andrewteg
You can disable the update client but you need to remember to enable it again, which users sometimes forget to do and end up significantly behind on important updates.
If you're using the Stable channel, you're already receiving the production releases after they've going internal testing and then the public Alpha and Beta channels. You only get the updates right after they're announced if you choose to use the Alpha channel for both the OS and apps in the app repository (Apps). There aren't separate Alpha and Beta releases but rather each production release goes through those before reaching Stable.