Cr-48 Owners Won't Get Chrome 19, Stuck with Chrome 18 Instead

Not so long ago, Chromebook owners got their hands on the latest and greatest Chrome 19, as it debuted on Chrome OS after being available for desktop users for a while. But not all Chromebook owners got to join the party, the update didn't support Cr-48, the original Google Chromebook which was shipped out free of charge to a few lucky people.

Instead of Chrome 19, Cr-48 users on the dev channel will continue to get Chrome 18 for now, the same version that beta channel users get.

The latest update to the beta and dev channel has been rolled out now, with Chrome 18.0.1025.52, part of Chrome OS 1660.71.0.

As expected, since this is technically a beta release, though it's being pushed to dev users as well, there's not much to see, there's a new Flash Player, the Pepper version that's built into Chrome OS, and some crash fixes.

Given that the Cr-48 is more than a year old, that it was given out for free and that it's easily the worst performing Chromebook, it's not hard to jump to conclusions and think that Google is getting ready to pull the plug on this older model.

But that may not be so, at least, that's what Google says, the missing Chrome 19 is just a fluke, but things will go back to normal after that.

"We’ll be skipping the Chrome 19 update for CR-48 users due to platform considerations. To be clear, we’re still committed to supporting CR-48 devices. Samsung Series 5 and Acer AC700 Chromebooks will receive R19 and we’ll bring CR-48 devices back onto the release train after R19. In the meantime, CR-48s will continue to receive security and critical updates as necessary," Google told Chromebook owners.

One possible reason for missing out on Chrome 19 is the new Aura window manager, with full hardware acceleration, that Google is working on. But that technology is still not enabled by default.

We'll find out in six weeks' time when Chrome 20 is set to debut, whether Google will be dropping Cr-48 or not. One possibility is that it will roll out only beta and stable updates to cut down on some of the resource spending.