Budget Chromebooks Create 'Piles of Electronic Waste,' Study Says

pcmag.com:

Customizable and affordable, Chromebooks exploded in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic as students were forced to learn remotely. But these budget laptops, often purchased en masse, are beginning to fail, creating "piles of electronic waste," according to the US PIRG Education Fund.

While schools have long relied on portable computers and tablets to provide individual access to digital learning, the pandemic was a boon for Chromebook makers: Sales rose 87% from 2019 to 2020—helped along by government funding and, in some cases, teachers' own paychecks, the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) reports(Opens in a new window).

Three years—and more than 31 million Chromebook sales—later, schools are beginning to see their electronic fleets fail, and manufacturers often don't sell the required parts to replace them, or fail to provide support for repairs.

PIRG, for instance, found that nearly half of Acer's replacement keyboards were out of stock online (with 28-plus-day backlogs); of the 29 panels the group reviewed, 10 cost $90 or more, which amounts to nearly half the cost of a typical $200 Chromebook.

The devices also come with built-in "death dates," as the report notes, after which Google no longer provides updates for Chrome OS, leaving devices vulnerable to viruses and attacks. (Google says it provides "automatic updates for up to eight years.")

"Chromebooks aren't built to last," Elizabeth Chamberlain, iFixit's director of sustainability, said in a statement published by PIRG. "Professional repair techs tell me they're often forced to chuck good Chromebook hardware with years of life left due to aggressive software expiration dates. Let's stop wasting money and our planet's resources on premature upgrades."

PI