A SpyBrowser in a box. Unless it's for corporate environment, i would never go near it. When i look at it, it literally makes me want to vomit!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Google's ChromeOS Flex Now Available to Turn Old Macs into Chromebooks
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Pointless since Macs Released after 2010 run somewhat modern versions of OS X just fine.
Google has officially released ChromeOS Flex, a method of replacing the operating system on older PCs and Macs that essentially turns them into Chromebooks.
The idea is that if you have an aging Mac lying around that can't run macOS 12 Monterey, then you can install ChromeOS Flex on it using a bootable USB stick and then try out what Google's cloud-first operating system has to offer.
Google began testing ChromeOS Flex earlier this year with an early access preview. After having resolved 600 bugs since then, the company is encouraging individuals, schools, and businesses to download the software to "easily try modern computing with cloud-based management" while extending the lifespan of older devices, thereby reducing e-waste.
ChromeOS Flex is the result of Google's 2020 purchase of Neverware, a company that offered an app called CloudReady that allows users to convert old PCs into ChromeOS machines.
The operating system is certified to work on over 400 devices, including Macs released after 2010 with 16GB of free storage. Use of OS Flex is free for individuals, but schools and businesses using CloudReady will continue to be charged a fee and subscription rate, respectively.
Google says ChromeOS Flex has the same look and feel as the ChromeOS shipped with every Chromebook, as it's built on the same code base and includes Google Assistant, the Chrome browser, and Nearby Sharing. However, there's no Google Play Store, and Google has outlined some other, mainly system-level limitations of OS Flex that distinguish it from ChromeOS on native Google devices.
If you're not yet ready to install ChromeOS Flex on devices, you can temporarily run it using the USB installer. That way, you can test and verify that device functionality, such as networking and input tools, works as expected. For more help on the installation and configuration process, consult the ChromeOS Flex installation guide.
Article Link: Google's ChromeOS Flex Now Available to Turn Old Macs into Chromebooks
It’s the HD. Replace it with an ssd (even an external will do) and your iMac will fly. I have a 2008 iMac running osx (el capitan) using an external ssd and It opens most apps (including apps like photoshop) in 1 to 7 seconds at most.
You can run the latest version of chrome in 10.11. Last year i remember updating Firefox to the latest version on 10.11, haven’t really checked this year since I don’t like Firefox.
My wife is still using a 2010 MacBook Air that works fine. I can see no reason that we would want to convert it to Chrome.
No thanks. I don't need Google spyware watching everything I do.
Microsoft now has web based versions of Office apps, including Word. It works like Google Docs.
We misunderstood Apple’s definition of green. We think it’s for the environment, while Apple meant being green was them making more money.
How much was tha chromebook?
Do note that Google also set expiration dates on ChromeOS for some devices. Check their website. Some supported macs will be dropped from support as early as 2025. So YMMV.
This is ****ing amazing,
Google has officially released ChromeOS Flex, a method of replacing the operating system on older PCs and Macs that essentially turns them into Chromebooks.
The idea is that if you have an aging Mac lying around that can't run macOS 12 Monterey, then you can install ChromeOS Flex on it using a bootable USB stick and then try out what Google's cloud-first operating system has to offer.
Google began testing ChromeOS Flex earlier this year with an early access preview. After having resolved 600 bugs since then, the company is encouraging individuals, schools, and businesses to download the software to "easily try modern computing with cloud-based management" while extending the lifespan of older devices, thereby reducing e-waste.
ChromeOS Flex is the result of Google's 2020 purchase of Neverware, a company that offered an app called CloudReady that allows users to convert old PCs into ChromeOS machines.
The operating system is certified to work on over 400 devices, including Macs released after 2010 with 16GB of free storage. Use of OS Flex is free for individuals, but schools and businesses using CloudReady will continue to be charged a fee and subscription rate, respectively.
Google says ChromeOS Flex has the same look and feel as the ChromeOS shipped with every Chromebook, as it's built on the same code base and includes Google Assistant, the Chrome browser, and Nearby Sharing. However, there's no Google Play Store, and Google has outlined some other, mainly system-level limitations of OS Flex that distinguish it from ChromeOS on native Google devices.
If you're not yet ready to install ChromeOS Flex on devices, you can temporarily run it using the USB installer. That way, you can test and verify that device functionality, such as networking and input tools, works as expected. For more help on the installation and configuration process, consult the ChromeOS Flex installation guide.
Article Link: Google's ChromeOS Flex Now Available to Turn Old Macs into Chromebooks
Any idea how long Google is planning to maintain the codebase for this OS?
It could be the next big thing in Business - If they support it for 10-20 Years, It would completely take over the windows market share in the future, especially if maintained and executed correctly.
That was the original goal of ChromeOS, for Google to go against Microsoft in enterprise market, especially for basic devices and dumb terminals. But I don’t think it gets such extended support compared to Windows on enterprise, so uptake was not much. Then Google pivoted to the education market, where budget is ultra constrained.
I don't like that.
I swear someday I am going to get an Investor together to make a Distro thats supported for at least a quarter century, with 50 year and 100 year packages for big clients who are global. I mean, Life for us is short, But life in general, the life of software and of web content these days, can conflict with the disposable nature of Hardware sold cheaply these days. I think someone needs to step up and support everything, For dummy terminal purposes, if anything, for alot LONGER than is currently provided by anyone.
I feel like Hardware has gotten to the point where it should last someone 10-15 years at least, Longer if maintained and updated.
This will lead to...> Better software in general, and better compatibility across the various platforms.
My late 2013 booting from external NVMe is also flying on 12.4. Shame these machines came with such a useless drive internally.
I agree on hardware. I currently use a 2012 Mac mini, and with upgraded RAM and SSD, it is still capable, and it’s a 10 year old machine. Of course Apple doesn’t like that. Catalina is the last supported OS.
Old versions of MacOS don’t get security updates though. This is a good thing. Google is being more environmentally friendly than Apple in this situation
What's surprising is that Monterey actually runs quite well on the 2012s (I've installed it using OpenCore and it ran without a hitch). Apple's decision to cut support after Catalina was due to "Metal GPU support," but the Monterey GPU drivers run flawlessly on unsupported Macs from that era. It was basically an arbitrary decision.
I get it I suppose, Apple makes their money selling hardware rather than doing a bunch of shady telemetry like some of their competitors do. But I'd rather pay more for the machine than have hardware support arbitrarily cut short. The 2012s are getting a little old by now, but they're still more than good enough to run Monterey and they work fine for everyday use.
Sadly ChromeOS is the only Linux-based OS that will work reliably on so many laptops.
It's proven to be useful in classrooms. It's not versatile, but people have their use cases.
Last edited:
Don't think many will be doing this. Prefer macOS even if it is older. Anyway good to see this option for those who would like to try this out.
In some cases - just use some tweaks to make it run the newest MacOS.
Our first gen Retina iMac i9 - still runs great, why castrate it into a Chromebook.
Our first gen Retina iMac i9 - still runs great, why castrate it into a Chromebook.
Z80 assembly Tetris. Now that’s an interesting concept for this winter’s “I’m bored” project
I’d rather turn my old Mac into a plant pot than let it suffer this terrible indignity
This is a great option for cash strapped K-12 schools that are already in the gsuite world and may have a pile of unsupported Macs that would otherwise be disposed of/sold for scrap.
EDU IT admins need to have a stack of hardware to account for those abrupt shifts to remote instruction and can't wait for the supply chain to get it to them ASAP.
Schools at all levels have made the use of a laptop integral to the delivery of instruction and they are never going back to pre-COVID levels of hardware, so this demand is not going to ease up at some point. We are never going back to 100% in-person instruction without some sort of online collaboration/homework component.
The really great thing about a chromebook is that it is a disposable computer. It is the wet wipe of computers.
Macs shouldn't be disposable computers, but Apple decided to make them disposable when they chose to stop supporting patches on older ones without any real reason for doing so. People can hack newer versions of macOS onto older Macs, so it isn't like the machine can't run the new OS, but things like that are impossible to support, can't be reasonably scaled up and it would be a huge liability.
This problem only exists because of Apple's strong arm sales tactics that put old Macs squarely on course for disposal, but now they can have a second life!
EDU IT admins need to have a stack of hardware to account for those abrupt shifts to remote instruction and can't wait for the supply chain to get it to them ASAP.
Schools at all levels have made the use of a laptop integral to the delivery of instruction and they are never going back to pre-COVID levels of hardware, so this demand is not going to ease up at some point. We are never going back to 100% in-person instruction without some sort of online collaboration/homework component.
The really great thing about a chromebook is that it is a disposable computer. It is the wet wipe of computers.
Macs shouldn't be disposable computers, but Apple decided to make them disposable when they chose to stop supporting patches on older ones without any real reason for doing so. People can hack newer versions of macOS onto older Macs, so it isn't like the machine can't run the new OS, but things like that are impossible to support, can't be reasonably scaled up and it would be a huge liability.
This problem only exists because of Apple's strong arm sales tactics that put old Macs squarely on course for disposal, but now they can have a second life!
Last edited:
Apple has gotten better about this over time. The latest Mac OS supports my 2015 MBP and the 2015 MBA. That's 7 years, not bad, and the next version may even keep support. Generally they also provide security updates 1-2 versions back, so on a 2013 Mac, you're probably fine running Big Sur.