Finally Completely Retired The Old Samsung Chromebook :(
Sometime back around 2018, I found this Chromebook on sale at Office Depot for around $75. It was a floor model closeout deal. At the time I needed a practical laptop that wasn't very big to stick in my backpack when traveling or bouncing around town. It seemed like the perfect solution.
I took the above photo back around Nov of 2021. Here's the original post talking about how slow it was getting. At this point, it was retired to a bedroom computer and used as an alarm clock, mp3 player, and music streamer. I almost always sleep with music on.
I kept getting messages that the laptop would no longer be getting updates. Which was fine, for its use case of simply streaming music. I have to say though, considering this is a Chromebook from 2017 and I only paid $75 dollars for it, I still can't get over what a great laptop this thing was! It ran really strong with close to NO PROBLEMS for 6 entire years.
All kidding aside, this thing was practically bulletproof. I took it all over the place with me. Stuffed it in my backpack. Bounced it off all kinds of stuff. Not even a scratch! I'd give it a powerwash (Chromebook speak for a system reset) every 6 months to a year when it started acting a little sluggish. That always seemed to fix any issue I'd have. Besides the 6 month powerwash, I never had a SINGLE PROBLEM with it. Absolutely incredible to me. I've never experienced that with a laptop.
So the other night while lying in bed, I got up to change the song that was playing. I was using Black Player for my MP3 playing. Black player was unresponsive. The following morning, I messed around with it a little. The entire laptop was just acting slow and sluggish. Gave it another powerwash and nothing changed. Tried to remove Black Player and re-install it and the play store wouldn't download the app.
I've heard Samsung is notorious for slowing down their devices after they become outdated. This is the first time I've experienced it though. I mean one day it worked great, the next day it took 5 minutes to boot up and load a welcome screen. They literally bricked my entertainment center :(
It's sad really, because I'm not one to waste. I'd use it as a clock radio for the next ten years if I could keep it out of the landfill. They really shouldn't be allowed to intentionally slow down their devices. It's just wasteful.
The Chromebook has now been replaced with my old Chinese Jumper laptop. The Jumper will now act as a clock radio, music streamer, and mp3 player. My bedroom shelves are little messier these days 😎
The Jumper will now live out its last days as the bedroom entertainment center. This one too, is no longer able to be updated. Apparently, it doesn't have the system resources for Windows 11 or 10 or whatever we're currently on. I gave it one last go-through, disconnected it from the home network, removed any sensitive data and it will sit on the shelf as an entertainment center until it no longer runs or a better laptop gets retired in the same way.
Back to the Chromebook. I don't think there is anything left for this device. I'm pretty sure it only has a 32GB hard drive. I thought about a Linux install but doesn't seem worth it. Any thoughts on repurposing an old Chromebook?
Seeing the Jumper is now being used as an entertainment center in the bedroom, I'll post a comparison of the CHUWI vs Jumper Chinese laptops I purchased. The Jumper was a great laptop priced at just under $175. The CHUWI was priced a little higher, but it's much better quality. More on those in a future post.
Do you have a hard time letting go of old tech? Do you repurpose your old smartphones and laptops? If so, what types of projects have you done with them?
Hey I haven't seen you on the new threads yet or even the zealy contest.
https://zealy.io/c/leofinance-4960/invite/XxQFkNkJggs7CX5ba4SKt
Not like you. Hope to see you hit a few of the quests soon.
I'll have to check out Zealy. I seem to get more interaction on d.buzz so I've been posting there. I still post an occasional thread though from time to time. I'll have to get a little more active over there. Thanks for the heads up.
Zealy is just a third party site linked with leo for a massive contest but it's really driving engagement. Fun times there at the moment and you should definitely try it out.
Will do, thank you!
The sad fate of reliable friends.
!CTP
LOL, no doubt! 🤣
But I think you should look for options to keep it alive and working :)
!CTP
You got great value from that laptop. I bought a cheap Chromebook ages ago that did as a couch PC for years, but eventually it didn't get updates. I never did the 'powerwash' though. I find it hard to believe that the manufacturers would deliberately slow it down at some point. It's just not worth the negative publicity when they get caught out. Maybe something died in yours.
I've not bought another one yet, but I don't have too much use for a laptop. My cheap Lenovo tablet does fine for my band chord charts and a few other things when travelling. I am a bit tempted by a reconditioned Thinkpad though. I just wonder how much I'd use it.
They're perfect for exactly that. Something to shoot off a couple emails, post on some social media, maybe write a quick blogpost while watching your favorite show.
Possibly. I was surprised myself. Acted more like a virus too, but figured the powerwash would straighten that out. The whole event took me by surprise. Considering it's been on for about six months straight and connected to the net, anything is possible. I've read a lot of articles about Samsung actually getting caught doing this though.
You'd probably be surprised. Sort of how I felt about the Chromebook and I ended up using it all the time.
!BEER
View or trade
BEER.Hey @steevc, here is a little bit of
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BEERKING.Most time when we use a good product, especially When it comes tech material, we'll find but difficult to dispose /abandon them, because we feel it will not get the same quality again.
You've used it for a very long time, it's a very good product, that's why you're finding it hard to dispose it, and you decided to use it in your room for another purpose😊.
This made me to remember a mobile phone I bought 5 years ago, the phone is faulty now, and it's slowing down the activities in the phone , I decided to buy another one, but did not abandon it, I still use it to do some things, like doing videos. so I could understand why you don't want to abandon your Samsung chromebook.
Hey, I noticed you used Threads back in April. The User interface works better now, maybe you want to give it another try!
I've done this with a couple phones myself. Once you get used to the video quality of one phone and figure out how to get the best sound and video, it's hard to start on a new phone.