Turn Your Laptop into a Chromebook with Chrome OS Flex!

[@tedzards509]

Obligatory "Why not install a real Linux distribution at that point"

[@jrgenbull5334]

Look at the rest of his channel. He is a big google shill!

[@itGenius_]

Fair point but yes, the whole channel is focussed around implementing Google's ecosystem for small business and we're strongly for Chrome over other Linux variants for our audience

[@faviogc31]

@@jrgenbull5334 usually, regular, non-tech-savvy people will find it easier going from a Mac or Windows environment to a ChromeOS system than jumping hoops through a GNU/Linux system, no one will like to go and set up things in Terminal, even though is a GREAT and powerful tool, they just want to turn on the machine and go-ahead to do their everyday job, Torvalds himself once said if Linux gets to the average desktop will be through ChromeOS, if you don't believe me go ahead a search it.

[@dlewis9760]

@@jrgenbull5334 That's pretty harsh. A shill usually means making money pushing something and not being up front about it. I've got some 9-10 year BeeLinks laying around. One is really small and really slow. The other is a bit bigger and a bit faster. The smaller of the 2 at the time, people had no luck getting Linux on it. So, the Windows 10 it came with is still there. I plan on trying Linux again and/or this. I know how I use my PCs. I know for the most part I am not a power user. Are you saying if Linux still doesn't install, I should ignore this gentleman because you think he's a shill? Both PC's primary functions were to work remote. Which they did just fine. Work was only pumping out a 1080 screen and these could keep up. They updated everything at work to virtual PCs and 4K was possible. I used Visual Studio at work and hooked up computers at home to a TV monitor. I wasn't gaming so I didn't care about the monitor. I sat 3 feet away from the screen. These 2 PCs could not keep up with mouse and movements on the screen. So, I upgraded to laptops that could and these were retired. I'm now retired. It would be nice if I could get at least one of them upgraded. They can do the resolution, but not do it well with Windows 10. Maybe with nothing. Won't know unless I try.

[@faviogc31]

I used to run Cloudready on an old x86 32-bit laptop, it gave new life to a dying Win7 computer, once Google acquired Neverware I began using CrOS Flex in a 2-in-1 Asus Win10 64-bit device, turned it into a Chromebook, backup everything into G-Drive, set up my personal account, and all back to normal, ready to be used, even my old wallpaper was there, I turned my folks and a few friend's computers into Chromebooks too, my daughter already needed one for grammar school so gave her one too, and everyone is using their machines with almost no hiccups, at least the regular issues they had with Windows (crashes, long updates, virus, malware, bloatware, etc), I am happy with the decision taken, not looking back to the previous OS.

[@itGenius_]

Love this!

[@PipmasterD]

Ok I am very surpised on how good Google Chrome OS flex works on an old Latitude e644- laptop Core 2 duo with only 2 gigs of ram. My aunt gave me this old laptop and really all it needed was a ram upgrade for windows 10 to work correctly however I did not want to spend the money on ram for this as it was to expensive. I heard about Google Chrome Flex and installed it and this runs flawlessly even on 2 gigs ram, Google chrome will play KZbin flawless and the whole OS is snappy and fluent, I cannot believe it even on 2 gigs of ram. I highly recommend for people instead of throwing out an old PC put Google Chrome flex on it, you wont be disappointed.

[@itGenius_]

Yeah absolutely, it runs on pretty much anything

Eu uso o ChromeOS flex é gosto muito.

[@Igorrodziewicz]

The biggest drawback of Chrome OS Flex is the lack of access to the Google Play Store. We have access to this service on Chromebooks - it makes it easier to both work and play with this system and... and the lack of the Google Play Store on Chrome OS Flex is what a person would be without one arm... or without a leg. If you know what I mean.

[@itGenius_]

yeah, it's definitely a drawback though personally I find myself using it very little for business use (Play Store). Really only for personal stuff

[@hairuddinudin5998]

I have a ACER laptop 4gb ram and 512 gb harddisk, i've been using it for 7 years and now its starting to slow down, is it ok to run this google os as replacement for windows?

[@itGenius_]

Yeah I think it would run perfect on that, try booting without installing 1st to see it’s performance

[@theadoresmith2777]

I used Flex for a few months ... quite nice when hooked up to a bigger monitor but I found Flex to be a bit nobbled. Without being able to use an external dvd drive and well, no dvd drivers for Chrome Flex, it just couldn't be a daily driver. So back to windows or linux. Flex mind isn't bad and with inbuilt Office Tools, email and so on, its quite good for that sort of thing. Just need a dvd every now and then.

[@itGenius_]

I’m curious what you use the DVD drive for?

[@richardcutts196]

Could you install on an old chromebook? Say from 2015 with 4 gigs ram and 32 gigs storage and bring it back? There are a lot of them out there and they're reasonably cheap.

[@itGenius_]

Good question! I've never checked...

[@dand337]

CPU's do not get slower over time. I mean in server market the performance may decrease by like 5% after 10 years, but in home computing with proper maintenance it's not happening.

[@itGenius_]

correct, though there's other environmental factors like heatsinks getting clogged and sometimes heat-transfer paste will deteriorate etc.

[@animationmann6612]

If a Person goes these Steps i think they gonna be fine with a Linux Distro.

[@itGenius_]

yep, viable option though most of our audience are using Google Workspace so we keep it Google around here :)

[@faviogc31]

@animationmann6612 unlikely, ChromeOS installation is simpler and easier than any regular GNU/Linux distro, I know, been using almost every distro install going from just Term to the new GUI installation of nowadays.