Nvidia RTX graphics could be coming to Chromebooks to rival Apple M1

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And not via GeForce Now this time

Laptop Chromebook
(Image credit: Shutterstock / lassedesignen)

Chromebooks are hardly known for their graphical prowess, but that could be set to change. MediaTek, the world's largest supplier of ARM-based chips for devices, is partnering with Nvidia to try and integrate graphical features such as ray tracing into consumer-focused ARM devices.

MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai commented on the collaboration in a statement; “We look forward to using our technology and working with Nvidia to bring the power of GPUs to the ARM PC platform for gaming, content creation and much more. GPU acceleration will be a huge boost for the entire ARM ecosystem.”

This combined effort could see some competition for the Apple M1 SoC (or 'system on a chip'), which displayed suitably impressive gaming performance during its reveal event back in 2020, achieving around 38FPS playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider on the M1 MacBook Air. Okay, its no RTX 3090, but the fact you can play games on MacBooks at over 30fps is still an achievement.

Looking promising

With any luck, the ARM/Nvidia Frankenstein's monster will see some equally impressive results, though no official confirmation has been given on what to expect from the collaboration, or indeed, if a commercial product will even be officially released.

If anything does result from this, it likely won't be a match for the current generation of gaming laptops, and the similar team-up between Microsoft and Qualcomm hasn't seen the most desirable results for Windows on ARM, with those devices still suffering from performance issues.

For anyone looking to game on a Chromebook right now though, you don't have to hang around. Cloud streaming platforms such as Google Stadia or Nvidia GeForce Now have come a long way since they first emerged on the market, with ray tracing available on the latter if you have a Founders Edition membership. You'll also get real-time DLSS support, so it's worth checking out if you have lackluster 'gaming' hardware but a solid internet connection.

Via NoteBook Check

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Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed

Jess is a former TechRadar Computing writer, where she covered all aspects of Mac and PC hardware, including PC gaming and peripherals. She has been interviewed as an industry expert for the BBC, and while her educational background was in prosthetics and model-making, her true love is in tech and she has built numerous desktop computers over the last 10 years for gaming and content creation. Jess is now a journalist at The Verge.