What Chromebooks are compatible with Steam?

Chromebooks aren’t known for being gaming powerhouses. They typically have cheap, low-power hardware, and Chrome OS feels like a glorified browser. However, Steam games are available if you have a compatible Chromebook.

Valve and Google announced Steam for Chrome OS in 2021. Previously, it was possible to play Steam games on Chromebooks via the “Steam Link” Android app, but that was just streaming games from your PC.

As of October 2022, the full Steam is available on select Chromebooks. Steam for Chrome OS is in its early stages, so don’t expect everything to work perfectly. Before we get started, let’s make sure we have a compatible Chromebook.

What Chromebooks are compatible?

At the time of writing, Steam on Chrome OS is not yet widely available. However, we do have a small but comprehensive list of which Chromebooks are supported. Unsurprisingly, the list is mostly made up of newer Chromebooks with certain hardware requirements.

Now owning one of these Chromebooks is just the first step. You must also have a model that meets certain hardware requirements. That means an 11th Gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, a minimum of 8GB of RAM, and Intel Iris Xe graphics.

Steam on Chrome OS is still in its early stages. However, even when you graduate to the stable channel, you’ll likely still need decent hardware. Steam games on Chromebooks are full-featured games that run on the Linux layer of Chrome OS. That requires more power than the typical budget Chromebook.

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