With Google’s Chromebooks, updates to Chrome OS and the Chrome browser are tied together. This means that in order to get the latest version of Chrome, Google needs to issue a new update to Chrome OS. Given that Chromebooks do have a life expectancy, it means that eventually your Chromebook will expire, and along with that, your Chrome updates.
Updates are extremely important as it means that security flaws, exploits, and vulnerabilities are patched, bugs fixed, and new features are added. By surfing the web on an outdated browser, it leaves users open to attacks. The good news is that Google is looking to do something about it by separating Chrome OS and Chrome browser updates from each other.
This means that in the future, your Chrome browser on an expired Chromebook could still technically receive updates even if Chrome OS for that particular Chromebook isn’t. Given that we don’t change our laptops or computers every year, it is important as it could keep users secure while they browse for years to come.
That being said, it is unclear when Google plans on rolling out these changes, but as 9to5Google notes, this is a massive undertaking and it could be a while before we see it pushed out to Chromebook users out there.
Filed in . Read more about Chrome, Chrome Os, Google and Laptops. Source: 9to5google