Plans for Chromebooks with Nvidia graphics seemingly canceled

Kyle Bradshaw | Aug 17 2023 - 2:27 pm PT

Earlier this year, we exclusively reported that Google was working to support gaming Chromebooks that would be backed by Nvidia graphics cards; however, it seems those planned devices have now been canceled.

In some ways, there’s never been a better time for the idea of high-powered gaming Chromebooks. The popularity of the Steam Deck has led to a boom in Linux gaming, inadvertently benefiting ChromeOS’s recently launched support for Steam gaming.

That being the case, it wasn’t too big of a surprise to see that Google was actively working to support a set of Chromebooks that would pair the latest 13th-generation Intel processors with Nvidia’s RTX 4050 graphics card, along with a handful of other features never before seen on ChromeOS.

Unfortunately, a code change tipped to About Chromebooks reveals that Google considers those work-in-progress gaming Chromebooks to be “dead” and “cancelled.” In fact, Google has altogether removed the code for the “Hades” board on which the RTX 4050 Chromebooks were based, as well as an earlier “Agah” board (used for development testing only) that featured RTX 3050 graphics.

That said, it’s possible that Google may still have plans for future Chromebooks with dedicated GPUs down the line. In a newer code change, another board, “Aurora” (which we believe to be for internal Steam testing purposes and not a real device), is specifically marked as having an RTX 3050, with work still ongoing for Steam on ChromeOS to work with dedicated GPUs.

Meanwhile, one developer notes that Hades was the only ChromeOS device to feature certain features that may become more common. Specifically, it was the first ChromeOS hardware to support the USB-C “Extended Power Range” standard, theoretically supporting power as high as 240 watts, and the ability to let incoming power bypass the battery, reducing heat and wasted energy. It’s not yet entirely clear whether Google intends to fully support those capabilities going forward.

For now, though, truly gaming-ready Chromebooks are unlikely to arrive anytime soon. Until then, it’s likely ChromeOS device makers will focus their efforts on models optimized for cloud gaming and on other avenues like Google’s recently outed “Chromebook X” standard.