Google Chrome OS Flex can breathe new life into your old PC or Mac

Got an old PC or Mac sitting unused somewhere cause it can't keep up with the latest programs and games? As we covered earlier, why not turn it into a Chromebook and let the kids use it for school, or as an emergency work tool.

Making the announcement in a blog post, Google said that ChromeOS Flex, their cloud-first, operating system for PCs and Macs was now ready for deployment.

Along with the blog post, Google also released a list of some 400 PC and Mac models that are certified to work with ChromeOS Flex. In the post, Thomas Riedl, director of Product, Enterprise and Education at Google, said that the company resolved "over 600 issues".

Some of the PC brands supported include Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, LG, and Microsoft. As for Mac support, the list includes Mac models from as far back as 2012.

Chrome OS Flex comes following Google's 2020 acquisition of Neverware and their CloudReady application that allowed users to convert and reuse old PCs as ChromeOS systems.

Being able to reuse old hardware will no doubt appeal to businesses as they will have old PCs and notebooks lying around unused. And right now, installation is as easy as using a USB thumbdrive to install Chrome OS Flex.

Riedl also shared the tale of Nordic Choice Hotels who turned to ChromeOS Flex to replace the OS on compromised devices and get them back online following a ransomware attack.

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With a one-page guide and a USB drive, employees across 200 Nordic Choice hotels in Scandinavia were able to convert 2,000 computers in under 48 hours, protecting their business from a costly shutdown.

Google is working on more certifications every day Riedle said. But he added that ChromeOS Flex could still be installed on un-certified systems albeit with some minor issues, instability, or boot problems.

This article was first published in HardwareZone.