You in all probability know that Chromebooks ship with a deliberate lifespan set by Google. A brand new report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group claims that Google’s observe, nonetheless, hurts each colleges and the atmosphere by primarily forcing prospects to junk them after a given time period.

The U.S. PIRG argues that this “Chromebook churn” is a man-made restrict that primarily forces customers and colleges to toss out Chromebooks after a set interval slightly than allow them to expire although {hardware} faults or different causes. This contributes to e-waste, the group argues, in addition to forcing extra prices via what it characterizes as deliberate obsolescence.

What the U.S. PIRG needs Google to increase the lifespan of Chromebooks to 10 years, after which the units may very well be recycled. One of the issues is, by the way, that Chromebooks aren’t recycled. Just a 3rd of those ChromeOS units are literally damaged down and recycled whereas the remainder apparently find yourself in landfills as e-waste. The U.S. PIRG additionally needs Google to work with Chromebook makers to design higher and extra suitable interchangeable {hardware}, so that they’ll merely last more and be repaired in the event that they don’t.

“We have a massive stuff problem,” the PIRG’s report says. “We don’t need most of it and too much of it is built to be disposable. We shouldn’t allow planned obsolescence that keeps us buying more all the time. The least we can do, if we’re giving every student in the U.S. a laptop, is ensure these devices are durable and repairable—not part of a constant churn.”

To be honest, the lifespan of Chromebooks has gotten longer. As our prolonged explainer on laptops versus Chromebooks details, Google now has prolonged the assist lifespan of a Chromebook for about eight years and included methods of telling what how lengthy the assist clock will final earlier than it runs out. Windows used to have a vast lifespan—though that ended with Windows 11, which now contains hardware requirements that Microsoft appears to be lukewarm in enforcing. (You can use Windows 10 as an alternative). Google, like Microsoft, has enforced these limits for safety’s sake.

Still, setting limits on how lengthy you should utilize a Chromebook for is, by definition, arbitrary. We’ve already seen Chromebooks like the Framework Laptop Chromebook come alongside and attempt to present what the U.S. PIRG is asking for: a modular, repairable gadget the place customers can swap out a failing half. We’ll must see if Google agrees to take motion.