Chromebooks have never been aimed at gaming unlike their Windows counterparts, but a new report now suggests that it likely to change in the near future. Chromebooks are affordable laptops that are largely aimed at the education sector, and are used by students everywhere. They've always been great for surfing the web and doing schoolwork, but users can also do some gaming with them, thanks to services like Google Stadia and NVIDIA GeForce Now.
Gaming on Chromebooks has been discussed often over the years, not only in the media, but also by Google itself. The company announced two years ago that it was working on bringing Steam support for Chromebooks, although nothing has happened on that front up until now. NVIDIA also demoed support for DLSS and ray tracing on Arm-based Chromebooks last year, but nothing concrete happened in that regard over the past year.
According to a report by 9to5Google, references to new gaming Chromebooks have been spotted in Chrome OS code in recent weeks. The new additions to the Chrome OS codebase suggest that multiple Chromebooks with RGB keyboards might be coming in the near future. However, support for RGB keyboards might be limited to select devices. As per the report, three specific codenames for Chromebooks with RGB keyboards have been found in the code, suggesting that there might be at least two gaming Chromebooks in the works from two different manufacturers. There's no word on whether these will support full-fledged games from Steam, but it might be a game-changer if they do.
Gaming-Focused Tablets And Detachables?
The report further claims that the two codenames are 'Vell' and 'Taniks,' and both will reportedly be powered by Intel’s super-powerful 12th-gen Alder Lake laptop processors. HP and Lenovo might be two of the companies that are working on these devices, although there's no confirmation about that from either of the two companies, or from Google. The third codename is said to be 'Ripple,' but it is apparently the name for a detachable keyboard rather than an all-new Chromebook. The report speculates that the discovery of Ripple suggests that a gaming-focused Chrome OS tablet or detachable might be in the works as well.
Meanwhile, the report further claims that according to the newly-added code, the RGB keyboards can be customized to "vary the intensity of the red, green, and blue lighting" to create new colors. While it can only be done through an internal command currently, Google will likely offer an easier way for all users to do it via a simple GUI settings menu in the final version. For now, there's no ETA on when these devices will be available for purchase, but Google will be hoping that they'll help Chromebooks shed the unfortunate image of glorified web-surfing machines and be accepted as full-fledged computers like Windows devices and Macs.
Source: 9to5Google