Chromebook operating system

[bornfree]

Hi. I use a Chromebook while out and about. Recently had a message to say that the operating system will no longer be updated/supported as the laptop is 5+ years old. Just wondering if anybody else has had this and if there's a solution? Effecively makes the laptop unusable for safe browsing. Wasn't aware of this when I bought it.

[Mikey]

Hi. I use a Chromebook while out and about. Recently had a message to say that the operating system will no longer be updated/supported as the laptop is 5+ years old. Just wondering if anybody else has had this and if there's a solution? Effecively makes the laptop unusable for safe browsing. Wasn't aware of this when I bought it.

Hi,

Unfortunately the shelf life for Chrome products is currently 6.5 years - after this time updates & support are no longer available. This is why I personally prefer Microsoft OS based products as even the majority of desktops & laptops 10+ years can still comfortably run Windows 10.

What you could do is install a new operating system onto your Chromebook such as Linux which is a free, open-source OS and similar in operation to Windows (there are plenty of step by step guides on Youtube on how to do this). Linux won't give you access to the 'Play Store' of course as it's not Android based, but it will allow you to install and run many other programs that you'd find on Windows including both the Chrome and Firefox browser.

On a side note, for Blueparker's checking their websites for cross-browser compatibility don't worry too much about Microsoft's Edge browser as this is getting replaced very soon with one built on the Chromium platform which as the name suggests, will be very similar to Google's Chrome and therefore websites should function in much about the same way.


Mike

[bornfree]

Thanks Mike I'll look into Linux. Not sure there are many people out there who realise that their Chromebook will be obsolete after a relatively short time!