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      MacBooks, Chromebooks lead losers in laptop repairability analysis

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 7 February - 23:14 · 1 minute

    A stack of broken Chromebook laptops

    Enlarge / A stack of broken Chromebook laptops at Cell Mechanic Inc. electronics repair shop in Westbury, New York, U.S., on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. (credit: Getty )

    Chromebooks and MacBooks are among the least repairable laptops around, according to an analysis that consumer advocacy group US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) shared this week. Apple and Google have long been criticized for selling devices that are deemed harder to repair than others. Worse, PIRG believes that the two companies are failing to make laptops easier to take apart and fix.

    The "Failing the Fix (2024)" report released this week [ PDF ] is largely based on the repairability index scores required of laptops and some other electronics sold in France. However, the PIRG’s report weighs disassembly scores more than the other categories in France's index, like the availability and affordability of spare parts, “because we think this better reflects what consumers think a repairability score indicates and because the other categories can be country specific,” the report says.

    PIRG's scores, like France’s repair index, also factor in the availability of repair documents and product-specific criteria (the PIRG’s report also looks at phones). For laptops, that criteria includes providing updates and the ability to reset software and firmware.

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      The “Windows App” for Mac, iOS, and browsers is a fancy remote desktop, for now

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Thursday, 16 November - 17:42 · 1 minute

    Windows app with apps and multiple desktops

    Enlarge / If you have a bunch of Windows systems, Microsoft now has an app for that. It's called "Windows App." Microsoft just has a certain way with naming things. (credit: Microsoft)

    It feels strange to say it, but it's true: There is an app called, simply, "Windows." It's available for early testing on Mac, iOS and iPad, the web, Windows, and eventually Android, and it's made by Microsoft. The fact that it exists, with such a strong and simple name, says something larger than the rather plain and starting-stage app it is now.

    "Windows App," as named by Microsoft in a rare bit of minimalism, is essentially a convenient remote desktop connection to a Windows OS on a physical system, an Azure virtual desktop, a Dev Box, or elsewhere. There are some other tricks you can pull off, too, like using your local device's webcam, speakers, and printer connections with your remote Windows system. But you can easily read a "Windows app" for multiple platforms, including web browsers generally, as being the next step in Microsoft's slow march toward making a virtual Windows OS something that seems convenient for everybody, whether on a business or personal account.

    At the moment, you need a work or school account with Microsoft to use most of the features beyond a traditional remote desktop connection. To use a remote desktop connection, the Windows instance you're connecting to must be running a Pro edition, as Home lacks the ability to host a remote desktop connection. There are, of course, many ways to connect to a remote PC from nearly any device, including RealVNC and others.

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      Chromebook Plus laptops debut with hardware requirements, exclusive features

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 2 October - 13:00

    Google Chromebook Plus laptops

    Enlarge (credit: Google)

    Google is introducing the Chromebook Plus badge. ChromeOS devices with the moniker have minimum hardware requirements and will be granted exclusive software and AI features, with Google promising a higher level of performance. On October 8, eight new laptops with the Chromebook Plus branding will be released in North America, starting at $399.

    In a blog post today, John Maletis, VP of ChromeOS product, engineering, and UX at Google, said Chromebook Plus laptops have "double the performance" when compared to the top-selling Chromebooks from July to December 2022. Most of that somewhat vague claim comes from the Chromebook Plus' minimum hardware requirements:

    • Intel Core i3 12th Gen or AMD Ryzen 3 7000-series processor
    • 8GB of RAM
    • 128GB of storage
    • 1080p IPS display
    • 1080p resolution webcam with temporal noise reduction

    Some Chromebooks released before today meet those minimum requirements already. A Google spokesperson said that owners of such laptops "will get upgraded to the Chromebook Plus software experience in the coming weeks."

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      Google extends Chromebook support from 8 years to 10 after heightened backlash

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Thursday, 14 September, 2023 - 20:52

    Close-up of the corner of a Chromebook

    Enlarge (credit: Bloomberg/Getty )

    Google announced today that it's extending Chromebooks' automatic update support from 8 years to 10 years for devices released from 2019 and later. The move follows increasing criticism from consumers, schools, and advocacy groups around the many Chromebooks in use and on sale with looming death dates.

    "All Chromebook platforms will now get regular automatic updates for 10 years," Google's blog post says. Numerous Chromebooks released in 2019 were about to expire next year. Now, no Chromebooks should be expiring within the next two years.

    Google's blog continues:

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      “Gaming Chromebooks” with Nvidia GPUs apparently killed with little fanfare

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 18 August, 2023 - 17:08 · 1 minute

    Asus' Chromebook Flip CX5 was one of the streaming-oriented gaming Chromebooks announced late last year.

    Enlarge / Asus' Chromebook Flip CX5 was one of the streaming-oriented gaming Chromebooks announced late last year. (credit: Asus)

    Google and some of its Chromebook partners decided to try making " gaming Chromebooks " a thing late last year. These machines included some gaming laptop features like configurable RGB keyboards and high refresh rate screens, but because they still used integrated GPUs, they were meant mostly for use with streaming services like Nvidia's GeForce Now and Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming .

    But there were also apparently plans for some gaming Chromebooks with the power to play more games locally. Earlier this year, 9to5Google spotted developer comments earlier this year pointing to a Chromebook board (codenamed Hades) that would have included a dedicated GeForce RTX 4050 GPU like the one found in some Windows gaming notebooks. This board would have served as a foundation that multiple PC makers could have used to build Chromebooks.

    But these models apparently won't be seeing the light of day anytime soon. Developer comments spotted by About Chromebooks this week indicate that the Hades board (plus a couple of other Nvidia-equipped boards, Agah and Herobrine) has been canceled, which means that any laptops based on that board won't be happening.

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      “Absurd”: Google, Amazon rebuked over unsupported Chromebooks still for sale

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 4 August, 2023 - 21:14

    “Absurd”: Google, Amazon rebuked over unsupported Chromebooks still for sale

    Enlarge (credit: Getty )

    Google resisted pleas to extend the lifetime of Chromebooks set to expire as of this June and throughout the summer. Thirteen Chromebook models have met their death date since June 1 and won't receive security updates or new features from Google anymore. But that hasn't stopped the Chromebooks from being listed for sale on sites like Amazon for the same prices as before.

    Take the Asus Chromebook Flip C302. It came out in 2018, and on June 1—about five years later—it reached its automatic update expiration (AUE) date. But right now, you can buy a "new," unused Flip C302 for $550 from Amazon or $820 via Walmart's Marketplace (providing links for illustrative purposes; please don't buy these unsupported laptops).

    That's just one of eight Chromebooks that expired since June while still being readily available on Amazon. The listings don't notify shoppers that the devices won't receive updates from Google. The US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) pointed this out in a press release Wednesday, sharing screenshots of the models:

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      Zero trust for Zoom calls: ChromeOS getting universal microphone/camera toggles

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 25 April, 2023 - 17:02 · 1 minute

    Rather than app-by-app permissions that are set once, ChromeOS will soon offer universal mic and camera toggles that should help prevent accidental exposure of messy bedrooms, running children, penguins, and other objects.

    Enlarge / Rather than app-by-app permissions that are set once, ChromeOS will soon offer universal mic and camera toggles that should help prevent accidental exposure of messy bedrooms, running children, penguins, and other objects. (credit: Google)

    Chromebooks will become a better place to take a video call or audio huddle soon, as Google is giving all users the ability to universally control access to their video cameras and microphones.

    As part of a wider announcement of business data and security improvements , Tony Ureche, head of security, identity, and privacy for ChromeOS, writes that Chromebooks will get a space in Settings for toggling camera and microphone access. If an app tries to access either device upon launching or after a button tap, you'll get a notice saying, "Your mic is muted by your system settings," with a prompt to click the button to learn more (at least in Google Meet). The setting is coming "later this year."

    Having a default-off option for Chromebooks adds security to an already fairly secure platform, both by obscurity and design. It's also helpful for users, as it's a good idea to have to affirmatively enable a camera every time it wants to turn on rather than remembering whether or not you previously gave permission to Zoom, Meet, Slack, Skype, Teams, GoToMeeting, WebEx, Discord, or other apps.

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      Why it does and doesn’t matter if Google, Microsoft, or Zoom certify your webcam

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 14 March, 2023 - 10:40

    Logitech Brio 500 webcamera docked on a monitor

    Enlarge / Logitech really wants you to know that its Brio 500 webcam works with Meet, Teams, Zoom, and Chromebooks. (credit: Logitech/Amazon )

    Logitech made a peculiar announcement in January.

    It proudly declared that its MX Master 3S wireless mouse, along with some of its other peripherals, had been certified to work with Intel Evo laptops. (Evo laptops are Intel-certified premium ultralights meeting certain criteria , like providing at least eight hours of battery life with a QHD display.) Imagine my shock when I realized I had been using that very mouse with a Dell XPS 13 (an Evo laptop) for almost eight months without Intel's blessing.

    Of course, even before the mouse gained Intel's stamp of approval, I had enjoyed hours of problem-free use. The same can be said of every functioning USB webcam I'm ever plugged into a computer. But that hasn't stopped countless peripheral makers from touting that their devices have been certified for Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom.

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      ChromeOS will finally, mercifully, let you change its keyboard shortcuts

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 13 February, 2023 - 18:44 · 1 minute

    Child typing on a Chromebook

    Enlarge / For the first time since their 2011 launch, ChromeOS devices are seemingly going to allow custom keyboard shortcuts for navigation, browsing, and other functions. (credit: Google)

    ChromeOS devices have become far more useful since the Cr-48 . With Linux and Android apps, and "web only" being far less of a hindrance these days, they're compelling as a secondary machine. But having to learn a whole separate set of keyboard shortcuts to use them efficiently is always going to be painful.

    But help is on the way, if some experimental features in the latest beta ChromeOS release (111) are any indication. As spotted in Kevin Tofel's About Chromebooks blog , an updated version of the shortcut viewer in the Settings app— first seen in October 2022 —has the early makings of a shortcut changing and adding mechanism.

    Clicking on a shortcut brings up a dialogue that allows you to, at the moment, add alternative shortcuts to common shortcuts for manipulating tabs, windows and desktops, system settings, accessibility, and other utilities. A small "lock" icon next to each suggests that you might also be able to unlock these shortcuts to remove or alter their defaults. A "Reset all shortcuts" button offers another hint. Sadly, none of the shortcuts you add seem to work for the moment, though the promise is there.

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