News Google Reportedly Kills Chromebooks with Nvidia GPUs

[Admin]

Google reportedly abandons gaming Chromebooks with discrete graphics before shipping.

Google Reportedly Kills Chromebooks with Nvidia GPUs : Read more

 

[Amdlova]

Yeah a switch based emulator. Why Google!

 

[atomicWAR]

Yeah a switch based emulator. Why Google!

Rofl.

 

[Giroro]

Its a bad idea to spend more than $200 on a chromebook.
The OS runs basic tasks surprisingly well on low end hardware, but it's way too limiting to do anything outside of what can be accomplished in a chrome browser.

Linux games have major driver problems, and nearly all the games in the Google Play store are android emulation which are an overwhelming mix of "won't launch on x86" and "completely unusable without a touch screen". Neither of which can be filtered out to find games or apps compatible with your hardware.
You can't even get real Minecraft. Just "education edition" and the cut down android version.

There's a ton of chromebooks in the hands of children (like 10s of millions), but game devs aren't taking advantage of that at all. It might be because 99% of those chromebooks were bought by schools, who block games.

 

[bit_user]

the complexities of porting Windows games to Linux and Linux applications to ChromeOS would have made these machines considerably less appealing than traditional Windows laptops for gamers.

ChromeOS can run Android apps, and Android has tons of games. However, I do think they're run in a VM. So, there could be some performance impact.

BTW, Mediatek reported licensed Nvidia's GPU IP, expressing some interest in making gaming-capable SoCs. As far as I know, that could still happen.

 

[user7007]

I'd pass on dedicated nvidia chips though as well given the pricing chromebooks normally fall into. A cheap amd apu combo is likely the most economical route. You're also more closely aligned with the steam deck which probably helps with game compatibility on linux. If the goal is inexpensive gaming laptops for kids, this seems like the most logical choice. Make sure you have bluetooth and proper controller support (maybe they already have that). An SD slot for games (like steam deck), and a user upgradeable ssd. Keep the pricing lower than windows equivalents by at least $100.

Probably get some takers.

 

[usertests]

These can exist, but APUs are where it's at.

 

[bit_user]

A cheap amd apu combo is likely the most economical route. You're also more closely aligned with the steam deck which probably helps with game compatibility on linux.

The Steam Deck's APU is a fair bit more powerful than most Chromebooks out there. They could certainly put an APU of this caliber in one, and I'm guessing probably for a similar price as a cheap SoC + Nvidia dGPU (e.g. RTX 3050) ? There's no way the Steam deck is as fast as a RTX 3050, though.

Anyway, don't expect comparable horsepower to a Steam Deck in any laptop that doesn't cost at least as much.

 

[Ruti73]

Google reportedly abandons gaming Chromebooks with discrete graphics before shipping.

Google Reportedly Kills Chromebooks with Nvidia GPUs : Read more

I wonder why can't Google use AMD dGPUs? As far as I know, AMD drivers work perfectly on Linux and it should be fine on ChromeOS.

 

[bit_user]

I wonder why can't Google use AMD dGPUs? As far as I know, AMD drivers work perfectly on Linux and it should be fine on ChromeOS.

Yes, and Intel makes dGPUs for laptops, also.

I have two ideas. Either:

1. It was driven by marketing, and they felt the Nvidia brand had more cachet among gamers.
2. They wanted to somehow broaden the vendor ecosystem and use Nvidia's presence in the market as leverage against the existing Chromebook suppliers.

BTW, when these were first announced, had RDNA2 yet been launched? That significantly improved AMD's competitiveness.

 

[palladin9479]

ChromeOS can run Android apps, and Android has tons of games. However, I do think they're run in a VM. So, there could be some performance impact.

BTW, Mediatek reported licensed Nvidia's GPU IP, expressing some interest in making gaming-capable SoCs. As far as I know, that could still happen.

Android emulation in Linux is quite limited, which was really surprising when I looked into it. For Windows we have Bluestacks and Nox Player, both of which have support for a wide variety of hardware and controllers. On Linux it was a nightmare to get a USB controller to show up as a native controller instead of just key / screen tap mapping. Best option was running Bluestacks on Proton, which is all sorts of janky.

Hopefully the various Android emulator platforms can stop fighting and get their stuff together.

 

[bit_user]

Android emulation in Linux is quite limited, which was really surprising when I looked into it. For Windows we have Bluestacks and Nox Player, both of which have support for a wide variety of hardware and controllers. On Linux it was a nightmare to get a USB controller to show up as a native controller instead of just key / screen tap mapping. Best option was running Bluestacks on Proton, which is all sorts of janky.

Hopefully the various Android emulator platforms can stop fighting and get their stuff together.

Interesting. Do you know anything about how Android apps are supported on specifically ChromeOS? I believe it's an official feature of ChromeOS.

What little I've read about ChromeOS is that it runs Debian userspace in a VM. Therefore, their Android apps might be hosted in an environment that's not a normal Linux userspace.

 

[Ruti73]

Yes, and Intel makes dGPUs for laptops, also.

I have two ideas. Either:

1. It was driven by marketing, and they felt the Nvidia brand had more cachet among gamers.
2. They wanted to somehow broaden the vendor ecosystem and use Nvidia's presence in the market as leverage against the existing Chromebook suppliers.

BTW, when these were first announced, had RDNA2 yet been launched? That significantly improved AMD's competitiveness.

I also hope there would be more appearance of Intel new dGPUs and AMD one.

 

[palladin9479]

Interesting. Do you know anything about how Android apps are supported on specifically ChromeOS? I believe it's an official feature of ChromeOS.

What little I've read about ChromeOS is that it runs Debian userspace in a VM. Therefore, their Android apps might be hosted in an environment that's not a normal Linux userspace.

Android, while being based on linux, is not binary compatible with linux. You need to either recompile the code to native, or run some sort of OS emulation. Most apps on android are compiled to a JIT pseudo language that is then recompiled at time of launch, Google's runtime is proprietary and they haven't released something the linux community can use. Instead the linux community has been trying to reverse engineer and this is where the split is as different projects have radically different philosophies on what the output should be.

Then we have companies like Bluestacks who's only purpose is to play Android games on PC and essentially emulate an entire tablet complete with their own version of Android installed. They have become wildly successful in emulation by just skipping host OS integration and running it inside a bubble, but they don't make a version for linux. Turns out, the best thing someone can do is run Bluestacks inside Proton, which is hella janky but actually works.

ChromeOS is owned by Google and has a native Android JIT runtime. While it's closer to real Linux then Android, it's still heavily modified to be a platform for Google to sell you stuff and farm data from you.

 

[kb7rky]

Typical of Google to kill off something that could be useful.

Why not make a Chromebook a bit more flexible, instead of just having it be a glorified Android tablet?

 

[bit_user]

Typical of Google to kill off something that could be useful.

Why not make a Chromebook a bit more flexible, instead of just having it be a glorified Android tablet?

I guess there has to be a big enough market. If the costs are and demand are in line, I doubt it'd have been cancelled. Somewhere, there's probably a mismatch.

My other thought is that it could be in regards to Nvidia's open source driver not being far enough along. I've hear Google is pushing vendors to upstream their drivers, but I don't know exactly how hard that push is.

 

[kb7rky]

I guess there has to be a big enough market. If the costs are and demand are in line, I doubt it'd have been cancelled. Somewhere, there's probably a mismatch.

My other thought is that it could be in regards to Nvidia's open source driver not being far enough along. I've hear Google is pushing vendors to upstream their drivers, but I don't know exactly how hard that push is.

Obviously, not hard enough.

Then again, what Google says, and what Google does, are two different things.

 

[bit_user]

Obviously, not hard enough.

Then again, what Google says, and what Google does, are two different things.

It seems like drivers for all of the major GPUs are now being upstreamed: Nvidia, Imagination, and ARM's Mali. However, Nvidia's open source driver is still probably in Alpha state. I think the other two probably aren't much further along.

However, the cancellation it probably has nothing to do with that, and more to do with the fact that there's probably just not much market for a gaming Chromebook that would only be a couple hundred $ cheaper than an entry gaming laptop.

 

[kb7rky]

It seems like drivers for all of the major GPUs are now being upstreamed: Nvidia, Imagination, and ARM's Mali. However, Nvidia's open source driver is still probably in Alpha state. I think the other two probably aren't much further along.

However, the cancellation it probably has nothing to do with that, and more to do with the fact that there's probably just not much market for a gaming Chromebook that would only be a couple hundred $ cheaper than an entry gaming laptop.

True...then again, the major manufacturers would likely have an aneurysm if there were a cheaper laptop on the market, and most of their potential customers snapped up $300 machines, instead of the overpriced ones already available...