Chrome OS Flex is a NIGHTMARE

📖RESOURCES AND MENTIONS

👏SUPPORT TECHHUT

🏆FOLOW TECHHUT

📷MY GEAR (PAID LINKS)

✍️CREDITS
Produced by Brandon Hopkins
Co-Written by PizzaLovingNerd

🕑TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Introduction
00:23 - Linode Sponsor
01:16 - What is Chrome OS Flex?
02:19 - Installation
03:01- Laptops
07:05 - Desktop
08:13 - Screencast Test
10:00 - Linux Applications
10:43 - Gaming
12:04 - Overall

[caneprints]

I would say that e-waste is the real nightmare here and that Flex, with its limitations and drawbacks, is at least a potential solution. For the sake of the planet, we need to change the mindset that says we should just throw away perfectly good hardware because it no longer gets updates. I realize that Flex is only a drop in the bucket, but anything that keeps older hardware out of landfills gets my vote.

[henriquemiguel]

I installed ChromeOS Flex on my old Acer Aspire V5 122p with AMD A6 1, 00ghz and 6GB of ram with 128gb ssd and it runs perfectly, I can do everything I need to do and the system is simply perfect. They just need to add the playstore

[cohnetri]

It just woks for our office and university users. Running on old MacBook Airs and old HP Laptops. For those of you expert Linux, stick to Linux on your old hardware. I personally don’t care about any OS, I use Windows, Linux, MacOS, and Chrome OS. They are just tools. Use the one that best meets your needs.

[jtstacey]

I feel like this video didn't really go over Chrome OS Flex. It seems to be more about Chrome OS having issues installing Linux and running programs that are extremely resource heavy that would have a hard time running anyway.

[OeHomestead]

Installed Flex on my HP laptop from 2016 without any issues. It works like a charm and it's far more intuitive and user friendly than most Linux distributions I've tried.

[MrJasonLG]

I put Flex on my daughter's $150 mini desktop and it works just as good as Xubuntu 22.04 maybe even a little better. YouTube video playback is certainly better, and basically that's the most demanding thing she does with it anyway. I think if you keep your expectations reasonable it's a decent OS. The main selling point for me is that I don't have to really do anything as far as maintenance.

[butlerwm]

I confess. Until COVID hit, I was an "anti-Chromebook" person. Then I saw how many schools bought them in droves, how easy it was for kids of any age to figure out how to use them, and how long batteries last with them. I won't say that made be a believer but it pushed me to pick up a $35 Lenovo Chromebook ($59 after shipping and tax). I only has a low-end Celeron, 4GB RAM, and a 16GB SSD. I was shocked at how "fast" the OS ran and how easy it was to bring up web pages and apps. I won't say I'm a Chromebook loyalist but I see the benefits it offers. I learned of FLEX a few weeks ago and pulled it down from their site. I have a 15 year old, Toshiba laptop with 4GB of RAM and a small 230GB HDD. I took the FLEX install in less than 15 minutes and was fully as functional as the Lenovo but with more drive space and actually "snappier" in its feel. The model is a Satellite M305-S4907. It was designed for Windows Vista and was slow at best, even when new. FLEX makes it very useable and it is now back in my pool of normal computers (I have several laptops and 2 desktops). All-in-all, I say they've got a good idea. For word processing, spreadsheets, and anything that's web-based (including streaming video), it's well worth the time and effort to install.

[Pyro-Moloch]

When used as intended (on chromebooks and mainly for web-browsing), Chrome OS is actually a pretty great system.

[CesarPeron]

Chrome OS has the most polish and smooth web fonts out of the box that I have ever seen an any Linux distro over there, hands down!

[theduck]

ChromeOS Flex is a Linux. And if I'm not mistaken, the world's first Linux for PCs developed and supported with security updates by a well-known software mega-company...

[theduck]

I installed stable version for my 72 years old dad on a old cheap 2016 HP notebook. He just do browsing and print, scan and copie fotos from his iphone to usb-stick and all of this just works great.

[seadx]

I wish flex was in the pi, it could have been the flagship platform

[andrewpalm]

I'm a long-time Linux user (Debian and Fedora with Xfce after my distro hopping stopped). A few months ago I decided to install ChromeOS Flex on a Lenovo Thinkpad T420s. I've enjoyed using it to browse the web and play simple web-based games while relaxing in the evening. Initially the Linux Development Environment would not load, but after changing some BIOS settings it worked just fine. However, I've only used terminal applications like Htop, Midnight Commander, Neovim, Newsboat, Lynx, and Music on Console. So for my use case (Grandpa Coder) Chrome OS Flex is fine, but I would not ask it to replace my Linux machines. Cheers from Wisconsin!

[TechHut]

The only actual use case I can think for this are those crappy $100 Windows laptops. The ones where you should have picked up a Chomebook anyways. With that I do look forward to them increasing hardware compatibility and fine tuning all the features. Could be a great option in the future, but now it's a MAJOR hit or miss.

[burning_KFC]

As always writing a comment to support the channel

[harrytsang]

I forcefully installed chrome os on one of my laptops a few years ago and the app selection of android + Linux is actually really great. I even installed Firefox on it

[niloot.]

i was considering this as an option for a really old laptop. but so far it looks like linux mint is a more realistic choice.

[chardo]

ChromeOS is working great in my Lenovo Flex 5 laptop. Thanks to Google no more trying inconsistent Linux distros.

[MiMayonGo]

It could have been great if this Operating System is compatible with the Raspberry Pi. I seen some videos that Modified Chrome OS on raspberry pi were slick as an ubuntu mate like speed.

[partha]

Maybe a nightmare for you but not for everyone else, i did a fresh install on my uncle's 10 year old laptop and he has been enjoying it.