How to build on Minecraft for Chromebook

There are no two ways about it: Playing Minecraft on a Google Chromebook device isn't easy owing to constraints by the hardware as well as the operating system.

Since Chromebooks operate off of an enhanced version of Google Chrome, these platforms are typically used for very light computing tasks, such as web-browsing, and don't really meet the hardware requirements for gaming.

However, Minecraft is still available on Chromebook, thanks to its inclusion of Minecraft: Education Edition on the platform. It may not be ideal, but it's far less complex than the alternative - running Java or Bedrock Editions through Linux on a Chromebook.

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Are Minecraft: Education Edition's controls different for Chromebook? How to build and place, remove blocks

Education Edition on Chromebook operates very similar to its Windows 10 Bedrock counterpart (Image via Mojang)

Once a Minecraft player enters Education Edition using their Chromebook, the game's operation is largely similar to Bedrock Edition at its core. This is because the Education Edition was built from the same Bedrock codebase as the Bedrock Edition. Once in-game, the controls are nearly identical to how they would be if a player was enjoying the game on a Windows 10 PC.

Using the left and right mouse buttons, players can break and place blocks respectively. The standard keys bound to actions such as movement, jumping, sneaking, and opening inventory screens are essentially the same as Windows 10/Bedrock.

With that in mind, building largely stays in line with other Minecraft versions. Players can build blocks by placing them with the right mouse button, and remove them by hand or with tools by aiming at them and holding the left mouse button until the block is destroyed.

One of the major hurdles Minecraft players may experience is one that has plagued some laptop users of the game for some time, which is, using a touch pad for controls. If players aren't able to attach and use an external mouse for looking around and breaking/building blocks, moving about and building can take substantially more time and effort. Those who might be interested in playing Minecraft: Education Edition on Chromebook will likely want to invest in a mouse for an optimal control experience.

Hopefully, Mojang will eventually develop a workaround for Minecraft on Chromebook so that players won't need to be constrained by Education Edition or using Linux workarounds. Until then, Minecraft lovers may have to exercise patience.