I'm considering replacing ChromeOS on my mom's Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Chromebook. It has a 14-inch Full HD display, MediaTek Kompanio 520 processor, 4 GB of RAM, 128 GB SSD, ARM Mali-G52 graphics, and a German QWERTZ keyboard. She mainly browses the web, watches YouTube and streaming services, uses email, shops online, views photos, makes video calls, reads news, writes simple documents, and prints or scans occasionally. She isn't comfortable troubleshooting drivers, using a terminal, or fixing broken updates, so I would need to set everything up and have it remain reliable afterward. Since this is an ARM Chromebook rather than a standard x86 laptop, I'm concerned about firmware restrictions and support for Wi-Fi, audio, graphics acceleration, video decoding, sleep, the touchpad, external displays, webcam, battery life, updates, and general stability. Would installing another operating system be practical, or would it be better to keep ChromeOS?
2 Answers
For this use case, I’d keep ChromeOS unless there’s a specific problem that makes it unusable, such as the device no longer receiving security updates. It already handles browsing, streaming, email, documents, printing, and video calls with the least maintenance. Replacing it would likely turn you into permanent tech support, especially on an ARM Chromebook where firmware and hardware support can be difficult.
Debian or Ubuntu ARM64 with XFCE or LXQt might sound suitable on paper, but the main obstacle isn’t the desktop environment. The Kompanio 520 Chromebook may have locked or limited firmware, and ARM Chromebook support varies heavily by model. Wi-Fi, audio, suspend, webcam, hardware video decoding, external displays, and battery behavior may require special patches or may not work reliably at all. Linux Mint also isn’t a realistic choice here because it does not provide a normal ARM edition, and generic ARM distributions don’t automatically solve Chromebook firmware limitations.
I’d only attempt it as an experiment after confirming that this exact Chromebook model has a documented installation method and working hardware support. I wouldn’t make it someone’s only everyday computer unless you’re prepared to maintain it.
If the Chromebook is out of support, replacing it with another supported Chromebook—or a regular x86 laptop with well-supported Linux—would probably be safer than forcing Linux onto this particular ARM model.