Speed up laptops for $3: Google's USB dongle now available
After the Google ChromeOS Flex USB dongle was announced at the beginning of March, it is now available. The dongle can be ordered from Back Market for just $3. The somewhat grandiose marketing from Google and Back Market claims that this USB dongle can breathe new life into outdated laptops. The dongle is initially limited to 3,000 units and is only available while stocks last.
Technically speaking, it is a 16 GB USB stick on which ChromeOS Flex is installed. If the USB stick is inserted into a laptop, ChromeOS Flex can either be installed directly on the laptop or booted from the USB stick so that no data is lost on the laptop. The installation should take less than five minutes.
Afterwards, an old laptop should feel much faster again, as ChromeOS Flex requires far fewer resources than Windows or macOS. Google states, for example, that it takes less than six seconds to boot up a laptop with ChromeOS Flex. Updates are installed automatically in the background so that users should never notice them.
The disadvantage: ChromeOS Flex relies largely on cloud services. If no internet is available, only a few functions can be used, such as Google Docs, a file browser and the Gmail app. A support website lists laptops that are officially supported by ChromeOS Flex, including some older MacBook Air ($1,049 on Amazon), Asus Vivobook, Dell Inspiron and LG Gram.
Add as a preferred source on Google
