Chromebooks have had a rough year, especially with Google killing the gaming Chromebook last month. Now, though, the company is coming back around with some good news, including the fact that it will offer expanded Chromebook support, up from eight years to a total of 10.
Starting in 2024, any Chromebooks released from 2021 onward will get ten years of updates “after the platform was released,” 9to5Google reports. Google has also updated the Auto Update Expiration (AUE) document to include the new information. The company says it will also allow users to extend automatic updates to 10 years when they receive their last automatic update.
Google also shared that it will bring adaptive charging to Chromebooks, allowing them to stay at 80 percent overall battery health for an extended period. Many newer phones, laptops, and tablets have started adopting adaptive charging because it helps batteries last longer by not charging them to 100 percent all the time.
Adaptive charging will be available on any Chromebook going forward once the update is released. Google said it will also offer a charge limit option, so if you want to go even further in protecting how much your battery is charged, you’ll have that option, too. Finally, an energy saver option is coming that will increase battery life as a whole by reducing or turning off energy-intensive processes.
ChromeOS will automatically turn this new energy saver feature on when the Chromebook’s battery reaches 20 percent, though you’ll also be able to turn it on and off as you see fit. All of these are great additions to Google’s ongoing Chromebook support plans, and users will no doubt be happy to learn that these are all coming to Chromebooks in the “coming months.” Unfortunately, a more exact timeline is not available at the moment.
If you don’t know it already, you can check your Chromebook’s expiration date to see when Google will no longer support it.
