Google’s free tool will breathe new life into your old laptop

Instead of sending it to the landfill, you can convert it into a Chromebook.

Google is making its cloud-based ChromeOS Flex widely available, giving anyone the ability to breathe new life into their old laptop.

The challenge: Depending on the model, a laptop can typically operate without any problems for about 3 to 6 years. If you take really good care of it, it might last until the manufacturer stops supporting the operating system (OS) installed on it.

Eventually, you’ll probably start to notice your old laptop slowing down, though, and will decide it’s time to buy a new one.

At that point, you might recycle the laptop or stash it in a drawer and forget about it. Many people just throw their outdated devices away, though — they then join the 59 million tons of electronic waste (e-waste) we burn or send to landfills every year.

Google’s ChromeOS Flex is certified to work on nearly 300 devices.

To the cloud: In 2015, New York City startup Neverware launched Cloudready, a product designed to help people get more life out of an old laptop by replacing its existing OS with one based on Google’s open-source Chromium O​​S. 

Because Cloudready runs entirely on the web — like Chromium — it puts far less strain on a computer’s hardware than an OS that does its processing in the machine. As a result, it can make a previously slow Mac or PC run more like a new Chromebook.

ChromeOS Flex: Google acquired Neverware in 2020, and in February 2022, it announced an early access program for its own free version of Cloudready: ChromeOS Flex. 

Google used the early access program to identify and fix bugs in the OS. It has now certified the system for nearly 300 devices and is making it available to everyone — all you have to do is download the OS to a USB drive, and then install it on your old laptop.

The bottom line: If you’ve never used a Chromebook before, it’s essentially the Chrome browser on a laptop with a few extra functions — you can’t run things like Adobe Photoshop or PC games.

If your old laptop is already too slow for those applications, though, ChromeOS Flex could be a great way to still get some use out of the hardware — and keep it out of a landfill as long as possible.

We’d love to hear from you! If you have a comment about this article or if you have a tip for a future Freethink story, please email us at [email protected].

Related
What Arizona and other drought-ridden states can learn from Israel’s pioneering water strategy
Israel’s approach to desalination offers insights that Arizona would do well to consider for managing droughts.
MIT students develop energy “mini-grid” software for remote & mountainous areas
MIT Energy Initiative spinoff Waya Energy helps countries work toward universal, cheap access to electricity.
Is this plant the protein food of the future?
Over the past 50 years or so, lupins have become more common as food for farm animals, and are also increasingly eaten by humans
Ultra slippery toilet bowl stays clean forever
A new slippery toilet bowl developed in China could help conserve water and keep commodes effortlessly clean.
By 2040, 60% of “meat” won’t come from dead animals
“Novel vegan meat alternatives” and cultured meat will likely become competitors to traditional meat products, the report says.
Up Next
ev charging network
Subscribe to Freethink for more great stories