- ChromeOS Flex is now available for purchase as a kit
- The $3 kit provides a USB drive and complete instructions to easily install the operating system.
- Flex is intended to breathe new life into old hardware, especially Windows 10 PCs, which will soon no longer be able to benefit from extensive support.
ChromeOS Flex is a lightweight operating system designed to be easily installed on older PCs, like Windows 10 laptops, to help keep what would otherwise become obsolete hardware usable, and it’s now even easier to install.
Indeed, as previously promised, Google, in collaboration with Back Market (a company specializing in refurbished technologies), now offers a ChromeOS Flex kit for purchase.
It costs $3 (or £3 in the UK, €3 in Europe) and for that outlay you get a USB stick containing the operating system and guides on how to install it.
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The Flex version of Google’s operating system is pretty much the same as standard ChromeOS, although some features are removed, and with its highly streamlined (cloud-focused) nature, it’s designed to run smoothly on older hardware.
Highlighting the ecological aspects here, Google tells us: “The manufacturing process of a new laptop is responsible for a large part of its carbon footprint. ChromeOS Flex allows the already manufactured device to be used for longer, keeping hardware out of landfills and avoiding emissions from manufacturing a new device. The savings don’t stop there, ChromeOS also consumes 19% less power on average than other comparable systems.
Look on it
As the blog post announcing the arrival of the $3 kit makes clear, this one is aimed at Windows 10 PCs, which will lose extended support (updates) for consumers in October, six months from now. (Official support actually ceased last October.)
It will also convert other machines, including some Macs, to ChromeOS Flex, and you’ll find a full list of compatible devices here (including caveats, such as whether a webcam may not work with Google’s operating system).
Analysis: Flex for victory
It’s a great idea to produce an easy-to-use kit in order to try and recruit more PCs into the ChromeOS Flex fold. As Back Market puts it, it’s “administering the cure” to the Windows 10 blues, and the “side effects may include curiosity.”
You just need to turn off your laptop, put the USB drive in a free port, start the machine and from the boot menu, install ChromeOS Flex from the USB drive. As mentioned, full instructions are provided and the kit is remarkably inexpensive, at just a few dollars. The idea is that you can pass it on to others once you’re done, and because this is still a pilot program at the moment, the number of these kits is limited. However, more will be achieved if they are popular.
However, you don’t have to buy a kit, as you can create your own USB drive and install ChromeOS Flex by following our complete guide here. The kit makes everything very novice friendly, which is of course the idea.
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