Steam games are now working for 12th-gen Intel Chromebooks in Alpha

Back in April, Google finally brought the long-awaited Steam gaming experience to ChromeOS. It was a day we’d been waiting for a very long time, and seeing Steam load on a Chromebook without a bunch of hoop-jumping was quite nice. That launch came with some pretty sever caveats, however, and that meant Steam gaming would be firmly in an Alpha stage for now and that only a small handful of Chromebooks could even try it out. The list was varied, but still quite limited:

• Acer Chromebook 514 (CB514-1W)
• Acer Chromebook 515 (CB515-1W)
• Acer Chromebook Spin 713 (CP713-3W)
• ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5 (CX5500)
• ASUS Chromebook CX9 (CX9400)
• HP Pro c640 G2 Chromebook
• Lenovo 5i-14 Chromebook

The main thing that tied these devices together was the fact that they are all powered by 11th-gen Intel processors. While the Iris Xe GPU inside these devices is solid and the speed of the 11th-gen silicon is fast, we really wanted to see how things would run on 12th-gen hardware. With the upgraded CPUs and GPUs when compared with the 11th-gen Chromebooks listed above, we’ve been eager to see how 12th-gen Chromebooks like the HP Dragonfly and the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 would perform with Steam games.

Steam gaming on 12th-gen Intel Chromebooks is here

Late last week, we got our wish. Though we can’t yet share the token to get things running, we have successfully initiated Steam on 3 12th-gen Intel Chromebooks so far: the HP Dragonfly Chromebook, the Acer Chromebook Spin 714, and the Lenovo Flex 5i. Unlike the earlier Alpha test, it seems Google isn’t limiting this run to only a handful of options. Granted, there aren’t too many 12th-gen Chromebooks out on the market, but every one we’ve tested so far makes the cut.

And while I’d love to tell you it was smooth sailing and game play bliss, it was not that great just yet. We have to remember we’re still in early Alpha testing, and that testing is even earlier for 12th-gen Intel processors. While I expect these devices will be great for games when things are ironed out a bit, for now it is a bit of a toss up.

I was able to install and run Apex Legends – a Windows title – with Vulkan shaders turned on, but it was basically unplayable. Having to use the Proton compatibility layer, I wasn’t too surprised by this. I expect great things down the road thanks to how well the Steam Deck performs with games like this, but I understand there is still much work to do on this new gaming front.

Calming things down to a more realistic level, I installed CS:GO and kind of expected things to run perfectly. Between little hiccups here and there, the game does run quite well with most of the graphic settings cranked up. This game is written for Linux, however, so it becomes a better test of what Steam on ChromeOS is capable of at the moment without having to consider things running through a compatibility layer. I’m looking for games like CS:GO to run buttery-smooth before expecting Windows games via the Proton compatibility layer to work well. We’re just not there yet.

For what it’s worth, turning some of the settings on CS:GO down one notch made things far smoother and simpler games run basically perfect. It is also worth noting that CS:GO auto-set almost every graphic setting to high based on the internal specs, so that’s a good sign that this 12th-gen hardware will deliver once things in the Steam container are cleaned up a bit. I’m hopeful that once that happens, games will be in a position to fully leverage the hardware on offer in these higher-end Alder Lake Chromebooks and we’ll be in for some decent gaming experiences in the near future.

Finally, I tested a few games that should run well on just about any hardware and found them to not only be playable, but quite fun, too. Counter-Strike: Source and SUPERHOT, both Linux-made titles, ran ultra smooth and were a blast to play. Trying an older game like Doom (the 2016 version) with the Proton compatibility layer actually worked nicely, too, so it’s not like there’s no usefulness in Steam’s current state on Chormebooks. It just is far from ready for mass, public consumption. For now, we wait, we test, and as soon as we can, we’ll get you the token so you can, too.