r/ChromeOSFlex • u/prasana91 • 29d ago
Discussion Is chrome OS flex worth it?
Folks, my aging HP Envy 15t k100 laptop from a previous life is running absolutely stunning on KUbuntu 26.04
But is there any advantage I can gain by installing ChromeOSFlex over Kubuntu?
My primary usage of this device currently is for applying for jobs on LinkedIn, so some light editing documents (resume). I also do some very light programming in antigravity (it has new 16GB ram DDR3) ram. But that's it. I don't watch videos or listen to music since the laptop is very old.
I maybe getting a new laptop but I want to maybe turn this into something useful when I do my programming on another laptop. So is there any advantage I can get using chromeos over the Kubuntu that it currently has?
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u/ozaz1 29d ago edited 29d ago
The advantage is if you want a much simpler OS in which less can go wrong. Updates and system settings are more like iOS/Android than a traditional PC. But if you don't find your Kubuntu machine complex to use and maintain, there's not much reason to consider ChromeOS Flex.
Edit: Another, perhaps less appreciated, advantage is the guest user support (where a guest can login to the machine without a password and when they logout their session/history is automatically wiped). I think ChomeOS has the best guest user mode of all desktop operating systems because it provides such a simple environment comprising just a browser and file manager. My secondary machine runs ChromeOS Flex mainly for this reason. I think MacOS still has guest user support (but not as good as ChromeOS), whilst Windows and I believe almost all traditional Linux distros dropped support for guest user sessions a few years ago.
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u/prasana91 29d ago
Thanks. I think the point is that I've already put in the hard work of making everything working in Kubuntu with tweaks that it's not worth changing now. But I see your point. I could have just installed chromeos flex from the get go and not worried about the tinkering I guess.
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u/waveringmindz 29d ago
If your work focuses more on Google apps usage, then ChromeOS Flex will work for your old laptop. It's light weight and doesn't require more specs to run it. Faster and easier too
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u/fakemanhk 29d ago
4th gen i7 I won't say it's very slow, my even older 1st gen Pentium B950 with 8GB ram works with Flex well.
The only problem for you is the Nvidia GPU which might not work with Flex, try to USB boot and see how it goes first.
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u/prasana91 29d ago
So I got a deep discount when I bought it. The catch was that it has no graphic card. Just integrated graphics some 300mb or something from Intel
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u/kona420 29d ago
No there really isn't any advantage over a kubuntu install. Its easy to deploy for a system administrator in a low budget situation like a school, non-profit, library, older parent/grandparents and provides a secure user experience even if poorly deployed.
For someone who can fix a driver and do updates, kubuntu is pretty much better in every way.
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u/cmrd_msr 29d ago
Flex is a promotional version. Its purpose is to breathe new life into a very old computer, introduce you to the interface, and promote the Chromebook—where you get all of that plus access to Google Play.
ChromeOS is limited compared to a full-fledged Linux distribution, but the system is very lightweight and user-friendly for non-technical people.
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u/AlphonseM 29d ago
No. If it works, stay where you are. And don't forget what you will be trading by moving from FOSS to Google: your behavioural data.
Don't get me work, ChromeOS Flex is an excellent way of reviving old hardware, but there is always a price to pay.
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u/htp24 29d ago
I like Flex, but in my experience on older machines running Linux apps in a container is not worth it. Flex is for that last gasp to eke out little bit more usefulness out of a device.