Having previously converted an old Windows laptop to Linux, I’m now going to turn my hand to another OS. Again, I’m using a spare laptop, this time one that’s about 10 years old and is creaking under the weight of trying to run Windows 10. And so, I’m going to have a go at turning it into a Chromebook. Neverware, the people who have made this experiment possible, have a checker where you can see if your laptop is supported (click here) Happily, my laptop has made the cut so on to the next stage.
What you’ll need
- A compatible laptop (obviously). Before you start, check to see if it’s a 32 or 64-bit machine.
- USB memory stick with a capacity of at least 8GB.
- A copy of CloudReady USB Maker. The Home version is free.
- An internet connection and your Wi-Fi password.
We’re good to go
- Insert the empty USB stick into any computer or laptop. (This stage of the process moves along more quickly when you use a faster computer)
- Run the CloudReady USB Maker program and select which type of operating system you want.
- Wait while the installer automatically downloads, extracts, and creates the CloudReady USB Installer. This can take a while.
- When it’s done, insert the USB drive into the “guinea pig” computer.
- Reboot the computer, making sure that when it comes back up it shall be booting from the USB drive. This is usually done by pressing F9 or F12, depending on the computer manufacturer.
- CloudReady’s version of Chrome OS will soon load up. It’ll ask you for your WiFi password and Google ID. The latter isn’t compulsory – you can look around without one At this point, you haven’t installed anything so if you think Chrome OS is the spawn of Satan you can still back out
- If on the other hand, you’d like to install Chrome OS, click on the clock/wi-fi symbol in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
First impressions
- Chrome OS definitely made this old laptop run more smoothly. Web pages loaded up more quickly and everything was nice and nippy.
- Chrome OS isn’t for everybody but if you just want a computer for internet and and watching videos, it’s perfect.
- It’s a good way to give an old laptop a new lease of life
- Now that Chromebooks can access Google’s Play Store, the array of apps and games which can be run on it have increased.
Here is a slideshow of the process, should you still be interested…
Bogwarrior.com 