The fact that Chromebooks are inadequate for gaming is one of their biggest criticisms. Android games abound, but not all of them function properly. You can use a cloud gaming service like Nvidia GeForce Now or Xbox Cloud Gaming, but most of the time a subscription is needed. However, Google has been collaborating with game developer Valve on a more comprehensive solution. Through the ChromeOS Dev channel, the two earlier this year released an alpha version of Valve’s Steam game store for Chromebooks to test out.
The ChromeOS Beta channel, which supports more devices, more games, and provides a better user experience, has replaced the unstable Dev channel. Support for devices with AMD Ryzen 5000 C-series and Intel 12th-gen Core CPUs was added with the beta release. The minimum CPU specifications have also been lowered to Core i3 and Ryzen 3 processors, along with 8GB of RAM. We mentioned below are the steps to Install Steam on Chromebook.
Steps to Install Steam on Chromebook
- Open Settings app on your Chromebook.
- Go to the About Chrome OS.
- Choose Additional details.
- Next to Channel, select Change channel.
- choose Developer – unstable.
- Tab on Change channel.
- Go back to About Chrome OS and let the computer update.
- Restart Windows PC when it prompts you to.
- After updating, open Google Chrome, type chrome://flags in the address bar, and hit the Enter key.
- Find borealis-enabled and #exo-pointer-lock and set button next to each to Enabled.
- You will view a Restart button at the bottom of the Flags menu; click it to restart your Chromebook.
- Once restarted, open a Crosh terminal using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + T.
- After that, Type insert_coin volteer-JOlkth573FBLGa and hit Enter key.
- You will view a Restart button at the bottom of the Flags menu; click it to restart your Chromebook.
Final words
We hope you like our article on how to Install Steam on Chromebook. Since Chromebooks have lightweight hardware, you can move around with them with ease. Due to the inferior onboard graphics options, this also implies that they are not the best gaming hardware. Therefore, nothing prevents you from adding Steam to your Chromebook.