That only works for a selected set of chromebook. And you still have an end of life date that is fixed.
My girl friend's school is having to dispose of about 300 chromebooks for precisely this reason. Most are still functional, but now unsupported. They would be totally usable if they weren't being deliberately binned by Google.
This is an environmental crime, as is a lot of support ending the useful lives of devices. These externalities are created by companies who make huge profits, and don't have to deal with what they have created. I've thought this for years, but part of the problem is that everyone is convinced they need to use windows (they don't), and everyone likes new and shiny.
As a concrete example: I have a Thinkpad L440 which is certified for Flex and receives support until 2026. The L440 runs any Linux X86 distro fine (EFI or legacy Bios).
I assume you never used them for YouTube/zoom/meet? Whether you like or not streams become heavy - older devices cannot handle. With spectre/meltdown patches things became slower for these older devices. For reasons beyond comprehension everyone wants to see only 120fps or hfr. If you see all k12sysadmin forums you can see these are also motivated by the school admin - they get good contracts from Apple/others to upgrade or lose out. Parents too want shiny devices for their children.
> environmental crime, as is a lot of support ending the useful lives of devices.
It is the same like all large companies selling their windows 7 or 10 device (after 3 years of leasing) or TV. Ideally there could be FOREVER updateable windows version with only security support/patches - basic version.
The WORLD business model is bad for environment/world.
At least all these Chromebooks will be sold in eBay (for cheap) via resellers that are used well by linux community.
