What you need to know
- Google has updated the end-of-life dates for seven Lenovo Chromebooks on its AUE support page.
- The models in question all run on the same hardware platform.
- The AUE date has been extended to June 2025, but after June 2023, it'll still rely on support from Lenovo and "third-party component suppliers" to ensure Chrome OS works with the older models.
My favorite little Chromebook just got a whole lot more enticing thanks to a silent update to Google's Auto Update Expiration page. The AUE date is when your Chromebook is slated to no longer receive updates, usually 4-6 years after its initial release, and that's the date that most users either upgrade to a new model or flash an open-source version of Linux or Chromium. For the Best Chromebook Lenovo C330 and six similar models, that date had seemed rather short at June 2022, but now, it seems we won't have to say goodbye to them so soon after all.
While checking the AUE page for end-of-life dates for Chromebooks, the folks at Chrome Unboxed noticed that AUE dates had been pushed back for seven Chromebooks:
- Flex 11 Chromebook
- 100e Chromebook 2nd Gen MTK
- N23 Yoga Chromebook
- 300e Chromebook
- 300e Chromebook 2nd Gen MTK
- Ideapad S330 Chromebook
- Ideapad C330 Chromebook
This is great news for everyone, but especially for folks who are looking for a Chromebook right now, because this means the $250 Lenovo C330 is now an absolutely unbeatable deal. Less than $300 dollars for a Chromebook with 64GB of storage, 10-hour battery life, and 6 years of Chrome OS updates? That's unheard of!
Of course, it's not all sunshine and rainbows here, as there's an discreet little disclaimer for these models:
"These devices have an extended AUE date; however, providing updates beyond June 2023 is subject to certain limitations including reliance on third party component suppliers. Google will work with suppliers in an effort to ensure continued support."
While Google and Lenovo will work to keep these Chromebooks updated until June 2025, that's reliant on component suppliers helping ensure new updates are compatible with their parts and drivers for them are updated as needed. This shouldn't be too difficult, but as we all know from the early years of Android updates, all it takes is one chipmaker refusing to work on an older chip to keep a device stuck on an older version forever.
In any event, we're for sure getting one extra year on the these models and possibly getting three extra years. Which is great news for me, since it means my C330 can keep accompanying me to the parks for reviews written around Epcot and getting interrogated by Stormtroopers by the Falcon during evening research sessions.
Lenovo's diamond in the rough Chromebook is just right.
Portable, durable, dependable, and affordable, the only real drawback to the Lenovo C330 was that it was only slated to receive updated until June of 2022. Now that it's slated to receive updates until June 2025, there's literally no reason not to buy this Chromebook.
