Google Stadia isn’t formally useless but, however the finish is nigh: the sport streaming service will shut down for good in simply a few weeks, on 18 January.
That’s unhealthy timing for Asus, which simply unveiled the Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip: a Google-powered gaming gadget that was initially supposed to bear the Stadia branding, and nonetheless incorporates a white physique with vibrant orange accented WASD keys which might be a useless match for the defunct Stadia visuals.
Luckily Asus had simply sufficient time to adapt to Stadia’s cancellation, introduced again in September 2022, and has as an alternative partnered with Nvidia to supply three free months of its GeForce Now streaming service to anybody who picks up the CX34 Flip.
Asus
So what precisely makes this a gaming Chromebook? Unsurprisingly for a ChromeOS gadget, it isn’t about pure energy, although with as much as a 12th-gen Intel Core i7 CPU and 16GB of RAM, it’s no slouch in that division.
That can assist this breeze by a lot of the Android video games accessible on ChromeOS by the Play Retailer, to not point out emulated titles, however for probably the most half this can be a laptop computer constructed primarily for cloud gaming.
Which means the emphasis is as an alternative on the show, which with a 144Hz refresh fee and 9ms response fee can be quick for any laptop computer, not to mention a Chromebook.
Assist for Wi-Fi 6E ought to assist ship easy networking as long as your router is as much as the duty, although disappointingly there’s no choice for a 5G mannequin. Asus admits it did take into account a 5G model, however in the end determined it wasn’t definitely worth the added price or the trouble of coping with varied telecoms corporations worldwide.
A four-zone RGB-lit keyboard with anti-ghosting tech provides to the laptop computer’s gaming credentials, with a free gaming mouse additionally set to be bundled in for patrons.
Asus
In fact, not many individuals will purchase a Chromebook solely for gaming, even within the streaming age, so Asus says it’s tried equally onerous to make this equally suited to different stuff. Because the title suggests, it’s a convertible laptop computer with a 360-degree hinge, and likewise packs an included stylus with a devoted slot within the physique.
Throw in round 10 hours of battery life, as much as 512GB of storage, and a collection of ports together with HDMI and a microSD slot, and you’ve got a totally kitted out Chromebook that simply occurs to return with a light-up keyboard and the perfect freebies to recreation on the go.
What we don’t know but is precisely how a lot the CX34 Flip will price, or when it is going to be accessible – however don’t count on to get your fingers on one till after the Stadia servers are shut down for good this month.