At the end of September, we learned of the closure of Stadia. Google recognized that it had not managed to gain a foothold in the world of cloud gaming and, consequently, let its proposal in this field pass to a better life. However, the company’s interest in the gaming world has not disappeared.
The Mountain View giant has announced “the world’s first laptops designed for cloud gaming.” It is a line of Chromebooks made up of Acer, ASUS, and Lenovo devices that boast high-resolution screens and RGB keyboards, as rumors had already told us.
Datasheet of the new Chromebooks (summary)
As we can see in the summary of the technical sheet, the new Chromebooks focused on gaming have a hardware configuration that is somewhat above the average proposals of the line. The IdeaPad Chromebook Gaming can mount up to an Intel Core i5-1235U processor with 8GB of LPDDR4x-4266 RAM.
The Asus Chromebook Vibe CX55, for its part, takes this section to the next level, allowing you to configure the equipment with up to an Intel Core i7-1165G7, with 16 GB of RAM, and the Acer Chromebook 516GE, supports up to an Intel Core i7-1260P, with 8 GB of LPDDR4x RAM. And, in all cases, they are optimized for cloud gaming.
At the screen level, the Asus proposal incorporates a 15.6-inch 1920 × 1080 at 144 Hz touch panel and those of Acer and Lenovo a 16-inch 2560 × 1600 at 120 Hz. In terms of connectivity, we find models with HDMI 2.0 and 2.1 connectivity and Wifi 6 or Wifi 6E, an essential feature to enjoy games in the cloud. According to Google, Gamebench has tested the new Chromebooks plugged into ‘Fortnite’ and ‘Destiny 2’ with NVIDIA GeForce NOW RTX 3080 and concluded that they can deliver “a smooth and responsive 120 frames per second gaming experience.” second and console-level input latency of less than 85ms.”
What platforms will work on the new gaming Chromebooks?
As is evident, Stadia will be entirely off the map. The company ensures that its new gaming Chromebooks are optimized to work with NVIDIA GeForce NOW, including its most complete proposal, the RTX 3080, Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Amazon Luna (the latter not currently available in Spain).
Additionally, Google is working to improve the cloud gaming experience on its Chromebooks. Available only on GeForce NOW at the moment, you must click on the game icon to start playing. They will also be compatible with various gaming peripherals from Acer, Corsair, HyperX, Lenovo, and SteelSeries.
Price and availability of the new gaming Chromebook
Acer Chromebook 516 GE: Available in Spain in December from 999 euros.
ASUS Chromebook VIBE CX55: Available in Spain before the end of this year.
IdeaPad Chromebook Gaming – Available in Spain before the end of this year.
