Google extends lifespan of Chromebooks — a change that could save school districts millions

Beginning next year, all Chromebook software will be guaranteed to last for a decade after their model’s release.

Google is finally extending the life of older Chromebooks, the low-cost laptops used by school districts across the country, after years of limited software support forced thousands of those devices to be discarded after only a few years of service.

The policy change comes after the Bay Area News Group reported in July on the region’s struggles with expired Chromebooks, and how school districts were forced to recycle the devices year after year due to premature software death dates.

Older versions of these low-cost computers were set to expire three to six years after their release, with expiration dates baked into each model. Despite having fully functional hardware, an expired Chromebook would no longer receive the software updates required to operate, effectively blocking access to basic websites and applications.

However, beginning next year, Google will begin providing ten years of free software updates for all Chromebooks released in 2021 and later. Users of older laptop models will be able to extend their updates for up to a decade after the model’s original release date, implying that no existing device will expire for at least two years.

Without the extension, 51 Chromebook models would have been sent to the landfill next year, rendering them useless to thousands of students across the country.

That meant Oakland Unified was preparing for the expiration of 40,000 Chromebooks in the next five years alone — a loss that would have necessitated the tech department weeding out old devices and purchasing new ones, even if the hardware on the former was in working order.

“Schools are telling us that they’ll be able to use their fleets of computers for longer — and that obviously saves schools money,” said Lucas Gutterman, a director at the US Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG), a national advocacy group that raised the issue earlier this year. “Because laptops last longer, budgets can be stretched even further and money can be spent on other things.”

According to US PIRG, doubling the life of Chromebooks sold in California by 2020 could save schools $225 million — and $1.8 billion nationwide.

When the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak and students were learning online, school districts purchased Chromebooks in droves. They hoped that the low-cost laptops would allow students to connect to their classes without breaking the bank — and by the end of 2020, CALPIRG, the organization’s California arm, reported that global Chromebook sales were nearly 300% higher than a year earlier. According to market research firm Futuresource Consulting, Chromebooks are the most widely used devices in kindergarten through 12th grade education worldwide, accounting for 39% of all devices.

However, some school districts, including Oakland Unified, were forced to replace thousands of those laptops every summer. By mid-July, the school district had recycled 451 expired Chromebooks, bringing the total to nearly 3,851 by 2022.

At the same time, the district has repaired thousands of damaged — but still functional — computers, with 1,700 laptops repaired so far this summer. According to a recent CALPIRG study, Chromebooks are more difficult to repair than other laptops, owing to a lack of spare, affordable, and compatible parts.

“At the moment, schools must buy parts from third parties or scavenge from broken machines.” This scarcity can contribute to high part prices, making repair uneconomical,” CALPIRG stated in a recent report.

Google has stated that starting next year, Chromebooks will be easier to repair. According to Google, Chromebooks will soon allow school technicians and third-party repairmen to fix software issues without a physical USB key, reducing repair time by 50%.

Google has previously extended the software lives of Chromebook models. Those manufactured in 2020 or later, for example, are guaranteed to last for eight years after the release date of their model. However, that lifespan was not extended to all devices — and older models were still on a timer.

According to Google, every Chromebook will now be guaranteed to work for a decade, making the laptops’ software commitments longer-lasting than any other operating system available today.

“With a 10-year lifespan, fewer working laptops will be discarded because they’ve reached their ‘death date,'” Gutterman said. “Longer-lasting Chromebooks are an important step toward an industry with products that are built to last.”