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Intel has thrown its weight behind Chromebooks in a big way in 2014, a stroke of good timing as the cheap laptops have soared in popularity. The chip giant has done such things this year as create a reference design for education-based Chromebooks, and now it's released software that can help people transition to the Chrome OS-based notebooks.

Dubbed Easy Migration, the utility assists users in transferring files from their mobile devices and Windows PCs to Chromebooks. Because Chromebooks usually ship with limited built-in storage (typically 16GB), the app doesn't migrate files directly to the laptop; instead it moves them to Google Cloud, where they can be more easily accessed by the Chrome OS.

Intel gives you a choice of a Quick Migration setting, which will transfer all the eligible files from your device, or a Custom Migration, which allows you to select specific files to move to the cloud. The app gives you the ability to pause the migration if you need to use your device to tend to other matters, and it also provides real-time reporting on how much space you've consumed on your Google Cloud account.

Of course, Easy Migration requires having a Chromebook with an Intel processor. For those users who don't know if they have such a Chromebook, the company offers a Chrome web browser extension that tells you if Intel's inside. The free app is available through the Google Play store, the Apple iOS App store, and Intel's Easy Migration web page for PC owners.