Google's $3 USB stick for revamping old laptops with ChromeOS Flex has sold out — and proves I was right about Chromebooks
The ChromeOS Flex flex
by https://www.techradar.com/uk/author/david-nield · TechRadarFeatures By David Nield published 2 May 2026
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Last month, Google partnered with Back Market to launch an emergency recovery kit for aging PCs: the ChromeOS Flex USB Kit. It's essentially a USB drive with ChromeOS installation files on it, so you can convert just about any old laptop into a Chromebook in the space of a few minutes.
The kit costs just $3 / £3 (and €3 in Europe), and according to Windows Central, has sold out pretty quickly. A fresh batch of USB drives should be available soon, but in the meantime, the popularity of this plug-and-play solution for outdated hardware is vindication of something I've always said about Chromebooks (and ChromeOS).
These lightweight laptops offer all the computing power that most people need these days, and come with advantages over Windows and macOS that maybe don't get talked about enough. I'll make the case below — and explain how you can take advantage of ChromeOS Flex yourself.
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What is ChromeOS Flex anyway?
ChromeOS is the operating system running on Chromebooks — essentially just the Google Chrome browser, with a few extras — and ChromeOS Flex is an installation package you can use to turn older computers into Chromebooks. It works with most PCs running Windows or Linux, and with Macs powered by Intel chips.
You don't actually need a USB stick from Back Market to install ChromeOS Flex. If you supply the USB drive, and follow these instructions, you can create your own kit. It's easy to do, and free (aside from the cost of the USB drive), and is a great way of being able to carry on using a laptop that's slowed right down.
Both Windows and macOS laptops will eventually become laggy and sluggish, no matter how speedy they were when you first bought them — and rather than adding to the world's e-waste problem, you can install ChromeOS instead. It's much less demanding in terms of system resources than the Microsoft or Apple operating systems.
Unless you particularly need a desktop app like Photoshop or Excel — both of which now have streamlined web app versions available, by the way — chances are you can do most of your computing inside a web browser these days. From Spotify and Slack, to Gmail and Google Docs, web apps have become the norm, and that's partly why ChromeOS works.
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