Chromebooks aren’t exactly known as gaming machines. But with the Nvidia GeForce Now cloud gaming service, you can access top-notch games on even modest Chromebook hardware. Best of all, a basic GeForce Now membership is 100% free!
“Free, quality gaming on my Chromebook?” you ask incredulously. Yup, it’s true! The free GeForce Now tier gives you one-hour gaming sessions, perfect for casual play. And upgrading to the paid membership gets you extended 6-hour sessions with cutting-edge ray tracing effects enabled.
Let me walk you through getting GeForce Now rolling on your Chromebook, accessing your Steam library, connecting controllers, and tweaking settings for the best experience:
First, ensure your Chromebook meets the minimum specs – Core i5 processor, 4GB RAM, 720p display, and preferably 5GHz WiFi. Then just head to play.geforcenow.com to sign up. GeForce Now directly connects to your existing game libraries like Steam, Epic Store, Uplay etc.
Search for your games and click the + icon to add them to your GeForce Now library. When ready, click a game’s Play button to fire up a cloud gaming PC. You’ll log into your Steam/Epic account the first time to install the game (fast!).
I strongly recommend connecting a gamepad rather than using the trackpad. Bluetooth controllers work great if already paired. For USB ones, simply plug and play!
Poke around in GeForce Now’s settings to tweak things like keyboard layout, screen resolution, and bitrates. I suggest keeping most settings on auto, but you can experiment.
Also be patient on first game launch – you may need to hunt around for the Play button within Steam’s interface when firing up a new title.
During play, check GeForce Now’s status icon for network warnings, and fine-tune graphics settings for maximum eye candy!
If you spring for the paid membership, gorgeous ray tracing effects are automatically enabled in supported games. Pretty sweet bonus!
And that’s really all there is to it. GeForce Now removes Chrome OS’s gaming limitations, letting you conveniently access top titles no matter where you are. Everything streams directly from Nvidia’s servers, so even an ancient Chromebook can handle the latest games. Give it a shot today!
