With Flex, Google Aims to Bring Chrome OS to Old Windows PCs, Macs

Google has designed a new version of Chrome OS that can be installed on old Windows PCs and Mac systems for free, giving them new life as Google-powered devices. 

Chrome OS Flex will one day become a “free-to-download” operating system from Google. Interested users will be able to download it to a USB drive, which can then be used to install Chrome OS Flex on the desired machine. 

“Rather than disposing of aging PCs and Macs, refresh them with a modern and fast operating system to reduce e-waste,” Google says. Chrome OS Flex will only require 4GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and an Intel or AMD x86 processor.

Google built Chrome OS Flex after acquiring Neverware in 2020. The company’s free CloudReady installer can make it easy to transform an old Windows PC into a Chrome device.  “Since then, we have been hard at work integrating the benefits of CloudReady into a new version of Chrome OS,” Google says. 

The resulting Chrome OS Flex arrives first as a beta via an early access program, so expect some bugs if you try to run it. The company has created a full installation guide. The software itself features the same code base and release cadence as the current Chrome OS, so the experience should be the same. 

For now, Google is marketing Chrome OS Flex for businesses and schools. Both groups tend to have large fleets of PCs, which can age over time, making the machines slow, irrelevant, and even insecure if the Windows OS onboard is no longer supported. 

In contrast, Google says Chrome OS Flex can make the machines both useful and secure again. “Chrome OS Flex boots up in seconds and doesn’t slow down over time. And with system updates that happen in the background, there’s less downtime for users,” the company adds. The IT staff at a company or school can also install the OS to machines through a USB drive or network in minutes. 

“A stable version of Chrome OS Flex will be available in the coming months, and at that time, CloudReady customers will be upgraded to Chrome OS Flex for free,” Google adds. In the meantime, the company has published a list of compatible devices for the OS.