I'm considering replacing ChromeOS on my mom's Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Chromebook with Linux. 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, checks 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 problems, so I would need the system to work reliably after I set it up. I was considering Debian, Ubuntu, or another ARM-compatible distribution with XFCE or LXQt, but I'm particularly concerned about Chromebook firmware restrictions and support for Wi-Fi, audio, graphics acceleration, video decoding, suspend, the touchpad, external displays, webcam, battery life, updates, and general stability. Is installing Linux on this ARM Chromebook realistic, or would it be better to keep ChromeOS or replace the hardware?
4 Answers
I’d keep ChromeOS unless there’s a specific problem with it, such as the device no longer receiving security updates. For your mom’s use case, ChromeOS already handles browsing, streaming, email, documents, and video calls with very little maintenance. Replacing it would likely turn you into permanent tech support, especially if something breaks after an update.
This particular ARM Chromebook is a difficult Linux target. Unlike many Intel or AMD models, ARM Chromebooks often have locked-down firmware and limited community support, so you may not be able to boot or install a normal desktop distribution at all. Even if you get one running, hardware support for things like accelerated graphics, video decoding, audio, sleep, webcams, and battery management may be incomplete. Generic advice to install Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, or Armbian doesn’t mean those systems support this Chromebook properly.
If the goal is to escape an outdated or unsupported ChromeOS installation, buying a used x86 laptop with well-supported hardware would be much safer. You could install a stable Linux distribution with XFCE or another familiar desktop, test the printer, webcam, Wi-Fi, audio, and suspend beforehand, and then hand it over once everything works. That is a much better platform for a non-technical user than forcing Linux onto an ARM Chromebook.
I’d only attempt this as an experiment, not as your mom’s main computer. If ChromeOS is still supported and she’s comfortable using it, there’s little practical benefit to changing systems. If the Chromebook is reaching end of support, replacing it with another supported Chromebook may be the least disruptive option; a used Windows-compatible laptop running Linux is another possibility if you specifically want Linux.
Mint also doesn’t provide a normal ARM edition, and the usual Chromebook Linux installation methods tend to focus on Intel or AMD hardware. I’d verify device-specific support before changing anything.