This doesn’t get any updates. To quote the description,
Chrome OS
[Auto-Update Expiration Date: June 2019]
(Auto Update policy - Chrome Enterprise and Education Help)
One of the other models with an expiration data in the future would probably be a better purchase.
Correct, avoid this one because of that reason and also because it has only 2 GB of RAM plus a terrible CPU.
It would be nice to know which of these can be easily converted to a lightwieght Linux system. I have a couple of underpowered Acer “Cloudbooks” and Linux Mint works very well on them. The operative word is “easily.”
Yeah, for linux or chrome os, are any of these actually a good deal at the garbage prices? I could really use a beater just for my night classes to take notes on. But would need to run the occasional presentation or video without locking up.
The most powerful processor in the six offerings today is the Acer C720, which is also the oldest and may be more physically worn. The drive can be upgraded, but not the RAM – not that the value aspect is great unless you have a M.2 2242 drive laying around already.
You may be better off with a cheap “slow” Windows machine and then installing Linux on it.
If this had 4 GB of RAM, it’d be the one to go with because as Narf said, it has the best CPU. Otherwise, I’d still avoid the other options because of their worse CPUs.
Neverware Cloudready is the suggested OS alternative for low-end devices like those Cloudbooks that John mentioned and even EoL Chromebooks, although I haven’t actually gone through the process on an old Chromebook (it works fine on old Windows machines though.) You can search for “Cloudready” and the Chromebook’s model number, and odds are someone has tried it out and shared whether or not it works well.
If you don’t mind a larger, thinner laptop, the bigger cloudbooks running Windows can easily be converted to (for example) Linux Mint. You’ll use less space and there are some fine apps, LibreOffice, etc.
Also my Acers have batteries that cover the whole underside of the keyboard, offering 10+ hours per charge. Not the greatest keyboards, but nice big screens.
I’m running GalliumOS on an old chromebook and it works well enough for my kids to do some coding games and Tuxpaint. It’s a capable web surfer too. The audio and video work upon install without any tinkering. I tried RaspianOS (actually Debian Buster with Raspberry Pi desktop environment) to mimick a Raspberry Pi experience but had some issues and could never get the audio to work.
GalliumOS is a lightweight Linux distro based on Xubuntu and is optimized to run on Chromebook hardware. I would definitely recommend it as it can give new life to some of these older units.