Exclusive: customized RBG keyboard color zones coming to Chromebooks

Last year about this time, we were first introduced to the idea of a gaming-centered Chromebook. Three devices launched and a few months later, ASUS’ second, vastly improved attempt showed up as well, giving us 3 great options in this space. While Steam gaming on ChromeOS is still a work in progress, cloud gaming is anything but. Playing high-end games on the Acer Chromebook 516 GE is an absolute treat, taking full advantage of the 16:10 QHD 120Hz screen. And these Chromebooks aren’t just good for games; they excel at most other Chromebook type tasks, too.

But there’s one other fun feature in these gaming Chromebooks that has been a nice addition to the ChromeOS world since last year: RGB keyboards. Oddly enough, the Chromebook that gets this the most right isn’t really a gaming Chromebook per se, but it is the definition of premium: the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook. Where the other gaming Chromebooks have keyboard backlighting that is a bit too dim to really enjoy the colors, the HP gets wildly bright and because of this, any color you utilize on its keyboard shines.

More ways to customize your RGB keyboard

Thanks to an eagle eyed find from @GoldenCheezie on Threads, in our Discord server (via Patreon if you want to check that out), we became aware of a couple new flags that can be used right now in the Developer Channel of ChromeOS 117 to allow for multi-zone color customizations. The first – and working – one of those flags is the one labeled Multi-Zone RGB Keyboard Customization. The second, not-working-quite-yet flag is the one for Experimental RGB Keyboard Patterns Support.

First, let’s talk about the multi-zone customization. From what we can tell, most Chromebook RGB keyboards are built with 4 zones that can all change color independently from one another. When you go to set your keyboard’s color and choose the rainbow option, these zones take on different colors to achieve the desired effect.

This multi-zone customization flag enables the end user to not only have multiple colors on the keyboard at once, but allows for specific colors to be selected for each of the zones. In my testing, I went with the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook and – in fitting with the “best of everything” ethos this Chromebook offers – it comes with an upgraded 5 color zones. ChromeOS handled this just fine, adding a fifth customizable zone in the settings and the featured image above is the end result.

The second flag is not yet operational, but it sounds very cool for sure. Experimental RGB Keyboard Patterns Support will hopefully do exactly what it sounds like from the description and should enable users to map out patterns for the color zones in a future update. It’s unclear if those zone sizes are hard-coded into ChromeOS or if this new feature will allow for those zones to be changed and/or resized at will. I’m hoping for full-blown pattern creation once this launches, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Peripheral keyboards

We’ve already talked plenty about peripheral keyboards for Chromebooks coming to market, so it only makes sense that these settings are not only for the existing and future gaming Chromebooks, but for external keyboards down the road as well. With RGB keyboards having the ability to pulsate, change colors, and do all sorts of fun lighting tricks when attached to Windows-based devices, it will be nice to see some of that customization built right into ChromeOS in the future.

Even better, this will end up being a straightforward way ChromeOS users will be able to customize their devices without the need of 3rd-party software, plugins or drivers. With the ease and simplicity of ChromeOS, sometimes these sorts of features take a bit to get added, but the end result is usually a better overall experience for the end user. I see that 100% being the approach with these new RGB keyboard settings, and I’m looking very forward to them arriving in the near future.