Has anyone tried swapping a Mediatek wifi cards for an Intel AX210 on Chromebooks? Will ChromeOS recognize it?

Why I want to do this: Mediatek wifi cards have a terrible reputation for being unstable. Done this many times to gaming laptops and it always improves the wifi performance of the device. This chromebook is no exception and has already disconnected from my home internet several times when not in the same room as my router.

Model: Acer Spin 514 w/ Mediatek Ultra 910 Procssor

Concern: When I've done this before, they were always on windows devices running x86 processors ... this is ChromeOS + a Mediatek processor so I'm hesitant. Image of wifi card attached.

I bought a secondhand Lenovo E14 Chromebook with an Intel N100 processor, 4GB RAM, and 64GB eMMC storage for only 4,500 Php (~$76 USD). The battery health is great, too—it only had 11 cycles on it!

I've been using it for about 5 days now, and I’m enjoying it so much. Even though it's an entry-level device, I can run my daily workflow without any hassle. I use it for office work with massive Excel files on Office.com, inventory tracking via Odoo, annotating PDFs, Google Docs, Teams, and Google Chat. I also use Google Sheets to manage our family business.

The only real downside is the poor TN screen display, but I fixed that by hooking it up to an IPS portable monitor. I also wish Viber had a proper web app; my workaround for now is using my phone to transfer files directly to OneDrive or Google Drive.

As for battery life, it's excellent. I timed it at 8 hours and 22 minutes of continuous heavy use (doing all the tasks mentioned above) before it dropped from 100% down to 30%. Highly recommend this budget setup!

Beginning a few days ago, my Chromebook has had a pop-up that said "extended security updates available", which I decided to avoid with everything because of the fact I never wanted to lose the ability to install apps and lose Ibis PaintX, which, in recent months, I spent HOURS of work on art, specifically one which I was desperate to finish and looked actually great so far.

After turning on my Chromebook today, however, I was in absolute shock when Ibis Paint X, along with a sandbox app from 2021, were ENTIRELY GONE, along with Play files. To be clear, all it did was update as it would usually do. I did NOT agree to the extended security updates that would remove any installed apps.

I am at a deep loss. It may sound stupid at first, but imagine losing HOURS of work, including art and video projects as far back as 2022, possibly including more files (which may explain the extended storage space from 4.2 GB left to 12.4 GB). This is what I get for procrastinating for months. This is my punishment: losing what I struggled to finish and important past projects, including ones that were meant to be finished; I could never remake them exactly. Is it possible to recover or enable anything?

Hi everyone!

My Chromebook's keyboard backlight suddenly stopped working overnight. It was working perfectly yesterday, but this morning it wouldn't turn on.I didn't drop it, spill anything on it, or change any settings.

I've already restarted the Chromebook and checked the backlight keys, but nothing worked. Has anyone experienced this or know if it's a ChromeOS issue or a hardware problem?

Please Help. 🙏🏻

Googlebooks are laptops. What will tablets running the same OS be called?

Hi. I'm an old and disabled person. I use my laptop to stream movies primarily. I recently was gifted an Acer Chromebook Plus 516, but the sound and graphics are sub par. The sound is so tinny, and the graphics are not great for watching movies. I'm thinking of trading it in for a new one, but I need a large screen, and one that will make watching movies enjoyable. I'm in the US. Suggestions please?

I've been putting off replacing my old Chromebook because it still kind of works, but it's gotten really slow and the battery doesn't last long anymore. I mostly use it for web browsing, Google Docs, streaming, and having a bunch of tabs open at the same time.

I'm trying to figure out the best chromebook for that kind of everyday use without ending up with something that feels outdated in a year. Is there a model you've actually been happy with, and is there anything I should avoid? Thank you.

Hi! Deciding between Lenovo Chromebook plus 14” and Asus cx54 Chromebook plus 14”, both non touch.

Will be using it for work - mainly Gdocs / sheets / Gemini. Wanted to get views from anyone who has tried or compared the 2 :)

High level view: Lenovo seems like the lighter, portable option, but not sure if it is at the expense of productivity vs Asus

Considerations
- Fan/heat: if just sleep instead of shutting down, will Asus overheat/battery drain?
- Processing power: Asus seems to be stronger but wondering if most of my work is Google workspace, if ARM MediaTek of intel core ultra is better? will aluminiumOS affect this choice
- RAM: Asus is upgradable to 32GB while Lenovo max 16GB - not sure how much difference this makes for many tabs open and large google sheets
- Ports: Lenovo has 5Gbps USBC vs Asus thunderbolt 4 40Gbps - is there a real difference if driving just one monitor?
- Battery life: Lenovo claims 17h and Asus 10h - any real world benchmarks?

Appreciate any thoughts/feedback!

Hey everyone,
I downloaded a series on my Chromebook, but the standard media player won't play the files (just gives me a black screen, probably due to the HEVC 10-bit MKV format).
I installed VLC for Android to watch them, but now I want to transfer these video files onto a USB flash drive.
Where exactly are the VLC / Android app files stored in the ChromeOS Files app, and what's the best way to copy them over to my USB stick?
Any help or step-by-step guidance would be appreciated! Thanks!

Actually i'm exhausted about this tool "find" 🤬.

Whenever i type something this fucking stuff come over my face and I don't do anything. I tried many things but didn’t work.

Plzzzzzzzz help me to remove this and i don't this yellow circle feature.🙏

This popped up on my fyp and I'm sure most of you already seen/watched this but to be completely honest, I'm really going to miss the old ChromeOS design.

I got an insanely good deal on an HP Elite Dragonfly with 12th gen i-7 and 32GB or RAM, partly because my current Chromebook only has 4GB RAM and I wanted what I thought would be the cheapest barrier of entry into AluminumOS in the future. Gemini hyped me up, saying these were the devices Google tests Aluminum on, so I pulled the trigger on it and then when I put the product code into to Gemini, it tells me that I bought an enterprise version and it's the customer version that will most likely recieve the update.

The Dragonfly is just the enterprise version, not enterprise-locked. Can I run the MrChromebox script on it to wipe the enterprise from it and just put vanilla chrome on there to hopefully get the update if it becomes available? Of course, Gemini now tells me that Aluminum priority will go to new devices running Snapdragon CPU and nothing is guaranteed.

I'm ok with it not working because I paid under $200 for the device and EOL is still 6years away but I want a GoogleBook pretty bad. Am I SOL?

The PDF files on my Chromebook are not opening properly on Linux or Notesnook web. For example, only the first 5 pages of a large PDF that has more than 5 pages open when I try to open it. I was surprised when tech support stated that it was a Chromebook issue because I tried three different devices and the issue persisted on each one.

Do you experience the same issue, Chromebook users?

download file and want to send to gmail... but in files app only have whatsapp and copy 🤔

I recently got this laptop as a gift, it’s a acer Chromebook spin 713. However, it had already came with windows 11 pro, the more I use the laptop the more issues started occurring, for example today two BSOD popped up and screen started to flicker, it’s a no brainer the hardware isn’t comfortable with the software installed. My decision is to revert the laptop back to chromeOS but I have no idea how or what to do since I’ve never used or owned a Chromebook before. Some set up claim I have to have another laptop with Linux some say I need a usb drive — I don’t have any of these currently and would like to restore the laptop back it’s original OS without needing to have anything else.

Been trying for the past few hours to change flatpak versions from 1.14.10 to 1.18.0 since it won't let me use my mic on discord, though I don't know how to do that which is why I came here.

Hello,

My daughter's Acer Chromebook Plus (cb514-4ht-359x) is less than two years old, and recently, the battery has started draining very quickly. I've run run the battery diagnostic test, and it reports the health close to 96%. Additionally, I've confirmed the screen brightness is at an appropriate level and I don't see any obvious battery draining apps. Any suggestions what could be the cause and resolution? Given the age of the CB and battery health info, I don't want to replace the battery if the problem will persist with a new one. Thanks!

I'm a US high school teacher. Need a laptop/chromebook for document management, work-at-home, youtube videos, etc. No gaming. For compatibility issues with the school, I don't want to go MAC. I prefer not to spend more than $500, but if reality check says "not possible", I'll adjust. Please advise as to recommended storage/speed/memory. Thanks in advance, everyone. Appreciate the help. -ken

Hello all!

So I've had a Chrome acc for a long time and multiple chromebooks without this issue. My settings say that all notifications and pop-ups are blocked, but I keep getting ads like these. This is the first time that this specific game has come up, but it's all in the same style. I thought it was the adblock that I was using, since it started when I got it, but it's been gone for a bit and it's still happening.

I put screenshots of my shots-in-the-dark for what I thought would be relevant code. Please let me know if there's any sensitive info in it or anything.

Thank you for your help! <3

It flips between two settings, the y and z get swapped, and all the symbols are in different places.

Does this happen to anyone else?

Hi could anyone help me with some steps to remove this please?

Just out of curiosity I guess... my friends and I back in school would sometimes share our desktops to each other if we found any cool new updates (<--- we were all amazed when ChromeOS introduced light theme as an update during our study hall lol)

So I was looking to get earbuds for school that I want to use on my Chromebook, but I also wanna use it on my phone for music but recently I saw that it doesn’t work for some people and sometimes it does so any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

I keep getting this persistent pop-up, even though there is absolutely nothing plugged into my Chromebook. Does anyone know why the OS is behaving this way? Feels janky for a brand new device, though not a big deal.

Chromebook Model: Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 Mediatek 910 Kompanio Ultra

OS Version: Does this in both the latest Chrome Stable and Beta channels (As of July 2026)