ChromeOS 141 rolls out with a new battery health feature, but a few key devices are still waiting for it

ChromeOS 141 is rolling out now and we might have a new way to collect release notes along with it. I don’t know how long Google’s been pushing update notes to the Chrome Enterprise and Education site, but I really like how they are laying these out now. It’s simple and easy to see what’s new in a list sort of form, though unfortunately that list is quite short this time around.

So, while it isn’t a massive, feature-packed release for the average user, ChromeOS 141 does deliver a few important new additions, including one fantastic battery management tool that everyone should know about.

A great new tool to preserve your battery’s health

The most significant new user-facing feature in ChromeOS 141 is the ability to take direct control of your Chromebook’s charging behavior to help extend its long-term battery health. You can find these new options by navigating to Settings > Device > Power and clicking “Change” next to the “Optimized Charging” toggle. From there, you have two choices:

• Charge Limit: This option maximizes your battery’s lifespan by limiting the maximum charge to 80%.
• Adaptive Charging: This is the default setting. It intelligently delays charging to 100% until it’s needed, based on your daily usage patterns.

It’s important to note that if your device is managed by an administrator, their policy settings can override whatever you choose here. Still, for most personal users, this is a fantastic tool for preserving the health of your Chromebook’s battery.

New tools for IT admins and security

The rest of the updates in ChromeOS 141 are geared toward enterprise and education administrators, bringing more security and control to managed devices.

• Enhanced Data Recovery Transparency: To improve security, every data recovery attempt on a ChromeOS device is now logged into a tamper-evident ledger that can be reviewed by the user. This allows you to verify that all attempts to access local data were made by you, making it easy to detect any unauthorized access.
• Managed PPD files for printers: IT admins now have a third way to configure managed printers. In addition to driverless configuration and selecting a manufacturer/model, admins can now upload custom PPD files for their organizations’ printers.
• New Device Attributes API policies: Admins also get more granular control over the Device Attributes API, with two new policies that can restrict access to device information for policy-installed kiosk and web apps.

Kompanio Ultra devices are still waiting

With every update, there are usually a few devices that get left behind for a few days. This time around, there are two key devices that aren’t yet seeing the ChromeOS 141 update: the MediaTek Kompanio Ultra-powered Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 and the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514. Owners of those devices will have to remain patient for a bit longer.