Could Valve be working on an AMD-powered gaming Chromebook?
It may not be as far-fetched as we thought
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More evidence has emerged suggesting a powerful Chromebook is coming with dedicated graphics byAMD– which would be a first – but that begs the question: why?
Luke Short of Chromeunboxedhas found referencesin the build configuration of the rumored device, codenamed Mushu, which suggests the Chromebook will come with an AMD Radeon Vega 12 dedicated GPU.
Short did some more digging and found a development boardthat emerged on eBay a while backthat could be an indicator of what this Vega 12 GPU would be like, with 4GB of high-speed memory, 1024 compute cores and, crucially, driver support in Linux.
Chrome OS is based onLinux, and now supports running native Linux apps – more on that in a moment.
While those specs, if accurate and applicable to the GPU coming with the Mushu Chromebook, are rather tame when it comes to thebest gaming laptops, it would be by far the most powerful Chromebook ever launched when it comes to graphical performance. This is because Chromebooks previously only came with integrated graphics, which are no match for dedicated graphics.
If true, then, this would make Mushu – or whatever it ends up being called – the first Chromebook that could do a decent job of playing games. This is where that whole ‘why?’ question comes in.
Why?
There’s a good reason why Chromebooks aren’t considered gaming devices. Their main appeal is that they are affordable laptop alternatives, and prices are kept low because they use less powerful components.
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They are able to use less powerful components because Chrome OS, theoperating systemChromebooks run on (and which is based onGoogle’s Chrome web browser), is less resource-hungry thanWindows 10or macOS, so it can run quickly and smoothly on low powered hardware.
Modern games, of course,don’trun well on low-powered hardware, combined with the fact that very few – if any – games will run on Chrome OS natively, as they are primarily made for Windows, which most PC gamers use.
So, what would be the point of a gaming Chromebook if there’s nothing to play?
Well, Short comes up with some interesting theories. For a start,there have been rumors swirlingthat Valve and Google could be working on bringingSteamto Chrome OS. Steam is a hugely popular store for buying PC games on, and it also enables people to stream games from other gaming PCs.
According to Short, the same hardware used by Mushu, codenamed ‘Hatch’, is being used to test Steam on Chrome OS. With Steam running natively, Chromebooks could potentially have access to a large library of games.
There’s still the issue with games being made forWindows 10, not Chrome OS, however. But, Valve has been working on its ‘Proton’ solution, which is a compatibility layer that allows Windows 10 games to run natively in Linux.
If Valve is working on bringing Proton to Chrome OS (which as we mentioned earlier, can now run Linux apps, so it’s nottoomuch of a stretch), then suddenly Chrome OS has access to ahugerange of PC games, and a Chromebook with a dedicated GPU will suddenly be averyattractive proposition, especially if it costs significantly less than a Windows 10 gaming laptop.
This is all based on a lot of conjecture and rumor at the moment, but the idea of a gaming Chromebook suddenly makes more sense. Valve co-founder and Managing Director Gabe Newell,when recently asked about bringing Steam to games consoles, gave a cryptic reply: “You will get a better idea of that by the end of this year… and it won’t be the answer you expect.”
Rather than bringing Steam to thePS5andXbox Series X, could he have been hinting at Steam coming to Chromebooks instead? Who knows, we might even see Steam-branded Chromebooks in the future.
Matt is TechRadar’s Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there’s no aspect of technology that Matt isn’t passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. He’s personally reviewed and used most of the laptops in our best laptops guide - and since joining TechRadar in 2014, he’s reviewed over 250 laptops and computing accessories personally.
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