Verdict
The Acer Chromebook 516 GE offer a lot of ability and solid battery life for the Leontyne Price . The chassis is uncompromising , while there ’s also a rarified selection of ports , and a neat display . However , its heavy marketing as a gaming system feels a minuscule shoddy considering it ’s only suited for cyclosis biz via the swarm .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
A gaming Chromebook ? Has the human beings gone mad ?
Well , no , but with the Second Coming of Christ of cloud gambling services in the New age , the indigence for zanily muscular ironware to launch the latestAAA gameshas become less important . Acer has tell apart this need , and is lead the charge with a whole new brand of play laptop designed to offer both the convenience of ChromeOS with the exemption for users to play the latest titles on a number of swarm service such as Game Pass and GeForce Now .
Enter the Acer Chromebook 516 GE , a large - screen Chromebook that brings with it a fair bit of oink for a laptop of its case , as well as a perceptibly effective display . While Chromebooks are more traditionally affordable fayre , the 516 GE clam that cut with a retail price that ’s pushing four figures . Whether that is justified to make it one of thebest Chromebookswe’ve tested remain to be seen – allow ’s dig in deeper .
Design
The Acer Chromebook 516 GE does n’t exactly give off the impression that it ’s a gaming - type laptop computer . It instead provides more of a corporate , almost business laptop - like elan , with a grayness chassis , stark with two - tone brushed ending on the 516 GE ’s top casing .
A weight unit of 1.7 kg for a 16 - inch laptop is n’t too spoiled , but generally puts the 516 GE on the heavier side in terms of laptop . With this in mind though , it ’s still portable enough to chuck into a bag and carry around with you .
A 16 - in projection screen makes this one of the larger Chromebooks I ’ve tested , and with it descend some pretty slender bezel around the top and incline of the 516 GE . This just helps along this Chromebook ’s modern esthetics , and contrasts well with the more rugged looks unremarkably associated with gaming laptops .
For a Chromebook , the port selection that the 516 GE bring home the bacon is excellent . On the left hand side , there ’s aUSB - Cport for charge , as well as a 2.5 - gig Ethernet port , and a headphone jack . Meanwhile , on the right hand side , this Acer Chromebook provides a further USB - nose candy , as well as a USB - A port , HDMI out , and a Kensington whorl .
This is one of the best port wine pick I ’ve experienced on a Chromebook , and provides all style of connectivity for the price . A secondary USB - A would have been gracious , although the fact there is a proper Ethernet port is the swop - off here .
The Acer Chromebook 516 GE ’s keyboard is more of a compact selection , with a 65%-style layout offering you the keys you take , without going overboard . It offers some decent locomotion and tactual sensation , and does n’t palpate especially sentimental unlike some other , albeit cheaper , Chromebooks I ’ve tested .
Acer also says the keyboard here is backlit , although I did have a hard time see any of the RGB on offer – the lighting just seemed a piece too wispy .
The trackpad here is of a in force size of it , and bid plenty of space for your function . The buttons present sense good too , with no real sponginess . My only issue is that as this is a Gorilla Glass trackpad , it can experience a small too liquid at times , extend digit drift to seem a short skittish .
Display
It ’s usually on the exhibit front where some Chromebooks can devolve categorical , but that is n’t the face with the 516 GE . With the option on offer here , Acer has brought the panel in note with where you ’d await it to be , given the price this laptop computer is offered at .
It bring with it a 2560×1600 resolution , offer solid detail levels and some fantabulous colour to my eye . Acer quotes the luminance of the 516 GE to posture at 350 nit , which adjoin our expected mark for laptop displays , and sure enough , the board here offered good luminousness , helping colours to pop a piddling .
The boastful thing compared to more formal Chromebooks is the gain of a 120Hzrefresh pace . This make on - screen motion a fair bit smoother compared to the more stock 60Hz find on other non - gaming laptop display . Of naturally , this is best experience in game , although even in day to day work with the 516 GE , the encouragement in refresh rate was welcome for sharp output .
As an IPS control panel too , its viewing angles were excellent , as proven by viewing the latest Grand Tour special , Eurocrash , on Amazon Prime Video , as well as when toy game such as Assetto Corsa Competitzione .
Performance
The big matter with the Acer Chromebook 516 GE is how it handles games . This is a twist designed to be used with cloud gambling services such asNvidia GeForce NowandXbox Cloud Gaming , and if you so care , you may even get Steam on Chromebooks now .
That said , do n’t expect this laptop to be powerful enough to bet many game offline . It has no discreteGPU , and ChromeOS is only supported by a handful of titles . If you desire high - ending gaming without the need for cloud streaming , check out ourBest Gaming Laptopsinstead .
It ’s a different story if you are happy to adhere to cloud play though . The 516 GE felt reactive in my playthroughs of Assetto Corsa Competitzione from Nvidia GeForce Now when connected with my Steam library , as well as on Forza Horizon 5 on Xbox Cloud Gaming . Those title were more than playable , with a antiphonal experience , without any noticeable input signal lag or rotational latency . However , that ’s arguably to do more with the amphetamine of my net connexion than the 516 GE itself .
delve into the spectacles , the 516 GE carries plenty of oink for a Chromebook , packing in an Intel Core i5 - 1240P central processing unit . This brings with it a total of 12 cores , split unsymmetrically between four Performance and eight Efficiency sum , as well as a boost clock of 4.4GHz . For a Chromebook , this is quite a wad of power , which makes sidereal day - to - day work an absolute breeze , especially turn over ChromeOS is a much swooning OS than Windows or macOS .
The snappy nature of the 516 GE ’s processor is reflected within the laptop computer ’s Geekbench 5 scores , especially in its multi - core resultant that puts it more against Windows - based ultrabooks such as theDell XPS 13 Plusand theAsus Zenbook S 13 OLEDthan other Chromebooks . Of course , it ’s hard to ignore the fact this is quite an expensive Chromebook , and with Windows laptops offering respectable OS - ground functions with similar performance , it brings into question the viability of the 516 GE a little .
8 GB of RAM is enough for you to harness more intensive tasks , even if ChromeOS itself is going to hold you back as some apps simply are n’t supported here . For the casual computing tasks that ChromeOS is more traditionally suitable for , it proved to be more than enough to cover a hoi polloi of Chrome tabs , as well as Spotify open playing music in the background .
A 256 GB SSD is especially prissy to see , and provides you with a decent amount of space ( at least for a Chromebook ) on which to put apps and authoritative files . It is worth noting though that Google ’s G Suite include Docs and Sheets means you of path may not require to set up any substantial software as well as the fact that the game you ’ll be playing on the 516 GE do not postulate to be set up locally to be played , giving you even more storage to play with .
It ’s also dandy to see Acer usingWi - Fi 6Efor wireless connectivity , ensure you get the immobile potential internet speeds when paired with a compatible router .
Battery Life
Considering the more power - hungry components packed inside the Acer Chromebook 516 GE , as well as a more powerful display and the addition of an RGB - keyboard , it get sense to expect this laptop to eat through its battery .
However , I ’m pleased to report that this was n’t the subject . The 516 GE hold up for a contact over 10 hours in a telecasting loop examination when I turned the keyboard backlighting down and dial the screen door smartness down to one-half .
There ’s enough succus in the tank to allow the 516 GE to last for a working sidereal day and for a little bit longer once you get home before you need to reach for the charging transmission line . In my testing , I only had to arrive at for it once I ’d finished working for the day to saddle the laptop up overnight . That ’s some solid survival .
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Should you buy it?
- The idea of gaming on a Chromebook via swarm cyclosis is an interesting curiosity , and if you want to assay it , the 516 GE is a solid choice .
The 516 GE is limit by the fact it wo n’t run games natively that well , as well as the forbiddance yield by a lighter bone .
Final Thoughts
The Acer Chromebook 516 GE offers some serious power for a laptop of its type , and bring home the bacon oink that ’s more corresponding to Windows ultrabooks than the majority of other Chromebooks . Combined with this , it offers a great display with good coloring and smooth movement , as well as a stalwart frame and improbable port selection .
It is , however , just a moment odd . This is a Chromebook that costs most four figures , and its best feature is n’t even something that ’s to do with the laptop computer ’s internal components itself . It can execute the likes of Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming , but so can plenty of other Chromebooks – the images presented may not be as penetrating though on lower - price ones .
The bottom credit line here is that if you desire to essay out the experience of cloud gaming on Chromebook , or just fancy one of the most herculean Chromebooks on the marketplace , then the Acer Chromebook 516 GE is a all right alternative . If you require to play games natively , check out ourBest Gaming Laptopslist . And for a chintzy laptop computer option , check out ourBest Chromebookranking .
Trusted Score
How we test
Every laptop computer we retrospect goes through a serial of uniform check designed to estimate key things include build timber , performance , CRT screen quality and battery life .
These admit conventional synthetic bench mark and scripted examination , plus a series of existent - world checks , such as how well it run pop apps .
FAQs
The Acer Chromebook 516 GE is good for cloud gaming , and offers a reactive experience . This is arguably more to do with the speed of the web connective , as opposed to the laptop itself , however . It is not powerful enough for offline native gambling .
With gaming on a Chromebook , you have two options . Either , you could instal fluid games from the Play Store , or you could stream them via service such as Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming . take on the late megahit games on Steam is not an pick .
