After prematurely announcing that Steam on Chromebook was ready for testing last week, Google is officially announcing the release today. The Steam Alpha for Chrome OS is currently available on Chrome OS Dev Channel 14583.0.0, as announced in a post on the Google Chrome Developer Community.
However, not all Chromebooks will be able to run Steam. Google said that only the following machines can try the alpha version:
- Acer Chromebook 514 (CB514-1W)
- Acer Chromebook 515 (CB515-1W)
- Acer Chromebook Spin 713 (CP713-3W)
- Chromebook Asus Flip CX5 (CX5500)
- Chromebook Asus CX9 (CX9400)
- Chromebook HP Pro c640 G2
- Chromebook Lenovo 5i-14
“Because many games have high performance requirements, we have so far focused our efforts on a set of devices where more games can run well,”Google said.
A Chromebook must also meet certain requirements to run Steam, including an 11th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, Intel Iris Xe graphics, and 8GB of RAM. Google has made it clear that using a supported machine with a lower configuration, such as one with an i3 processor or 4GB of RAM, will not help. In fact, you may need higher specs to run some games, such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, two games Google claims work well in alpha.
These requirements limit Steam on Chrome OS to the more expensive Chromebook level. Currently, you can find an HP G2 Chromebook for $849, an Acer Chromebook 514 for $780, or a Chromebook 515 for $772.
it’s unclear if the sheer number of Chromebooks with chips like Intel’s Pentium and Arm-based offerings will be able to join the party once the feature is complete.
In addition to the above games, Google named 46 other PC games that run on Chrome OS, including Cuphead, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Fallout 4, Hades, Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Portal 2, Sid Meier’s Civilization V. , Stardew Valley and Tekken 7.
In addition to the alpha release, Google is also starting to experiment with variable refresh rate support in Chrome OS, which is expected to combat screen tearing on supported displays, About Chromebook announced Friday.
Be prepared for mistakes
Google said it doesn’t recommend trying Steam on Chrome OS on a “Chromebook you rely on for work, school, or other daily activities.”
According to Google, expect “crashes, slow performance”and bugs. Because it’s an alpha release, “things can break,”Google said, highlighting the “inherent instability of the Dev channel”and the fact that Steam on Chrome OS is under development.
Among the expected bugs are “performance and scaling issues”at resolutions above 1080p.
“These are the early days, but we hope the optimizations gained from gathering user feedback will help us create a better experience at launch going forward,”Chrome OS Vice President John Maletis said in a statement.