Chrome OS Drops Clues to Future of Chromebook: RGB Keyboards and Gaming Orientation

Imagine a future where you want to buy a gaming laptop and end up choosing a… Chromebook? This idea might not turn out so crazy in the future. According 9to5Google, it is possible that HP and Lenovo launch devices of this type aimed at gaming, with full RGB keyboards and possibly Steam support.

Currently, Chromebooks offer a gaming experience fueled by the titles that can be found on Google Play or the possibilities offered by platforms such as Stadia, GeForce Now and xCloud, to name a few. However, these proposals do not convince many who are essentially looking for a gaming laptop.

Steam, the possibility of playing locally

However, Google had been interested in expanding the capabilities of Chrome OS in relation to games. In 2020, the Mountain View giant He said that was working to bring official support of Steam, Valve’s gaming platform, to Chromebooks but since then we had had no news.

Now, the Chrome OS code gives us some clues about the future of these devices in the gaming field. A feature flag, an experimental feature indicator that teases what Google is working on at the implementation level, reveals support for RGB keyboards, with the ability to customize colors and lighting intensity.

Some code names discovered in the bowels of Chrome OS also suggest that this feature will be associated with a small number of future devices. It would be about one laptop from HP’s OMEN gaming line, one from Lenovo’s Legion line, and a third from an unidentified manufacturer, although this would have a detachable RGB keyboard.

Let’s remember that a Chromebook is a computer that, regardless of the manufacturer, has been designed to use the operating system based on Linux Chrome OS, which is mainly oriented to work connected to the Internet, with the possibilities and limitations that this entails.

If the rumors come true, we could be looking at a generation of Chromebook that embraces gaming in software and hardware (if gaming runs locally, it will take power). Valve’s Proton technology, the same technology that will be used in the Steam Deck, promises to support a huge number of games and improve its compatibility with anti-cheat systems.

Of course, at the moment there are no certainties about when these gaming Chromebooks will arrive – if they ever do – since the leaks do not provide clues in this regard. Google, meanwhile, has not referred to the subject for a long time. For now, it only remains to wait.

Images | Google