Xtra-PC Turbo 16 - 16GB USB Flash Drive with Linux OS - Turn Old PC into Like-New, Blazing Fast, Easy to Use

I came across Xtra-PC just before I decided to throw out my old, dead Dell Inspiron. Could not load Windows any more, the hard drive was erratic. Following the very simple installation instructions, it was up and running. A caveat, this little device will not replace your Win 10 Machine. It will run the Ubuntu version of Unix, 32 bit. Because of the varied support by software manufacturers, you may have to try various browsers if you watch YouTube, Hulu, etc. I have tried Firefox (included on the usb drive), Chrome and Opera. Hulu only runs on Chrome 32 bit (although Chrome will nag you that you're using an outdated version which works fine. I could not install the 64 bit). Hulu, for me, doesn't run on Firefx or Opera. On Opera it needs an Adobe Flash update but Adobe doesn't support the 32 bit Flash any more. It runs great on Chrome. Youtube runs well on all three.I am delighted with this little gadget. I can now leave my new laptop in my home office hooked up to several hard drives and a large external screen and have the Xtra-PC in my bedroom for late night emailing, working on a Google doc or use the included Open Office and play my DVDs or watch Hulu and Youtube for entertainment.As an added bonus, I have started to learn a little bit about Unix, which I've been meaning to do but thought too much bother to install.

I purchased mine on July 10th at Amazon. You'd think you'd be able to plug the xtraPC into a free USB jack, reboot the computer, and run the computer with a Linux faux-Windows interface. But the xtraPC is useless without software that //has// to be downloaded, and it's hard to do this without losing your Web connection. This is a classic example of a product that should have had the user manual written //before// the product was engineered. (There's a math toolkit that was designed this way.) I wasted a lot of time trying to get it to work, and was left with a nearly useless HP ProBook 4530s that will likely need professional servicing. If anyone reading this got their Xtra-PC to work correctly, please let us know, and I'll rewrite the review. (And by the way, it's made in China, not the US.) [Amazon does like suggesting violence against the designers, and I have self-censored the review.] I haven't kept record of how times I nearly lost my mind with hardware and software that didn't work the way it was supposed to. If Xtra-PC would like to discus this (and perhaps walk me through the steps, I can be reached at 425-322-5519. Ask for the weirdo with the plush rabbit.

I purchased this XTRA-PC device to learn a bit about LINUX during our COVID ‘lock-down’. It is a well-thought-out device, and it does function as intended BUT not on all my PCs. I was hesitant to purchase this device after seeing the unusual 50-50 split in ratings, but I took a chance and purchased the XTRA-PC. After using the XTRA-PC for a while, trying to ‘boot’ into LINUX on some of my PCs (WIN 98 to WIN 10, 32 and 64-bit), it became evident that NOT ALL PCs are capable of ‘booting’ from a USB thumb drive. The XTRA-PC website offers excellent information and an online ‘manual’; live ‘CHAT’ was of help to me.One major obstacle is being able to disable ‘secure boot’ and enable ‘legacy devices’ in the PC’s BIOS setup so that the correct boot device can be selected. Even with this done, my older PCs CAN NOT boot from the XTRA-PC USB device. If you have any doubts about your PC, I suggest that you test the PC by creating a bootable USB LINUX thumb drive (pendrive). FREE downloads of the necessary files, along with instructions, can be found on the internet.Although I purchased the XTRA-PC device to learn some LINUX I found the open-source operating system to be quite speedy, with a large number of downloadable applications.

I was skeptical when I first saw the internet commercials for Xtra-Pc, almost sounded too good to be true. I had an older PC with a damaged hard drive (wouldn't even boot up without crashing) so I decided to take the risk and buy this product. To my surprise, it really DOES work! Of course, you have to figure out how to change your computer's boot sequence so that it'll boot from the flash drive, but once you do that, it works well. HOWEVER, I won't give this product 5 stars for two reasons. First, the boot speed is NOT as fast as advertised. I can live with that. But secondly, the flash drive runs your PC on Linux, not Windows, so you have to get used to the new operating system and any of your old Windows based programs will not run on it. However, if you want to just use your old PC just for net surfing and stuff like that, it's ok. Also, you can't access your regular hard drive (you may or may not think that's important). One plus is that you don't need an anti-virus program because Linux is not prone to any computer viruses! Overall, good product but it falls short of its ad campaign.

I will not give this a bad review due to the fact that it didn't work for my application. I am not tech savvy enough to fairly review this product. It did not work for me , but that doesn't mean it was at fault. With computers there are so many variables it would be unfair to say unequivocally this product doesn't work.

Yes, it makes my old Toshiba Satellite run. No, it does not allow me to use it online, because the laptop uses Vista as the OS. So basically, I wasted money on this purchase. AND I had to buy a new cord for the Toshiba, which was another waste. Although that technically is not the fault of the Xtra PC, I certainly would not have made that purchase, had I known that the Xtra PC would not allow me to use my laptop online. I cannot install any drivers for programs, either, because...you guessed it, I cannot get online!! So, I cannot use the old laptop for anything at all!! I am going to have to see if my laptop has room to put Windows 10 on it. I seriously doubt that it does. If your laptop/computer does not have a current OS, you will definitely have the same problem. Old OS such as Vista cannot connect to the internet, period.