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Chromebooks - latest news and discussion

Well, this is rather nice

Google is adding 2 years to Chromebook expiration dates across the board

Google is adding two more years of support to all existing Chromebook models. This means that if you’re currently using a Chromebook, you can now enjoy an extended support period, giving your device a 2-year-longer lease on life. This move underlines Google’s commitment to ensuring that all Chromebook users have a reliable and secure experience for an extended period.

And adding this extra support also means Google is also offering a jaw-dropping 10 years of automatic updates for all new Chromebook devices. That means a decade of seamless updates are now scheduled for the newest devices currently available and new Chromebooks announced from this date forward; far more than any other operating system offers today. Starting in 2024, if you purchase a Chromebook released from 2021 onward, you’ll automatically receive 10 years of updates (from the time of manufacture).
Click to expand...

chromeunboxed.com

Google is adding 2 years to Chromebook expiration dates across the board

Since 2012, Chromebooks have been leading the charge when it comes to accessible, affordable and efficient personal computing. Budget-friendly Chromebooks not only made technology accessible to the masses, but quickly became the go-to choice for schools looking to save on their IT budgets...
chromeunboxed.com chromeunboxed.com
 
So I needed a new laptop for work and bought a factory reconditioned Asus Spin 513 for £290 and it's an astonishingly good machine - slim, light, well built with a sensational battery life.
So that's my recommendation if you're looking for a cheap, carry everywhere machine!


www.ebay.co.uk

Acer Spin 513 LTE 13.3" Convertible Notebook / Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 / 128GB eM... 4710886536802 | eBay

Acer Spin 513 LTE 13.3" Convertible Notebook / Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 / 128GB eMMc / 8GB RAM. Model Snapdragon 7c Gen 2. Capacity 128GB. 4G LTE Yes. Width 310mm. Depth 209.35mm. Height 15.5mm. Physical Aspects.
www.ebay.co.uk
 
I know I’ve slagged them off previously but I found myself in the position of desiring something bigger than my phone with a keyboard to do web based stuff with when on the move. And I couldn’t justify an iPad with a £300 keyboard when I could simply get a Chromebook for less than £200.
 
Magnus McGinty said:
I know I’ve slagged them off previously but I found myself in the position of desiring something bigger than my phone with a keyboard to do web based stuff with when on the move. And I couldn’t justify an iPad with a £300 keyboard when I could simply get a Chromebook for less than £200.
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Which did you get?
 
 
I basically wanted very small so 11” worked well. Those fold down tables on trains aren’t very big. And I already have a 15” laptop with horsepower so needed something smaller than that but bigger than my phone.
 
Magnus McGinty said:
I basically wanted very small so 11” worked well. Those fold down tables on trains aren’t very big. And I already have a 15” laptop with horsepower so needed something smaller than that but bigger than my phone.
Click to expand...

I mean it sounds great, but I suspect even with glasses I'd struggle.
 
 
kabbes said:
It is that one — looks like I’d misremembered the precise screen size. It does feel noticeably bigger than a 14 inch screen though.

I’d always go for the version with as much memory as possible though. There is a 64Gig eMMC version too, so I’d go for that even though I have no idea what an MMC is, e or otherwise


For the avoidance of doubt, though, I have the 32Gig version and haven’t noticed any problems with it
Click to expand...

You still pleased with this?

I dropped my HP chromebook down the stairs so I need a replacement. What's the audio like on this? Not that it really matters as I use my AirPods to listen to music anyway.

Asus look to be coming up best but I'm being a bit autistic about this, I've had an HP for a while now, the last two I've had, so its a change, and I feel disloyal. And everyone else in the house has an HP laptop, so I wouldn't be matching 🤣

I'm laughing, but these things do bother me.
 
I bought one of these a few years ago...
1000004705.jpg

It's an Asus Chromebox. It's the i7 model and it wasn't cheap at the time, but I had a need for a low power device, and I wanted to see what ChromeOS was like. Turns out it was very good at doing the same things I could do with a €100 tablet, but without the portability, so it got thrown in a box and forgotten about... Fast forward a few years and I finally found a use for it. Turns out you can hack these things, and flash them with a UEFI BIOS, then get rid of ChromeOS and install something decent, so I flashed the BIOS, replaced the pitifully meager 2GB of RAM and 16GB SSD with 16GB and 500GB, respectively, then ditched ChromeOS, and installed Home Assistant Operating System on it, and I'm using it as a home automation server. It's controlling pretty much everything in my house... lights, heating, cameras, alarm, etc. It even knows when I'm at the shops, and reminds me what I need to buy, then it welcomes me home when I walk in the room, and turns the lights on if it's dark. When I tell it goodnight, it bids me goodnight, then turns off the TV and the downstairs lights, then it turns on the hall and landing lights, my bedroom light and my electric blanket :D ...It's a pretty amazing bit of kit. It's been keeping my brain active for the past few weeks, and it's been a lot of fun, so it finally has a use.
 
Saul Goodman said:
I bought one of these a few years ago...
View attachment 417861

It's an Asus Chromebox. It's the i7 model and it wasn't cheap at the time, but I had a need for a low power device, and I wanted to see what ChromeOS was like. Turns out it was very good at doing the same things I could do with a €100 tablet, but without the portability, so it got thrown in a box and forgotten about... Fast forward a few years and I finally found a use for it. Turns out you can hack these things, and flash them with a UEFI BIOS, then get rid of ChromeOS and install something decent, so I flashed the BIOS, replaced the pitifully meager 2GB of RAM and 16GB SSD with 16GB and 500GB, respectively, then ditched ChromeOS, and installed Home Assistant Operating System on it, and I'm using it as a home automation server. It's controlling pretty much everything in my house... lights, heating, cameras, alarm, etc. It even knows when I'm at the shops, and reminds me what I need to buy, then it welcomes me home when I walk in the room, and turns the lights on if it's dark. When I tell it goodnight, it bids me goodnight, then turns off the TV and the downstairs lights, then it turns on the hall and landing lights, my bedroom light and my electric blanket :D ...It's a pretty amazing bit of kit. It's been keeping my brain active for the past few weeks, and it's been a lot of fun, so it finally has a use.
Click to expand...

There's loads of mini PCs on Aliexpress. I got a passively cooled one in a machined aluminium case with N100 Chz mentioned, 16GB DRR5 and a 256GB NVMe. £150. It's got multiple ethernet ports, so it's now a totally overpowered router.
 
UnderOpenSky said:
There's loads of mini PCs on Aliexpress. I got a passively cooled one in a machined aluminium case with N100 Chz mentioned, 16GB DRR5 and a 256GB NVMe. £150. It's got multiple ethernet ports, so it's now a totally overpowered router.
Click to expand...
I bought a Beelink one last month, with the same Intel N100 processor. I got it to do this home automation job, and it's an amazing bit of kit for the price, but when I was reading up on the home assistant stuff, I came across a video of someone running it on the Chromebox, and it was doing it with ease, so I decided to keep the Beelink box for something more deserving of its capabilities, as it's a good bit faster than the old i7 in the Chromebox.
 
UnderOpenSky said:
There's loads of mini PCs on Aliexpress. I got a passively cooled one in a machined aluminium case with N100 Chz mentioned, 16GB DRR5 and a 256GB NVMe. £150. It's got multiple ethernet ports, so it's now a totally overpowered router.
Click to expand...
I'm looking for one with multiple LAN ports for another job.
Do you have a link to the one you bought on AliExpress?
 
Saul Goodman said:
I'm looking for one with multiple LAN ports for another job.
Do you have a link to the one you bought on AliExpress?
Click to expand...

Here you go go. There's a very long thread on serve the home about them if you want to know more. Postage was stupidly quick considering it came from China. Feels solid. I'm running opnsense on it.


www.aliexpress.com

85.6ï¿¡ |12th Gen Intel N100 Firewall Computer N5105 Soft Router 4x 2.5G i226 i225 LAN NVMe Industrial Fanless Mini PC pfSense PVE ESXi

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
www.aliexpress.com www.aliexpress.com
 
So I concluded that I don't like the Asus logo, it's too big there under the screen and it will annoy me, it's not 'right'.

The Lenevo looks good and I know they come with good reviews for being robust. I don't tend to drop things, though I can be a bit head elsewhere, I was stupidly carrying too much in the dark when I was feeling emotional. (maybe I do drop things and that's why I seem to always need a new Chromebook? )

But I have gone for a HP Chromebook plus, with a small NHS discount just a bit more than the Lenevo.

Thanks for helping me process my decision out loud, it always helps :D
 
What's the catch with this?

My current Chromebook, which is only used for bed web browsing, stopped getting its OS updated some time ago, so I'm looking for a replacement.

I expected this to be reconditioned, but it isn't, its new.

Low spec, but more than ample for what I want it for.

So... what's the catch? :)

www.discountexperts.com

DiscountExperts

DiscountExperts is a fun and easy way to get huge discounts on the things you love.
www.discountexperts.com www.discountexperts.com
 
Sasaferrato said:
What's the catch with this?

My current Chromebook, which is only used for bed web browsing, stopped getting its OS updated some time ago, so I'm looking for a replacement.

I expected this to be reconditioned, but it isn't, its new.

Low spec, but more than ample for what I want it for.

So... what's the catch? :)

www.discountexperts.com

DiscountExperts

DiscountExperts is a fun and easy way to get huge discounts on the things you love.
www.discountexperts.com www.discountexperts.com
Click to expand...

It stopped getting updates in 2022
 
Sasaferrato said:
What's the catch with this?

My current Chromebook, which is only used for bed web browsing, stopped getting its OS updated some time ago, so I'm looking for a replacement.

I expected this to be reconditioned, but it isn't, its new.

Low spec, but more than ample for what I want it for.

So... what's the catch? :)

www.discountexperts.com

DiscountExperts

DiscountExperts is a fun and easy way to get huge discounts on the things you love.
www.discountexperts.com www.discountexperts.com
Click to expand...
It's really worth paying a bit more for something other than the rock bottom models.
 
Sasaferrato said:
What's the catch with this?

My current Chromebook, which is only used for bed web browsing, stopped getting its OS updated some time ago, so I'm looking for a replacement.

I expected this to be reconditioned, but it isn't, its new.

Low spec, but more than ample for what I want it for.

So... what's the catch? :)

www.discountexperts.com

DiscountExperts

DiscountExperts is a fun and easy way to get huge discounts on the things you love.
www.discountexperts.com www.discountexperts.com
Click to expand...

Tbh if it's just for looking at stuff at bedtime and not doing your online banking, I'd be tempted to keep using it.

Our Chromebook stopped a while back, but as its mostly just used by my partner for YouTube I see no issues.
 
Sasaferrato said:
What's the catch with this?

My current Chromebook, which is only used for bed web browsing, stopped getting its OS updated some time ago, so I'm looking for a replacement.

I expected this to be reconditioned, but it isn't, its new.

Low spec, but more than ample for what I want it for.

So... what's the catch? :)

www.discountexperts.com

DiscountExperts

DiscountExperts is a fun and easy way to get huge discounts on the things you love.
www.discountexperts.com www.discountexperts.com
Click to expand...
It's got a 1.1 Gig processor. Great for a Pong emulator. :thumbs:

I stand corrected. It's 1.6 Gig. Fine for browsing stuff, but I'd prefer a tablet.
 
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