Updated on November 15th, 2016 by Riley J. Dennis.

Now you can run Android on your netbook or laptop. Whether you want to play with Google's mobile operating system or give new life to an otherwise discarded device, Android-x86 gives everyone a way to install Android on Intel-based computers.

It's fast. Even better: the latest version of Android-x86 comes with access to the Google Play Store. This means you can try out Android apps before you decide to buy an Android device.

Heck, your netbook could end up becoming your Android device.

I showed you how to install Chrome OS on unsupported computers, but some of you complained that it's little more than a browser. Of course, that's all Chrome OS is supposed to be, but I understand the disappointment. Android, I think, is a little more exciting. With access to hundreds of thousands of apps, it's versatile, and its integration with the Google ecosystem is much deeper than that of Chrome OS.

It's not terribly complicated to install, especially if you've installed some form of Linux in the past. Let's walk through the process, then briefly explore Android on the netbook.

Step One: Download Androidx86

To get started, head to the Androidx86 project page. Here you can download a bunch of different version of Android. For the traditional phone or tablet experience, go for the whatever the most recent official release is. As of November 2016, that's Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

android86

But there's also a version of Remix OS available, which is a forked version of Android made specifically for computers. You might have a more fluid experience with that.

Just make sure to find out if your computer is 32 bit or 64 bit before you download one of them.

Step Two: Copy To A Flash Drive

Now that you found the ISO file you need, it's time to write it to a USB drive so you can boot from it. There are two main programs for doing this: UNetBootIn, which is cross platform, and Linux Live, which is only for Windows but very straightforward.

Use whichever you prefer; just copy the contents of the ISO to a flash drive. It doesn't need to be huge: 1 GB should do it.

Step Three: Install

Now that you've got your USB drive, it's time to boot from it. You'll see this boot screen:

install android on netbook pc

If you just want to try out Android, go ahead and select the LiveCD mode. You won't be able to save any customizing you do, of course, but it's a good way to see how well Android works on your system.

If you'd rather get straight to installing Android, go ahead and pick the "Install" option. There are not a lot of options for dual-booting built into the installer, so be warned: getting that working might take some skills on your part. See the Androidx86 installation instructions for more information [broken link removed]. If you don't care about losing your current OS, though, installation is straightforward.

Optional: Install to SD Card

There's another way, of course: you can install Android to an SD card. This won't affect whatever operating system you typically use on your netbook but still lets you keep your apps and settings in place.

You'll need a flash drive and an SD card to do this: the flash drive to install Android from and the SD card to install Android onto.

The process is simple: run the installer, but select your SD card to install to instead of your hard drive. This won't affect your netbook's primary drive, giving you a clean dual-boot environment.

Android on Your Netbook

So how does it work? Quite well. You can set up your home screen to look however you like, just like on a phone or tablet. I tested out an older version of Android (4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich) for improved stability, and this is what it looked like:

install android on netbook pc

You can also browse every app installed on your computer:

android netbook

Many Google staples are included, along with a number of other utilities and games. With access to the Google Play Store, feel free to download and try out any app you want, though they might not all work perfectly. With some help from Google Voice I even got SMS messaging up and running!

Did It Work for You?

Why try this? First of all: because it's fun. Sure, it's not the same as buying a new Android tablet, but breathing new life into an otherwise idle netbook is cool.

Did you get Android working on your netbook or laptop? Let us know down in the comments! And if you did, tell us what Android apps you got working on it.