Actually MacBooks get 6/7 years from when Apple stops selling them. In contrast, the timer starts as soon as the first Chromebook with that cpu is released. It was a nasty surprise when I found that out

That is terrible. So they'll never create a device that is good enough that they'll sell for for 6 years unless they sell something they don't support.

Or extend the support: https://9to5google.com/2019/11/05/google-chromebooks-extende...

Other than that, few vendors sell 6 year old computers. Since Apple is often put up as model company here: 2013 had the iPhone 5s which was sold until early 2016, and the end-2013 MacBook Pro (based on Haswell) which was replaced by its successor in 2014 (based on Haswell-Refresh).

I think the point was that the product was so minimal and cheap that you would throw it away and get a new one like a phone.

Correct. That's why the vast majority of them are ~$250 or less

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624 It's ~7 years of hardware parts availability. Software is around 7-10 years.

Made me laugh for some reason.

> Monster-branded Beats products are considered obsolete regardless of when they were purchased.

I didn't realize that. When I think about how many schools have bought racks of Chromebooks and how long they keep them in use I realize that there are lots of kids out there using insecure machines. And all of them have cameras and microphones. Yikes!

>You should get ~7 years of update.

Interesting. Thanks for the link.

It appears that the hardware is older than I assumed (yet perfectly capable for browsing the web), which begs another question: I bought this thing brand new a few years ago. Should it be up to the consumer to ensure that there is life left for updates? I will be certain to now, going forward. But I can't expect less-savvy consumers to do the same. It looks like there are models on that list that will stop receiving updates in less than 2 years for sale as new computers on Amazon...

It's confusing to say it receives updates for 7 years when what they mean is 7 years from launch and not 7 years from sale (of a new device).

The current best practice is to check the manufacturing date of the chromebook you're buying, because the clock starts from when the first unit ships, not when the unit you're purchasing was made. For a part number that may have a 2 year manufacturing run, that can make a HUGE difference.

Given old inventory, you can lose more than 2 years. For example, the chromebit CS10 got a design award in 2015 and can still found on asus' website with a link for where to buy.. About 1 year of support remaining.

Curiosly, which chromebook? You can install linux on some chromebooks.

Already plan on it! But to be honest, the physical hardware isn't that great, and of course the battery is mostly shot. The appeal was ChromeOS. Oh well.