Acer Chromebook 516 GE: What Real Users Actually Think

Likely the release of the product, not the manufacturing date. The 10 years of updates counts from when the platform was first released.

I think the updates roll from the date the device (really, motherboard) was first released, not when your specific machine was manufactured. This line of Acer Chromebooks has a 2022 variant so I think Acer starts counting from 2022. There is a 2024 variant but I think they kept the motherboard and just bumped some specs so it still counts at the same kernel.

It's 10 years from platform release, not device.

Ebay acer certified refurb has a lot of options. I got a very good 516 GE that ended up being new with 0 battery cycles.

A few notes: Installing Steam took a few tries, the instructions on Chromium blog didn't work. I had to install the Dev Channel, even though the Chromium blog said Beta channel would work. Multiple reboots were required before Chrome finally updated to the Dev Channel. Used a crosh (Ctrl+alt+t) terminal command to install Steam. Steam interface text is a bit small compared to the rest.

I have the 8gb one and it's a great machine, the price in my opinion is excessive, but I bought an openbox with clearance for 290, so it's fine and now it's my main machine.

I have the same chromebook and used steam by enabling beta mode on the chromebook and then removing flags through the address bar in browser. It was pretty easy for me. I have successfully played fallout new vegas. For schoolwork it is unbelievably fast. Zoom, links to videos, etc all load instantly.

It's 10 years of updates from the platform release. I have the 1H manufactured 2023/01/12 however Acer released the 516GE 10 years before June 2032 presumably.

I thought a cheap one would be enough for my use case and bought a 4GB RAM Chromebook. It was mostly ok but was occasionally frustratingly slow. So I ended up selling it and bought one with 16GB RAM. The performance difference is significant.

The Chromebooks from Acer seem to have good battery life anyway. I think I would get the older one. One good battery test is just to stream YouTube or Netflix for 3 hours and see how much battery is left.

I've had the 516 GE for a few months, got it refurbished from Acer for $270, and am just blown away by this thing. Great performance, can game with GeForce Now, not that heavy, it may be one of the best laptops I've ever used, which includes a number of Chromebooks. Highly recommended.

You can read about it at the Google support page but updates are for 10 years from the platform release date. The 516 GE came out in 2022, hence the 2032 AUP.

To avoid being overly positive, I do have one issue with this device. The disadvantage is that I need to connect an HDMI cable to my Chromebook in addition to the single USB-C cable. Since HDMI cables tend to be very thick and inflexible, they can get in the way of mouse movement when sticking out of the Chromebook.

Not to hate on chromebook gaming, but if you like the idea of the Acer 516 then you should look at a price competitive Windows laptop alternative. It has the same display resolution, color accuracy, and brightness, but the Windows machine runs Windows and has a dedicated GPU which means far more game compatibility.

My 4th grade son is really trying to get steam to work on the 516 GE, but we've tried all the online instructions and watched a bunch of YouTube tutorials and can't get it to work.

Yes they get ten years of updates but you never get 10 years of updates even if you stand at the end of the production line and get the first one they ever sell. The clock starts ticking when Google approves the chipset which will happen before the first one is ever sold.

You might want to look for 8GB RAM Chromebooks. I had an old Lenovo Chromebook with 4GB RAM and just upgraded to 8GB RAM Acer refurbished Chromebook. For just a little more money, you will get a bigger bang for your buck.

Awesome! Do you know if you can install Heroic or Lutris and get decent performance? I've got games scattered across multiple stores.

I've got the Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition with the same CPU as the 516GE and the benchmark scores are comparable. The i5-1240P is a strong performer in the Chromebook space.

If you only have 4gb of memory, it's best to turn off the Play Store because it runs a virtual machine for apps, uses a lot of memory, and causes slow browsing especially if you like to keep tabs open.

My i7 HP CB Dragonfly Elite gets 86,000 on Octane. Not looking at the numbers, but using it — Oh My, it really is so speedy.

Its great for me. A week after I bought it it went on sale for $400 and best buy credited me the difference. Big screen which I like. Speakers could be better. The grill makes them look big but it's only a small speaker. Def better than my downward facing speakers in my last laptop. It's fast. Really no complaints for my use.

Agreed.... used Acer 516 GE is a great Chromebook. $279 is a steal. I bought this Chromebook from Acer refurbished back in 2024. Never a problem.

I can vouch that the 516 GE can play simple JRPG games like the Legend of Heroes series and Persona 4 Golden just fine. Don't expect it to play AAA modern games with any sort of great visual/framerate performance. I tried Skyrim and was unable to really run it at 60 fps in the outside world with all the settings set as Medium at 900p resolution. Runs cloud games like a dream though.

The 516GE has an Intel i5 1240P CPU with 4 P cores and 8 E cores. Geekbench 5 Multi-Core rates the 1240P as 29% faster than the 1235U. Passmark CPU (Multi-Core) +37%. Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core) +42%. Just ordered the Acer 516GE. Best Buy has it on sale for $449.

I'm late to the party, but Amazon has some 16gb/256gb variants for sale. I'm trying to find out what size SSD the 516 GE takes so I can upgrade it right away.

So I just got this laptop and I successfully got steam downloaded. I'm trying to play older RTS games like Red Alert 2 and other C&C games. While playing the game it gets very choppy and bogs down. Any one have any tips or ideas on what to change or set up to help fix that?

Do you know if you can upgrade the ram on this specific laptop? I think it is great but I would like to do some software development on it and GeForce Now.

You can play Left 4 Dead 2, Hearts of Iron IV, Guild Wars 2 on GeForce Now and Star Wars from the Play Store on this Chromebook fairly easily.

When first purchased, I did use it in dual-monitor mode with HDMI. The resolution and refresh set up automatically without any hassles. But there was no sleeping — if I shut the Chromebook lid, it may go dark for a few seconds, but the external screen would light up again and stayed that way overnight.

I'm picking mine up from Best Buy today during my lunch break. It was the 8gb model, but it was $449 new. I'll mainly be using mine for email, bill payments and PS5 Remote Play.

I got my daughter the same chromebook and can't get Linux enabled so steam will work. We're stuck on trying to get steam playable.

Where did you get the 16GB version from?? Seems like they don't make it anymore.

Thank you for the explanation on the 10-year update policy. I was trying to figure it out too — good to know the clock starts from platform release not purchase date.

Not particularly much difference between the 2022 and 2024 variants. Chrome Unboxed did a good comparison on the model differences and the spoiler is that it's very minimal.

Is there a major difference between the 516 2022/3 and the 516GE 2024? Maybe the chip but most is the same. Even found a 516 with 16GB in the 2022/3 version.

Yes 12th Gen and above get Chromebook Plus certified.

Hi, does the 12th gen 2022 model get certified for Chromebook Plus? Notice the packaging doesn't state as it's too old, but presume it would pick up the status in an update?

Reviewers still refer to Octane scores. I always still use it for my Chromebook purchases as a relative comparison tool — it has more meaning to me than other benchmarks.

I have the 2023 model of the 714 with the i3 1315U and it has a stylus. Mine clearly does — stylus sits in the bottom front right corner, just like in the previous model.

It looks like that might have been one of the last models to launch with 8 years of support. There's always a chance Google will extend its AUE date before 2032.