'Side effects may include curiosity': Google's $3 Chrome OS Flex kit aims to save your old Windows 10 laptop from the scrapheap | Tech Radar
Overview
News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest smartphones
News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets
Details
Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more
Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards.
'Side effects may include curiosity': Google's $3 Chrome OS Flex kit aims to save your old Windows 10 laptop from the scrapheap
An even easier way to give a new lease of life to old PCs
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Unlock instant access to exclusive member features.
Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.
The $3 kit provides a USB stick and full instructions to install the OS easily
Flex is meant to breathe new life into old hardware, specifically Windows 10 PCs, which soon run out of road for extended support
Chrome OS Flex is a lightweight OS designed to be easily installed on older PCs — like Windows 10 laptops — to provide a way to keep what would otherwise become obsolete hardware usable, and it's now even easier to install.
That's because, as was previously promised, Google, in conjunction with Back Market (an outfit that specializes in refurbished tech), now has a Chrome OS Flex kit available to buy.
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.
Google's Aluminium-merged OS brings familiar vibes - but I have a lot of lingering questions
Steve Jobs derided netbooks, and now Apple’s made one in the Mac Book Neo
This budget laptop deal is absurd: You're basically buying Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft Office for $279, and getting a 32GB RAM 15.6-inch machine for free
The Flex version of Google's OS is pretty much the same as standard Chrome OS, albeit with some features cut, and with its highly streamlined (cloud-focused) nature, it's designed to run nicely on older hardware.
Emphasizing the eco-friendly aspects here, Google tells us: "The manufacturing process of a new laptop is responsible for a large part of its carbon footprint. Chrome OS Flex allows the already-manufactured device to be used for longer, which keeps hardware out of landfills and avoids the emissions of making a new device. Savings do not stop there, Chrome OS also consumes 19% less energy on average than other comparable systems."
As the blog post announcing the arrival of the $3 kit makes clear, this is targeted at Windows 10 PCs, which will lose extended support (updates) for consumers this October, in six months. (Official support actually ceased last October.)
It will also convert other machines, including some Macs, to Chrome OS Flex, and there's a full list of compatible devices here (including caveats, such as if a webcam might not work with Google's OS).
It's a great idea to produce a dead easy-to-use kit in order to try and recruit more PCs to the Chrome OS Flex fold. As Back Market puts it, this is about "administering the cure" for the Windows 10 blues, and the "side effects may include curiosity".
All you need to do is turn off your laptop, put the USB stick in a free port, boot the machine, and from the boot menu, install Chrome OS Flex from the USB key. As mentioned, the full instructions are provided, and the kit is commendably cheap at just a few bucks. The idea is that you can pass it on to others once you're done, and as this is still a pilot program for now, there's a limited number of these kits. More will be made if they're popular, though.
However, you don't have to buy a kit, as you can make your own USB stick and install Chrome OS Flex by following our full guide here. The kit does make everything very novice-friendly, though, which is the idea, of course.
➡️ Read our full guide to the best laptops
- Best overall: Apple Mac Book Air 13-inch M4
- Best budget: Asus Chromebook CM14
- Best Windows 11 laptop Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch
- Best gaming: Razer Blade 16
- Best for pros Mac Book Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro)
Follow Tech Radar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course, you can also follow Tech Radar on You Tube and Tik Tok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on Whats App too.
Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for Tech Radar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
1I ran my first marathon with the Garmin Forerunner 265s — it's 25% off right now, and I'd recommend it to almost every runner
2I'm a homes expert — here are my top buys from Walmart's big Patio & Garden Event
3'We will have an official ceremony to mark the ending of an era. I love those cars' — Elon Musk mourns the officially retired Tesla Model S and Model X
4I found the best Geekom mini PC deals in the Easter sale — save big on some of our highest rated and reviewed mini PCs if you're quick
5 Dell just made its thinnest Pro Premium executive laptop yet — a magnesium alloy featherweight that finally makes carrying a workstation feel effortless
Tech Radar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.
Key Takeaways
- News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest smartphones
- News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets
- Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more
- Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards
-
'Side effects may include curiosity': Google's $3 Chrome OS Flex kit aims to save your old Windows 10 laptop from the scrapheap
