Software updates for Android devices have a considerably shorter lifespan than say, that of Google’s Chromebooks, which receive updates for quite some time. For example, the Samsung Series5 Chromebook which launched back in 2011 is still receiving updates. That is all about to change, however, as some Chromebooks are reaching their end of life for updates. Google’s policy is to update Chromebooks for five years as opposed to the much shorter two years for Android smartphones and tablets, and since it’s 2016, any Chromebooks which were released in 2011 are due to hit the end of the line.
While the news of no more updates likely sounds like impending doom for those who have those particular models, it isn’t really all that bad. Even though machines will no longer receive support from Google’s Chromebook team, everything will still work just fine, although, it should be noted that the experience may “degrade” as there will be no new features added and no updated support for security, which is certainly something to consider if you want something that will get new features and be as secure as possible. The other thing to remember is that there are only two Chromebooks it seems which are reaching their end of life policy as per Google’s guidelines, and that’s the Samsung Series5 Chromebook that was mentioned above, as well as the Acer AC700 Chromebook which is supposed to be reaching its end of life in August, so there is still another month or two on the line for that model.
Following these two Chromebooks, the next device to fall off the support train is the Samsung Series5 550, which isn’t happening until May of next year, and EOL for other Chromebooks come up at significantly later points. While there are sure to be some people who still use these older laptops, it would be a fair point to say that many who had used them at one point may have moved on to a new model Chromebook so the lack of updates on the Samsung Series5 and the Acer AC700 are likely to be less impactful than some may realize.