I forget exactly what Steam Link uses in terms of codecs. As long as it supports some of the newer-ish video encoders. So your Chromebook doesn't have to have great specs. It’s great to see Steam coming to affordable Chromebook devices, but the majority of users will still be recommended to either play via a cloud-based gaming platform such as Stadia, or NVIDIA GeForce Now, since it’ll offer better performance and more enjoyable graphics. It's streamed from your own home/desktop PC that you have steam installed on.

There are some higher-end devices that will be able to run certain software and titles with a great overall experience, but the majority will likely only be able to play less graphics-intensive games. While it’ll be great to see Steam on affordable Chromebooks, it’s important to note that most Chromebooks are not capable of playing AAA titles, and the majority of the devices won’t even be able to play most games in low settings due to the low-end hardware. It’s unclear how well it will all work out, but fans and gamers have widely praised the system. Proton itself is a compatibility layer developed by Valve that will allow Windows-based games to run on Linux operating systems. According to Android Police, Steam will be able to run that to the Linux compatibility that was added a while ago, and games will be compatible with the Proton.

Chrome os steam link