To start with, I can reassuringly confirm it was a lot easier than I expected to turn an old Windows machine into a schnazzy ‘new’ Chromebook.
I’ve had a Dell Latitude 7480 sitting in the cupboard for a few years now and I’ve always thought I’d like to try and re-use it as a Google Chromebook. Finding myself with a spare couple of hours on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I bit the bullet and did it — I’m writing this article using my new, super-fast, Chromebook. Seriously impressed.
The Process, Simple
- Download and activate the ‘Chromebook Recovery Utility’ Extension in Google Chrome on any device with a USB port, or SD Card slot.
- Within the Chromebook Recovery Utility Extension, click to create the required boot volume by selecting ‘Chrome OS Flex’ from the dropdown list.
- Voila. You’re now ready to create the boot volume on either a USB memory stick, or an SD Card — I opted for an SD Card as you need 8GB of space (and a willingness to format the device).
- Once the Boot Volume is created (took me about 20 minutes to download and install the relevant pieces on the SD Card) you can go ahead and switch the USB stick/SD Card to the machine you want to turn into a Chromebook.
- Make sure the machine is turned…
