Lenovo’s latest Chromebook is designed with cloud gaming in mind

When you think of Chromebooks, you might think of cheap and affordable laptops that are perfect for students on a budget who need a laptop to do their school work on. Or they could also be great for productivity if you need to do some work on the go and don’t really need a full fledged operating system like Windows or macOS.

It’s not often that we think of Chromebooks as being powerhouses for gaming, but that’s something Lenovo wants us to rethink. The company has announced the IdeaPad Gaming Chromebook, but before you think that you’ll be able to run the latest games locally, think again because it seems that it’s designed with cloud gaming in mind.

This isn’t to say it is a slouch. Under the hood, users can expect to find a 12th Gen Intel CPU with 8GB of RAM, and a display with a 16-inch 2560×1600 resolution and 100% sRGB. While it isn’t as powerful as some Windows laptops, it is pretty good for a Chromebook and it has been designed to support streaming services like Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA GeForce Now.

It will, of course, run Google’s Chrome OS platform, but it will also come with software features that can take advantage of the Everything Button to quickly find and play games, as well as pin them to the taskbar for quick access. Lenovo is also boasting that its battery can last up to 11 hours and will also support WiFi 6E for a speedier connection and Bluetooth 5.0. If you’re keen, the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming Chromebook will be going on sale later this month starting at $599.