Google's Chrome OS Flex, which connects Chrome OS to a wider range of devices, was launched on Thursday.

Since its February debut, Chrome OS Flex has almost doubled in several devices certified to run it, from 250 to more than 400, according to Google.

Several MacBook Air models have already been certified, as well as Surface, Surface Pro, ASUS, Acer, Lenovo, and Dell machines.

You would have to buy a Chromebook that comes with Chrome OS or go through a convoluted process to install the OS on a system to get the Chrome OS experience - which involves doing pretty much everything on your desktop through the Chrome browser. With Chrome OS Flex, you can do that easily.

In 2020, Google acquired Neverware, which developed a version of Chrome OS called CloudReady that made Chrome OS easy to install on unsupported devices. This led to Flex being born as a consequence. 

It has fairly minimal hardware requirements, so it can run on as many devices as possible. To make a bootable USB drive, you'll need at least 8 GB of space and a 64-bit processor, 4 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage, and admin access to the BIOS. 

These specifications are enough to boot, say, a lightweight Linux distro, so if you're comfortable with it, and just need to run a browser, you can do just fine.

If you or users prefer Chrome OS's single-minded nature, keep reading. Google's offering is also pretty close to Windows 10, so it is ideal for users looking to incorporate Chrome OS into their system.

Perhaps Chrome OS Flex is for you if you don't want a full Linux environment, but don't want Microsoft Windows 10.

In the same way, that Chrome OS is managed and deployed remotely, Chrome OS Flex was designed as an enterprise product. Flex has many of the same security features as Chrome OS, but is much different from it. 

According to Google's support page, many hardware features on supported hardware haven't been tested. 'They might not work as expected or at all,' it notes.

Aside from Thunderbolt support, neither USB-C nor mini Displayport will work. Fingerprint readers, FireWire ports, IR and face recognition cameras are also not supported.