Old Laptops can be converted to Chrome Books for Free

[emeryjre]

With back to school and education issues heating up, Just wanted to let everyone know that Old Laptops can be converted to ChromeBooks easily. Neverware has compiled the android operating system for use on PC's. The home version is available for free. The only thing most people do not know about ChromeBooks is the there is no support for CD/DVD drives. There are work arounds, but not included in the regular chrome operating system.

If this is not something you feel technically capable off, you can donate your old laptop to many organizations that are converting the laptop

 

[Passepartout]

Thanks. Schools - especially those in rural and underserved areas are begging for people to donate unused laptops to students that can get valuable use from them.

I bought a Chromebook a couple years ago, thinking it would be a handy back-up for my laptop. I will reconfigure it to original spec's and remove my personal stuff from it and it can go to a school.

Jim

 

[Blues]

Why convert an old laptop to a Chromebook? Especially if it has a CD or DVD drive that you wouldn't be able to use. Put on a Linux distribution, such as Ubuntu or Mint. It will do everything a Chromebook can do, and much more.

 

[DrQ]

Why convert an old laptop to a Chromebook? Especially if it has a CD or DVD drive that you wouldn't be able to use. Put on a Linux distribution, such as Ubuntu or Mint. It will do everything a Chromebook can do, and much more.

Linux in not everyone's cup of meat and this comes from a dedicated Linux-head.

Chrome is great for a user that isn't technically proficient or you want a machine on which you can safely surf the web.

Thanks. Schools - especially those in rural and underserved areas are begging for people to donate unused laptops to students that can get valuable use from them.

I bought a Chromebook a couple years ago, thinking it would be a handy back-up for my laptop. I will reconfigure it to original spec's and remove my personal stuff from it and it can go to a school.

Jim

If I were to donate, I would buy a cheap HD or SSD to swap out. All my old drives meet the hammer before they get scrapped.

 

[emeryjre]

When I am talking an old laptop, I am talking 10-12 years old. The two I converted last March were really not very effective at running Windows. They worked, but were really slow. I converted them for my nieces for distance learning. I knew nothing about Chromebooks at the time, but their school district was using the google infrastructure for class assignments and class meetings. At that time the school district was not in a position to provide every student with a computer. We could have easily bought two, but I talked with an IT administrator at the school and he recommended starting out with a conversion from Neverware and see how that worked.

They worked just fine. I was amazed at the speed and reliability for the use with the google infrastructure.

I made the original post for the purpose of letting people know that they are still needed by many students. There have been lots of volunteer organizations that have sprung up to repurpose old laptops and distribute them to students in their local school district.

 

[PigsDad]

Why convert an old laptop to a Chromebook? Especially if it has a CD or DVD drive that you wouldn't be able to use. Put on a Linux distribution, such as Ubuntu or Mint. It will do everything a Chromebook can do, and much more.

Think supportability. What school district would have the resources to support a bunch of Linux laptops in the hands of students? Most students just need a device with internet connectivity that can run a web browser, as everything they need is done via web sites; Google Docs, research, web apps, etc. And as for CD/DVD? No need. Last year my daughter finished 7 years (middle school and high school) with a district-supplied notebook or laptop, and none of them ever had an optical drive. Just simply not needed today for school applications.

Kurt

 

[Cornell]

Think supportability. What school district would have the resources to support a bunch of Linux laptops in the hands of students? Most students just need a device with internet connectivity that can run a web browser, as everything they need is done via web sites; Google Docs, research, web apps, etc. And as for CD/DVD? No need. Last year my daughter finished 7 years (middle school and high school) with a district-supplied notebook or laptop, and none of them ever had an optical drive. Just simply not needed today for school applications.

Kurt

Our school district does everything on iPads -- no keyboards even. My daughter hasn't had a textbook in 3 year and really has no paper to speak of .

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

I have a Dell Inspiron E1505, which I bought with Windows Vista in 2009. As of today, the thing still runs nicely with Linux Mint Cinnamon! What is funny in a way is, I bought it for around $1000 back then. A couple years ago, my wife bought an Acer Cloudbook 14 for $100, essentially a small Windows 10 laptop with a 30-ish Gb hard drive, no CD, and a couple USB ports. A couple months ago, the keyboard broke (several keys stopped responding). The Dell is still kicking while the Acer is on its last legs. Of course, I have replaced the keyboard and the hard drive on the Dell, but even then, that was about 5 years ago.

TS

 

[youppi]

How to convert a Windows laptop to a Chromebook

Do you want to repurpose an old Windows machine and make it run Chrome OS? We've got you covered here!

www.androidcentral.com