I have an old Thinkpad T43 around and decided to try Neverware's CloudReady OS on it. If you have never heard of it, CloudReady is a free solution that essentially turns an old computer into a ChromeOS machine (it actually runs ChromiumOS, the open source version of ChromeOS).
While the product is primarily aimed at the business and education markets with annual licenses of $25-49 with Google Management Console and technical support, the free version is great for the casual user even though no technical support is provided.
Installation is pretty straightforward. You download a 600MB zip file to a computer and then use the Chromebook Recovery Tool from the Chrome Web store to write it to a 8 GB or larger USB thumb-drive. There are 32 and 64-bit versions of the file, so you just select the one that will support your machine.
Then, you just boot the computer with the USB thumb-drive you created. You can test drive CloudReady OS without installing it on the machine. If you like it, you can install it. Just be warned that it will overwrite everything on your hard disk.
You even have the option to dual-boot it with Windows on selected newer computers. The list of CloudReady certified computers is available here. Most of them are business-class notebooks that can be picked up very inexpensively (from under $100 to $200) on eBay. Some Apple MacBooks and old netbooks are also on the list.
It worked wonderfully on my T61 with CoreDuo processor and 320GB hard drive with 2GB of memory. Even though it books up a bit more slowly than a typical Chromebook, it is speedy and offers a much more disk storage.
If you want to make your own cheap and very fast Chromebook, this is the solution you need!
Neverware Web Site
