A new inclusion in the latest version of Chrome OS makes it relatively easy to find your Chromebook's end of life date. In other words, how long until your machine stops getting software and security updates. 

This is a new development, and an important one, because - previously - it wasn't very easy at all to find out how long a Chromebook or Chrome-based computer was going to be supported by Google's auto updating feature. 

The company itself offers up to 6.5 years on each new device sold, but then accessing the exact date any particular Chromebook is supported until means finding a centralised list which isn't exactly user friendly. Especially given the number of products on the list. 

What's more, it's worth noting that this 6.5 year support life cycle starts from the day the product in question was first released, not when you bought it. So if you bought a two year old model brand new from a retailer, that means only 4.5 years of support is remaining. 

The new discovery was first posted by the folks at XDA Developers and shows the new information within the 'About Chrome OS' settings menu. It says simply: "This device will get automatic software and security updates until [Month] [Year]". 

If you have the latest update running on your Chrome OS machine, you should find that this information is already there, and you no longer need to go the long round about way to find how long your machine has left until it stops getting updates.