Chromebooks are a great alternative to traditional laptops. They are lighter, portable, and can do basic tasks like browsing the internet, watching videos, and sending emails.
Most Chromebooks (except for the Samsung Series) are incredibly slow. They run on an Intel processor, which is not the fastest you can get. Normally, that wouldn’t mean it’s the slowest to use, but because Chromebooks have only a few extra things they can do (apart from browsing the web), they’re very slow.
Contents
- 1 How many years do Chromebooks last?
- 2 Why is my Chromebook running so slowly?
- 3 How to speed up a slow Chromebook and increase its performance?
- 3.1 Check your Wi-Fi connection
- 3.2 Clear cache
- 3.3 Close unused tabs
- 3.4 Update your Chromebook
- 3.5 Reinstall your apps
- 3.6 Reset your Chromebook
- 3.7 Run a Chrome Clean-up scan
- 3.8 Restart device
- 3.9 Disable extensions
- 3.10 Check your antivirus software and firewall
- 3.11 Use fewer tabs and applications at once
- 3.12 Free up storage space on your Chromebook
- 4 Conclusion
How many years do Chromebooks last?
There are a few things that determine how long your Chromebook will last before breaking down or becoming obsolete:
The quality of the device itself. The better the quality of construction, the longer your Chromebook will last.
For example, if your laptop is made from cheap materials like plastic rather than aluminum or magnesium alloy, it may break sooner than expected.
Similarly, if there’s no Gorilla Glass display on your screen, then scratches will show up sooner than they would on an identical laptop with glass protection.
The size of its battery, and whether it has fast charging capabilities such as Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 or USB Type C Power Delivery (PD) charging, which allows batteries to charge faster.
Why is my Chromebook running so slowly?
The cache is full
Chrome OS uses a disk cache to speed up disk access, but if you have a lot of data on your computer, it can fill up and slow down your system.
There’s a memory problem
One of the first things you should check when your Chromebook acts slow is whether there’s enough memory available. Insufficient memory will slow down the device, especially when multiple tabs are open at once.
Too many tasks are running
Chrome OS is a very lightweight operating system, but it’s not immune to the limitations of the hardware. The more you open, the slower your Chromebook will become. If you’re using a low-end Chromebook, in particular, you may notice things slowing down as you open more apps.
You have too many tabs open
When you use a Chromebook, you should know the number of tabs you have opened. This can affect the speed of your PC. If you have too many tabs open, it can slow down your Chromebook and make it less responsive to user input.
Your Chromebook is old
The reason your Chromebook can run slowly is that the device is old. Chromebooks last only a few years before they show signs of aging and performance degradation. If your Chromebook is over 3 years old, then there may be some issues with its hardware or software which can cause performance issues.
The hardware is damaged
The reason a Chromebook can run so slowly is damaged hardware. If you have a damaged Chromebook, you may experience slowness, freezing, or other issues. To fix these kinds of problems, it’s important to take care of your laptop properly and replace the damaged parts when necessary.
Your Chromebook has too many apps and extensions installed
If you have many apps and extensions installed on your Chromebook, it will make your computer slower than before. To solve this problem, we should uninstall unnecessary apps and extensions from our devices.
You’ve not restarted it in a while
Chromebooks don’t have a lot of memory. Because of this, they have to work harder to process everything that you do on your computer. If you haven’t restarted it in a while, then your PC is working extra hard to keep up with what you’re doing right now.
You can resolve this issue by restarting your Chromebook every once in a while or by changing some settings to make it run smoother.
Your drive is full
If your Chromebook has only 16 GB of storage space, and you have been installing programs and storing files on it, it can become full. You can free up some space by deleting files from the Downloads folder or by deleting unused programs from the Applications menu. If that doesn’t work, connect your Chromebook to an external hard drive and move files over to it temporarily until you can get a bigger internal storage device for your computer.
How to speed up a slow Chromebook and increase its performance?
Check your Wi-Fi connection
This is the first thing you should do. If you’re connected to a slow or unreliable network, it can affect your Chromebook’s performance.
Clear cache
One of the most useful tips for speeding up your Chromebook is to clear its cache. This can help reduce performance issues caused by damaged or outdated files.
Close unused tabs
One of the easiest things to do is close unused tabs and apps. This will free up memory, which will help your Chromebook run faster.
Update your Chromebook
One of the best ways to speed up your slow Chromebook is to update it. To achieve this, open Chrome and enter chrome://help in the address bar. This will open the Help Center, where you’ll find an area called “About Chrome OS.” Click on “Check for and apply updates” and follow the instructions.
Reinstall your apps
If some apps have stopped working or the Chromebook is loading too long, reinstalling the app may resolve the problem. Reinstalling an app isn’t difficult; all you need to do is go back to the Chrome Web Store and download it again. You’ll lose any data stored in that app (such as saved games) if you don’t register with a Google or other account.
Reset your Chromebook
To reset your Chromebook to factory settings, press Esc + Refresh + Power.
You’ll see a warning screen, similar to when you first turn on your Chromebook. Click on the button that says “Powerwash.”
The powerwash process will take about 10 minutes to complete. You’ll see a progress bar at the bottom of the screen. Once finished, your PC will reboot into its initial setup wizard again.
This time, Chrome OS will ask you to sign in with your Google account and set up your device from scratch (e.g., select a Wi-Fi network).
Run a Chrome Clean-up scan
The Chrome Clean-up scan will check for any software that might slow down your computer. If you have any apps on your Chromebook that aren’t from Google Play or the Chrome Web Store, they may cause problems with your computer’s performance.
Restart device
Every so often, Chrome OS just needs a clean slate, so try resetting your Chromebook: Press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + R (on a Mac, use Alt instead of Ctrl). You’ll see a confirmation dialog box asking if you’d like to shut down and reboot. Your files and settings won’t be deleted during this process; they’ll remain intact until after you log in again.
Disable extensions
One of the best ways to improve the speed of your Chromebook is to disable all the extensions that you don’t need or use anymore. The thing is that if you have too many extensions enabled, they might start slowing down your system because Chrome will have to process them all at once, and this can take up a lot of memory on your device.
Check your antivirus software and firewall
One of the first things to check is your antivirus software. If you have an antivirus installed, make sure that it’s up-to-date and running properly. If it’s not doing its job properly, then it could slow down your Chromebook.
Use fewer tabs and applications at once
Chrome OS handles multiple web pages at once without slowing down, but the more open apps and tabs you have, the more RAM they’ll require. If you have too many open apps or tabs, your Chromebook will feel sluggish. To resolve this issue, close some windows until only a few apps or tabs are left open.
Free up storage space on your Chromebook
You need to free up storage space to speed up your Chromebook and clear out old stuff. You can do this by going into settings and clicking “storage.” Then click on “manage offline files” and click the checkbox next to anything you want to delete. Once you’ve done that, click on “Uninstall” and reboot your computer when prompted.
This should free up some room on your hard drive, so you don’t have to keep deleting files repeatedly.
Conclusion
While its hardware isn’t comparable to Windows or Mac computers, it’s very capable in other regards. Many of the Chromebook’s limitations come from software, so its performance can be greatly improved with an update.
