What are the Refurbished Laptops?

We want you to know exactly what you are getting when you receive a free laptop from CyberLynx. You are getting a laptop (almost any brand) that has been refurbished so that it operates like a Chromebook The original operating system (probably Windows) has been replaced by Google’s Chrome OS Flex operating system.

Chrome OS Flex is different from what you may be used to in a Windows or iOS environment.

The difference between Chrome OS Chromebook and a laptop, as explained by Google, can be found here at Chrome OS and Laptop Differences. The key difference is that you are mostly working in “the cloud.” That simply means that the refurbished system has limited storage and ability to download apps. Instead, you use cloud apps like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 and save all your work to your files on “the cloud” and not on your laptop. Google provides free storage space on the cloud to save any file and provides a suite of applications to do word processing and other apps.

Chrome OS Flex is different from Chromebooks using Chrome OS.

Laptops with Chrome OS Flex are also different from regular Chromebooks powered by Chrome OS and you can read about them at Chrome OS Flex Differences. It’s a very technical article but the most important info is that, unlike Chromebooks, Chrome OS Flex cannot run the apps that are available on the Google Play Store website.

So, why should you get a Chromebook-like laptop?

Chromebooks are a very simple and easy-to-use laptop for everyday technology use like reading email, searching the web and creating simple documents, spreadsheets and presentations. There are several current articles explaining why Chromebooks are very desirable devices.

• Read an article from ZDnet.com which explains “Why a Chromebook is the Best Laptop for Most Anyone.”
• Also, read an article from PC World that gives “Reasons Why You Should Choose a Chromebook Over a Laptop.” Read these to see what a great device you’ll be getting.

Of course, there are disadvantages. The most noted ones are that heavy-duty video and photo editing is best done with software that you cannot put on these Chrome OS Flex systems. Another is that you cannot download many of the games and apps that you may be used to downloading onto your Android phone from the Google Play Store.

The apps provided on the device you receive include:

• Chrome browser (the Google browser for searching the Web)
• Gmail ( Google’s email app)
• Google Calendar
• Google Drive (cloud file storage)
• Google Docs (a word processing app like MS Word)
• Google Sheets (a spreadsheet app like Excel)
• Google Slides (a presentation app like Power Point)
• Google Maps
• Google Meet (a video conferencing app)
• Various other Google apps like chat, forms, sites
• Calculator
• YouTube and YouTube Music
• Camera (if one came with the donated laptop)
• Gallery (where you keep and can lightly edit photos)
• and instructions for how to install the cloud version of Zoom

Your system will have been professionally refurbished and tested by Bandon IT, whose owner has been a volunteer instructor with CyberLynx since 2016. CyberLynx is contracting with them to perform the technical work at actual costs for parts and labor. We are partnering with Bandon Library for distribution and training resources.