont get any updates or new features but isn't that the same as a mobile phone (2 to 3 years for Android, about 5 or 6 for Apple?).

And by the time that the 6.5 years have come, anyone looking for security loopholes to gain access to machines will be looking at more modern versions, not older ones, it just isn't worth their time in looking for exploits that a, have had 6.5 years of resource to close them and b, not as many people still own the machines and c, if they do, are unlikely be heavy users of them if they have a machine that long.

Its a bit of a none story IMHO - Useful to know, but in reality, hardly surprising, we cant expect all electronics to be supported ad-infinitum can we?

Its not going to self destruct or stop working after 6.5 years is it?

EveryWhere

JP1978 wrote: »

One would hope that Google, whom even MS in the Windows comparisons above would have sorted most of, if not all any security issues in 6.5 years of release.

OK, after 6.5 years, you wont get any updates or new features but isn't that the same as a mobile phone (2 to 3 years for Android, about 5 or 6 for Apple?).

And by the time that the 6.5 years have come, anyone looking for security loopholes to gain access to machines will be looking at more modern versions, not older ones, it just isn't worth their time in looking for exploits that a, have had 6.5 years of resource to close them and b, not as many people still own the machines and c, if they do, are unlikely be heavy users of them if they have a machine that long.

Its a bit of a none story IMHO - Useful to know, but in reality, hardly surprising, we cant expect all electronics to be supported ad-infinitum can we?

Its not going to self destruct or stop working after 6.5 years is it?

A lot of conjecture without mentioning the fact that the issue is that most of them have a very poor specification.
So whilst you can install Windows/Linux/Chromium on a twelve year old laptop. Chromebooks are a LOT less versatile.
Why waste money on cheap and under-powered hardware.

Comparing them with mobile phones is patently dishonest. What does one have to do with the other?
With a phone, they are trying to get more power, storage and function with each new generation.
Chromebooks are often laptops with a very low specification. If they have a good spec, they are expensive. So what's the point?
Compare like with like. But whichever way you look at it, Chromebooks fail.