- ChromeOS Flex is now available for purchase as a kit
- The $3 kit provides a USB stick and full instructions for easy OS installation
- Flex is intended to breathe new life into older hardware, especially Windows 10 PCs, which are quickly running out of road for extended support.
ChromeOS Flex is a lightweight OS designed to be easily installed on older PCs – such as Windows 10 laptops – to provide a way to keep what could be outdated hardware components usable, and now it’s even easier to install.
That’s because, as previously promised, Google, in partnership with Back Market (a rebranding outfit), now has a ChromeOS Flex kit available for purchase.
It costs $3 (or £3 in the UK, €3 in Europe) and for that money, you get a USB stick containing the operating system and instructions on how to install it.
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The Flex version of Google’s OS is almost identical to the regular ChromeOS, although it has some features cut, and with its highly structured nature (focused on the cloud), it is designed to work well on older hardware.
Emphasizing the eco-friendly features here, Google tells us: “The production process of a new laptop is responsible for a large part of its carbon footprint. ChromeOS Flex allows the already built device to be used for a long time, which keeps the hardware out of the landfill and avoids the production of a new device. The savings don’t end there, ChromeOS also uses 19% less energy systems.
Watch it open
As the blog post announcing the arrival of the $3 kit makes clear, this is aimed at Windows 10 PCs, which will lose extended support (updates) for consumers this October, in six months. (Official support ended last October.)
It will also convert other devices, including other Macs, to ChromeOS Flex, and there’s a full list of compatible devices here (including caveats, like the webcam may not work with Google’s OS).
Analysis: Flex to win
It’s a good idea to produce an easy-to-use dead kit to try and hire multiple PCs into the ChromeOS Flex fold. As Back Market puts it, this is about “providing a cure” for the Windows 10 blues, and “side effects may include curiosity”.
All you need to do is turn off your laptop, put the USB stick in a free port, start the machine, and from the boot menu, install ChromeOS Flex from the USB key. As mentioned, full instructions are provided, and the kit is surprisingly cheap at just a few bucks. The idea is that you can pass it on to others when you’re done, and since this is still a test program at the moment, there is a limited number of these resources. More will be done if they are popular, however.
However, you don’t have to buy a kit, as you can make your own USB stick and install ChromeOS Flex by following our full guide here. The kit makes everything very novice-friendly, though, which is an idea, of course.
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