Chromebooks Have an Expiration Date. Here’s How to Check Yours #GeekLeap

Chromebooks are nice for a lot of issues and so they’re usually inexpensive than Home windows laptops and Apple MacBooks. However earlier than you pounce on one, there’s an vital date to verify first: a Chromebook’s expiration date, aka its Auto Replace Expiration date. 

Chromebooks robotically handle updates so that they all the time have the newest options, together with safety updates. However as a result of Google can solely assure ChromeOS and browser characteristic help on non-Google {hardware} for thus lengthy, each machine at present has a date on which it stops receiving updates — its AUE date. 

When you’re inquisitive about a selected mannequin with an unbelievable low worth, it is best to seek out out the AUE date before you purchase. (It is also a good suggestion to do that for those who’re shopping for a used Chromebook or passing on a gently used one to a pal or member of the family.) The excellent news is, Google makes it extraordinarily straightforward to seek out out the date for any Chromebook. 

The best way to verify an AUE before you purchase

Getting the AUE date for any Chromebook is so simple as discovering its title on a listing. Google maintains a full checklist of AUE dates for all fashions. Simply head to the checklist, discover the make of your Chromebook or the one you are trying to purchase or go alongside. Click on on the make and the mannequin checklist will drop down with its AUE date. 

In keeping with the coverage web page, Google will publish a mannequin’s AUE date after its launch, so you need to all the time be capable of discover a particular Chromebook earlier than making a buying determination.

Learn extra: Greatest Chromebook 2023: 8 Choices to Match Any Finances

The best way to verify your AUE in your Chromebook

Already personal a Chromebook and wish to know the way lengthy you may have for updates? You may verify on your mannequin on Google’s checklist that I famous above or yow will discover it proper in your Chromebook. There are a number of methods to get to the data, however basically it’s important to dive into the settings menu to seek out it. 

Open up your Chromebook’s settings menu by clicking on the time within the decrease proper of your display screen after which clicking on the Settings cog icon. On the backside of the left navigation panel (chances are you’ll must click on the three bars on the prime left to open the panel), you will see About ChromeOS. Click on that, after which on Extra particulars. That is the place you will discover your AUE date. 

Nonetheless, now that you recognize it is within the About ChromeOS space, you too can search your Chromebook for it and go straight there. Press the Search key, assuming you have not modified it to perform as a Caps Lock key, and seek for “About ChromeOS.” You may as well two-finger swipe up from the underside of your display screen to deliver up a search bar, or there is a search icon on the prime proper of the settings menu you should utilize. As I stated, there are a number of methods to get to the information. 

What occurs when a Chromebook reaches its AUE? 

At the moment, as soon as your AUE date arrives, the Chromebook will now not obtain software program updates from Google. These embrace safety updates, bug fixes and new options. And with out these updates, issues like apps and browser extensions would possibly now not perform correctly. So whilst you can nonetheless use a Chromebook previous its AUE date, its usefulness will deteriorate. 

A part of the difficulty is that the ChromeOS and Chrome browser are deeply linked. In the intervening time, which means not getting a ChromeOS replace additionally means not getting a browser replace. Google, nevertheless, appears to be at work on separating the 2. With the 2 separated, you would possibly miss out on new OS options, however the Chrome browser would keep updated. Google CEO Sundar Pichai could have even hinted at this separation in a tweet in March. 

Google can be engaged on extending these dates and, as of November 2020, it introduced new fashions would have longer lives, which roughly interprets to anyplace from seven to eight years or extra. Nonetheless, the date varies from machine to machine and is not decided by when the machine was launched or by while you purchased it.