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Built-in software ‘death dates’ are sending thousands of schools’ Chromebooks to the recycling bin
(www.mercurynews.com)
this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
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Technology
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Chromebooks are unfortunately meant to be disposable like phones. Nobody should buy one, but unfortunately schools get them because they're cheap.
On an individual basis you can install Linux, but for millions of devices thrown out by schools around the world, there's no solution because the residual value is so tiny, you'd have to pay the techs minimum wage and hold a gun to their heads to get enough devices per hour to justify it.
I used to work at a refurb place and when we saw a chromebook that wasn't immediately OK (it could've had a bad display or keyboard, or locked to an account), we just removed the eMMC, smashed the chip and threw the device on our scrap pallet.
Give them to the kids with a QR code guide sticker about installing Linux on them? I'm not a kid, but I would love if someone "threw" a couple of these in my general direction.
Most of these Chromebooks are 3-4 years old and in really rough shape. Kids use these things for literally everything. You likely wouldn't even want them for free. Probably bio-waste at this point.
A friend asked me to fix their daughter's desktop and also asked if she could borrow an old laptop to use in the meantime. The desktop was disgusting with food smeared all over the keys and display. I cleaned it up and fixed it and sent it back. My laptop was returned with food smeared everywhere after just a few days. I was stunned.