Google announces game streaming focused Chromebooks just 12 days after announcing the shutdown of Stadia.

[AlexGoesHigh]

I wish I was joking, but i'm not. At last, leave it to Google to do something like this...

 

Asus Chromebook Flip CX5

 

Summary

Indeed, on October 11 they have announced their first gaming focused chromebooks just a mere 12 days after announcing they are killing stadia and here's the kicker, they are partnering with Geforce Now, Xbox Cloud Streaming and Amazon Luna. Google also certified these laptops with GameBench in order to claim these laptops have a mere 85ms latency streaming Fortnite and Destiny 2 in 1080p from Geforce Now.

 

On the hardware side all of them have i5 or greater CPU, 8gb or more memory and 1080p 120hz or greater displays and no dedicated graphics, also for a limited time they will come bundled with 3 months of Geforce Now and Amazon Luna highest tier, some of them will also have a SteelSeries mouse included.

 

Quotes

Quote

The Acer Chromebook 516 GE, Asus Chromebook Vibe CX55 Flip (CX5501) 2-in-1, and Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming Chromebook announced today stand out with more premium specs than the average, more budget-friendly Chromebook, including higher-resolution screens that support gamer-level refresh rates and beefier CPUs. Google said the computers range from $399–$799.

Here's a quick overview of the specs:

MODEL	CPU	RAM	SSD	DISPLAY	PRICE
Acer Chromebook 516 GE	Up to Intel Core i7-1260P	8GB LPDDR4x (speed not specified)	256GB NVMe-PCIe 3.0 SSD	16-inch 2560×1600 @ 120 Hz IPS	$650 with an i5-1240P
Asus Chromebook Vibe CX55 (CX5501)	Up to Intel Core i7-1165G7	Up to 16GB (type and speed not specified)	Not specified	15.6-inch 1920×1080 touchscreen @ 144 Hz	Price TBD
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming Chromebook	Up to Intel Core i5-1235U	8GB LPDDR4x-4266	Up to 512GB PCIe 2242 SSD	16-inch 2560×1600 @ 120 Hz IPS	Starts at $599

The systems go up to Intel i7 CPUs, but Google said it tested game streaming with i5 and i3 chips with "phenomenal" results. The Acer and Asus laptops also come with HDMI 2.1 and 2.0, respectively, leaving the potential for a decent gaming monitor.

 

Acer's, Asus', and Lenovo's Chromebooks will also be the first Chromebooks to have a game launcher search, which is activated through the Chromebook Everything button. Google said it indexed the game catalogs of streaming services, allowing users to type the name of the game they want to play into the ChromeOS search bar and see a list of game launchers where they can play those games. However, the feature will only work with GeForce Now and the Google Play Store to start. Google said it plans to expand the game launcher search to other streaming services and Chromebooks.

The gaming Chromebooks include RGB keyboards with anti-ghosting, so multiple keypresses can register simultaneously, as well as Wi-Fi 6 or 6E, (depending on the device).

My thoughts

I swear Google is completely insane, less that 2 weeks after killing stadia they go ahead and release 3 chromebooks made for game streaming in which they also include 3 months of Geforce Now and Luna with them. Honestly I dunno what else to say other that they gave zero fucks about Stadia.

Sources

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/10/stadias-dead-but-new-chromebooks-keep-googles-cloud-gaming-dreams-alive/

[Forbidden Wafer]

1 minute ago, AlexGoesHigh said:

Honestly I dunno what else to say other that they gave zero fucks about Stadia.

And the other 274 products they killed over the years. https://killedbygoogle.com/

[ToboRobot]

I loled when I saw this.

Google doesn't understand Gaming.

 

[AndreiArgeanu]

Are there people actually using game streaming services? If I really wanted to game on the go I'd get a handheld like the steam deck or switch and use that. Or a laptop with decent graphics (vega/ MX550) and a controller or mouse if I need to be carrying a laptop anyway.

[Biohazard777]

11 minutes ago, AlexGoesHigh said:

Google also certified these laptops with GameBench in order to claim these laptops have a mere 85ms latency streaming Fortnite and Destiny 2 in 1080p from Geforce Now.

Had to read the original article for this part, and yep:

the most pointless certificate / claim ever, as latency in real world will be affected by things out of Google's control (like end user's ISP)...

 

8 minutes ago, AlexGoesHigh said:

I swear Google is completely insane, less that 2 weeks after killing stadia they go ahead and release 3 chromebooks made for game streaming in which they also include 3 months of Geforce Now and Luna with them.

Hey it could have been worse, like doing it the other way around (announcing and releasing streaming focused chromebooks and then killing Stadia)/

[Shreyas1]

If chromeos is a Linux distro wouldn't it just make more sense to make Chromebooks with decent hardware for gaming? They could literally just use Ryzen APUs

[AlexGoesHigh]

1 hour ago, Biohazard777 said:

Had to read the original article for this part, and yep:

the most pointless certificate / claim ever, as latency in real world will be affected by things out of Google's control (like end user's ISP)...

 

Hey it could have been worse, like doing it the other way around (announcing and releasing streaming focused chromebooks and then killing Stadia)/

I swear they would have done it if they delayed the killing of Stadia by one month...

[Kisai]

8 hours ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

Are there people actually using game streaming services? If I really wanted to game on the go I'd get a handheld like the steam deck or switch and use that. Or a laptop with decent graphics (vega/ MX550) and a controller or mouse if I need to be carrying a laptop anyway.

The game streaming services are not particularly useful for FPS games. You need a sub-20ms latency for FPS games to be played competitively, otherwise you will repeatedly lose to the gremlin who turned nagle/no-ack off who does. All the high-FPS monitors and GPU's in the world does not save you from that.

 

That said, pretty much every story-driven game can be streamed, be it FPS or TPS or 2D, or whatever. When competitive multiplayer is not the selling feature, usually the game will be reasonable when being streamed.

 

But, here's the other side of the problem. Game streaming services can save you from having to upgrade a much crappier computer, you're just trading computer investment for internet bandwidth investment. Seeing as how things are shaking out with Youtube wanting to charge money for 4K, and Korean ISP kneecapping Twitch and other streaming services, we are probably going to see internet get a lot more expensive for streamers.

 

[ouroesa]

9 hours ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

Are there people actually using game streaming services? If I really wanted to game on the go I'd get a handheld like the steam deck or switch and use that. Or a laptop with decent graphics (vega/ MX550) and a controller or mouse if I need to be carrying a laptop anyway.

I gave GeForce Now a go (free trial) a couple of weeks ago and it definatelly is not for me. I have a fibre connection and can still feel/see the latency in a very obvious way. It was also limited to 1080p and the image quality is not quite there yet - maybe with AV1 it'll get a bump.
Overall, it might be an okay solution for the younger audience who doesnt have a decent PC or console or in times when one is traveling and would like to game from another location. But wiht the current cost and drawbacks, not for most.

[igormp]

9 hours ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

Are there people actually using game streaming services? If I really wanted to game on the go I'd get a handheld like the steam deck or switch and use that. Or a laptop with decent graphics (vega/ MX550) and a controller or mouse if I need to be carrying a laptop anyway.

Yes, many friends of mine do use geforce now. It's both cheaper than any PC or handheld like you mentioned while allowing them to play basically anywhere.

[sof006]

Haha, oh dear.

 

Trust Google to do something like this

[Doobeedoo]

Funny. At least these laptops are not complete garbage. Personally I'd never care for this. Too many cons in general even if it was free. Aside from no control over these cloud services, no way I'd use something that adds lag and also on top of worse streamed image in this day and age. 

For like offline games I can see it be ok. Man play online today and that would suck. Also number of games won't be on this too.