Your Chromebook now doubles as a smart display

Your Chromebook now doubles as a smart display

chrome os 88 chromebook smart display

Credit: Google
  • Google has released Chrome OS 88 with a screen saver that turns Chromebooks into smart displays.
  • You can get personalized weather, music controls, and your choice of art.
  • The update also lets you sign into websites with your fingerprint or PIN code.

You might not need to buy a device like the Nest Hub Max to put a smart display in your home — at least, not if you have a Chromebook. Google has released a Chrome OS 88 update that turns your Chromebook lock screen into a smart display — with some limitations.

Enable a screen saver (under Personalization) and your Chromebook lock screen can show customized weather, music controls, and other information. Like typical smart displays, you can also set the background to display a personal photo album (from Google Photos). If you’d rather not show your own photos, you can pick from “hundreds” of art gallery images.