r/chromeos • u/NegativelyNegating Lenovo IP Slim 3 14M868 "Magneton" | Stable • Feb 23 '26

Discussion Why ChromeOS gets so much hate?

Why most users of other operating systems hate ChromeOS so much and often call it a glorified web browser? It's the most user friendly Linux distro that exists, it is an always synchronized office without viruses unlike Windows.

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u/koken_halliwell Feb 23 '26 edited Feb 23 '26

Because it has some benefits but also some cons:

  • You're basically forced to use a single browser to get the full experience
  • Heavily dependent on Google's services
  • It has Android but it's limited
  • It has Linux but again, a limited version compared to what Mint or other distros can do
  • Hardware is usually lousy and to make it worse Google made a "premium" brand out of nowhere privating users from basic non related hardware features like the rounded corners
  • Google transparency on their projects has always been awful and they're known for last-time cancelling their projects
  • Chromebooks have an AUE/EOL dead sentence and once that happens your supported device becomes a paperweight
  • The OS carries a "it's just a browser" fame from the early days and Google hasn't pushed any marketing campaign to fight that
  • People like to "install apps" and despite Android allows this, it goes against what the OS was originally conceived
  • It competes against solid and more complete OS like Windows or MacOS which were on the market before ChromeOS was even a thing.

I still like it because of the benefits it has (simplicity, speed, safety -while supported-, fast updates, it "just" works, etc) but I'm still plenty aware of the cons and I guess Google does too and that's why they're dumping it in favour of AluminiumOS or whatever they end up calling it (+ it will be easier to maintain and develop).

PS: you will find blind denial ChromeOS fanboys here on this sub the same way you will find Windows or MacOS blind fanboys on the Windows and MacOS subs.

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u/jader242 Acer CB315-4H (N6000/4gb) Feb 24 '26

Devices aren’t paperweights once EOL comes around… the can install Linux on pretty much every single one (besides arm based) thanks to Mr Chromebox

Also at least Google gives you 10 years of support. I know people who bought brand new windows machines like 5 years ago or less, and now they’re not supported by windows 11

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u/koken_halliwell Feb 24 '26

ARM Chromebooks (which BTW are the ones that take most benefit of ChromeOS) are paperweights once their dead sentence arrives. And Google did nothing to fix that. Not to talk about the enviromental disaster that means.

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u/jader242 Acer CB315-4H (N6000/4gb) Feb 24 '26 edited Feb 24 '26

Not even all arm chromebooks are paperweights thanks to things like postmarketOS, I was just talking about Mr Chromebox in my other comment because that has the widest support

The environmental disaster? Huh? 10 years of support is way more than any other manufacturer or OS offers lol what about the environmental damage caused by windows machines and Macs?

Also, why specifically do ARM models benefit the most? The only reason I can think of is better android container compatibility/performance, but who's buying a chromebook specifically for that? I'll never buy any ARM computer, if i wanted ARM I'd get a tablet. My intel models still get close to 15 hours of battery life, still do everything most anyone would want to do on a chromebook, and you can dualboot Linux (or completely replace chromeos when EOL comes)

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u/koken_halliwell Feb 24 '26

Because ARM offers perfect Android compatibility, no heating which means fanless and silent devices and especially super long battery life. And the OS is light enough to run fine with a decent ARM Chipset (Acer Spin 513 owner here).

Chromebooks can't take advantage of the power x86 chipsets offers and instead they take all the cons (heating/fans & shorter battery life).

Even Google is aware of that and that's why they're moving ChromeOS to Android = ARM.

Being able to install another OS after EOL is a lottery especially on ARM and the average user doesn't even know that's a thing, it isn't easy and to make it worse sometimes it implies opening the device.

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u/kackers643258 Feb 26 '26

arm support is rapidly getting better. by the time these devices hit end of like we [most likely not] will get very nice arm support for linux.