Category: Chromebox

With all of the concerns floating about around Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities in Intel processors, Google has been reasonably proactive in letting know users know if their Chromebook or Chromebox is going to be protected.  In that same list, there was another useful bit of information that may have been overlooked:  When devices will stop receiving automatic updates to the next version of Chrome OS.

The column in question can be found on the Meltdown vulnerability list and is marked Auto update ends (*=official).  There you will find the date for everyone Chromebook, Chromebase, Chromebox and Chromebit out there on when it will officially stop getting automatic updates.

ASUS has announced an update version of their Chromebox will be coming later this year.  The new ASUS Chromebox 3 will be powered by 8th generation Intel Core processors, have DDR4-2400 energy efficient and fast memory, and have HDMI connectivity for 4K UHD playback.

ASUS has indicated that the Chromebox 3 will be available in the second half of 2018, meaning that we have to wait until at least July before this gets to market.  For that reason, the exact processors that will be available as well as the amount of RAM that is standard in the new Chromebox were not disclosed.

It has been a while since the Chromium team has updated the Chromebook and Chromebox list of devices that support Android apps.  In fact, the last significant update happened back in August.  Now the team has made a big update to the list, updating it with the current status of Android apps on Chrome OS.

The list can be found here and as I’ve suggested before, I recommend readers who use Chrome OS to bookmark the page.  This is the official list of devices that do or will support Android apps.  Yes, it is often slow in getting updated but it is the official list nevertheless.

A small security update has been released by the Chrome OS team for all devices running the platform.  The update is 55.0.2883.105 (Platform version: 8872.76.0) for those keeping score at home.  There are not many details in the release notes about the update other than the customary bug and security fixes that come with all updates to the platform.  Still, if you are running a Chromebook or Chromebox, get the update so you have the latest and greatest (and safest) version.

All devices will have the update pushed to them over the course of the next few days but if you want to force the issue now, you can do so by going to chrome://help on your Chromebook and tapping the Check for update button.  This will download the update and after a reboot you will be running the new build.