Acer 516 GE: Reddit's Verdict on the Screen vs Battery Debate

Likely the release of the product, not the manufacturing date. The support window starts from the platform launch.

There is zero reason why it should do any of this. 8GB is plenty for a Chromebook unless you go way overboard with extensions or huge numbers of heavy websites that are all open and active at the same time. Log into a guest session and see if you can reproduce this problem.

I had a 2-in-1 touchscreen and stylus, didn't end up using it much. Decided a bigger, high-res (and high-refresh rate) display was better for my usage. Loved the full sized tenkeyless keyboard, too. Made the 516 GE an easy decision.

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 Acer Chromebook 516 GE (2022) variant so I think Acer starts counting from 2022.

Check out how to turn your Chromebook into a Mintbook. I'll bet it runs better on Linux than Chrome.

For your stated use case, I'd save the money. I doubt there's any noticeable difference in performance between the i3 and i5 for basic Google Docs and form filling.

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.

The CX54 seems overkill. If you need a bigger screen, go with the Acer 516, if you don't go with the Asus CX34. All of these Chromebooks actually have Thunderbolt 4.

I have the 8 gb one (USD 290 open box at best buy) and its great, I can play steam games (I play old games and metroidvanias/platformers) and after changing the ssd for 500 GB one is perfect for me, the screen is gorgeous, for now 8gb ram is enough.

I purchased it because of this review and other top sites who had similar reviews but it's been nothing but a nightmare to use. Even the user reviews on best buy and other sites give it decent praise but for me it's been an absolute dumpster fire.

You need to clear out your downloads local storage. It's not just ram that slows things down on a CB. This is why when possible, I tell folks to consider a Chromebox instead, where you can upgrade RAM and SSD.

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.

I own a 516 GE and it's a great device. But the benefits are all in the display. It has a 16" 120Hz display, and a higher resolution than most 714 variants. Battery life on the 516 is definitely a weakness though.

I have the 516 GE and it's been great for my purposes and as previously mentioned the screen is fantastic.

The 516 GE has pretty good hardware! The only limitation is RAM — lots of AAA games have a hard time running on less than 16GB. I have one, and IMHO it has the best keyboard and trackpad of any Chromebook I've used.

You said you want to run basic games, it will run basic games. If they are deck verified they will generally run on the Chromebook, and the Acer 516 has a 12th Gen i5 and 8GB of memory. So as long as the game isn't too big to store on the SSD, it will likely run albeit at lower settings.

Personally I would much rather go with the Acer spin 714 over the Acer 516 GE while the GE has better cooling and better IO the Acer spin is not only a 2 in 1 but also has a touch screen which to me personally is much more worth it than the 120Hz screen.

Previous 516 had i5 1215u, new 516 has Intel core 5 series 1. Keyboard is said to be brighter.

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.

I think the Duet is probably the better add for versatility. The Acer is a solid laptop but you lose the tablet form factor and OLED screen.

New feature on updated Chromebooks is that they automatically clear and reallocate RAM as necessary so that small percentage of remaining RAM no longer means what it used to mean as far as potential performance degradation.

The 516 GE came out in 2022, hence the 2032 AUP. Support is calculated from platform release, not purchase date.

I think you got a lemon. I have the same model and it's been solid. I have a kajillion tabs open and it doesn't slow down, and I can stream the notoriously hinky NBA League Pass games without buffering like they do through the TV.

This exact laptop was my best tech purchase of 2024. Buy a deck for gaming and you're set.

Balatro and ffvii run great. The only other one I've tried was sims 4 and I couldn't get it to run but didn't try that hard. Everything that I play is on GeForce now though, so I haven't really felt a lot of motivation to test out steam.

It's 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. It's fast. Really no complaints for my use.

I have the same one, and didn't install apps as I couldn't get the quality I wanted on it. If I stream I use the browser version. I ended up buying a galaxy tab s9 for higher quality video. The computer is my go to for anything web based and it's fine for that.

I have this very CB 16gb with an installed 2TB name drive and use it at work and most of the time I am running a Windows VM, a Kali Linux VM / emulated/ kvm and other local Linux apps such as termius and other web apps on multiple screens with zero issues.

I've had 4 Acer chromebooks and they've all been great. I mean, it's possible the OP got a lemon or they made a bad batch, but I've been using Acer chromebooks since they started making them and I've never had an issue with any of them.

I haven't noticed the issue with RAM on mine, but yes it is a power hog! I get better battery life out of my asus cx5500 that has 80% battery health. I charge it 2 times a day when using it for about 6 hours.

Just bought mine and I got the same problems. 2,30 GB ram out of 7,75 GB available after restart. Fans are very loud too.

I just make 2 hours with 100% battery and approx 66% screen brightness. I think I'll get the new lenovo plus for battery. Other than the battery, I'm happy with performance. 2 hours is subpar.

I got a Lenovo 5i 120hz chromebook, the direct competitor to this, and feels almost the same. I also have very audible fan noise and RAM usage, app crashing, etc.

I was doing some research for a trip, so had a few travel blogs open in tabs. Memory pressure makes the laptop fans kick in. Seems like every Chromebook model is 8GB, which is not enough. I'm constantly going through tabs and closing the memory hogs.

It's the most useless laptop I've ever owned. Every software I try to download, including the driver for my new printer, is not compatible. I didn't know you had to get a special printer just for the Chromebook - how non-nimble! Useless!

Battery life is not nearly as long as my HP C1030, but I would expect that for a large 120hz screen. I can live with the battery life since most of the time it can be plugged in. For the price I'm not going to complain too much.

I have the same laptop, I have dbz: kakarot, crash trilogy, spyro trilogy, cuphead, crab game, mad max, overwatch 2 and lethal company running on it. Though you can always just download the game to see if it works, and then refund if it doesn't.

I'm picking mine up from Best Buy today during my lunch break. It was the 8gb model, but it was $449 new (not the demo unit). I'll mainly be using mine for email, bill payments and PS5 Remote Play.

I think it's still a great device. The price has come down even further. Great screen, really good processor. Can sit on your desk all day long and still, when you want to bring it around the house or anywhere else, you got a great laptop. It's still a no-brainer to me.

Try removing the Play Store virtual machine since it takes up resources.