Review: Acer Chromebook 516 GE brings out the best of cloud gaming

One of the first “gaming” ChromeOS devices, the Acer Chromebook 516 GE is the definitive device for cloud gaming, even if that’s an oxymoron.

Why buy a gaming Chromebook?

Thanks to services like Xbox Game Pass, Nvidia GeForce Now, and (for a brief time) Stadia, Chromebooks became surprisingly competent gaming devices almost overnight. Using the same affordable ChromeOS laptop/tablet you already have for work, school, or personal use, you can play AAA-quality games, so long as you have a stable internet connection.

But if the Chromebook you already have is good enough, why then does one even need a “gaming Chromebook?” This is the difficult question that companies like Google and Acer have been seeking to answer, and for many people, the truth is that you don’t need it.

Instead, gaming Chromebooks are built for those who want apex-level quality and experience from gaming without shelling out for the necessary local gaming laptop or combination of PC/console and monitor. For a few hundred dollars more, you could get a Windows 11 gaming laptop, but the quality won’t be on-par with the RTX 3080 graphics that GeForce Now can offer. Plus, you’ll use more power (reducing battery life), generate more heat, and thus, need noisy fans.

With a gaming Chromebook like the Acer Chromebook 516 GE, you can push Nvidia GeForce Now nearly to its limits, handily running games on Ultra graphics, 1600p resolution, and 120 frames per second. All the while, the fans stay mostly quiet, your storage space remains free for other uses, and your battery life is as fantastic as any other Chromebook.

High refresh rate display

The key difference in the Acer Chromebook 516 GE that sets it apart from most other ChromeOS devices is the inclusion of a (16-inch, 2560×1600, IPS) 120Hz refresh rate display. Until this year, most other Chromebooks were locked in at 60Hz until you connected a faster external monitor.

As mentioned, this high refresh rate display is practically purpose-built for GeForce Now’s RTX 3080 tier. It’s an oddly novel experience to play Cyberpunk 2077 at 120 frames per second on a Chromebook. If you’ve not yet had the privilege of gaming at a high refresh rate, the difference is surprisingly stark, with everything feeling perceptively smoother and more realistic.

To ensure every gaming Chromebook owner has the chance to have that experience, Google and Nvidia are currently offering a free three-month trial of GeForce Now’s RTX 3080 tier. You’re also entitled to a three-month trial of Amazon Luna.

Unfortunately, GeForce Now is the only game streaming service available today that offers 120fps gameplay on ChromeOS, with all others capped at 60fps, which is certainly still playable. Worse, the other avenues to gaming on ChromeOS — Android games in the Play Store and PC gaming through the Steam beta — have the same 60fps cap.

Long story short: the higher refresh rate of the Acer Chromebook 516 GE is currently only used for GeForce Now and everyday web browsing. This isn’t a flaw of Acer’s design, but hopefully only a temporary limitation of ChromeOS.

Otherwise, the screen is plenty bright and has a matte finish, both of which help when using the Chromebook in sunlight, though it does attract dust. Notably, Acer has opted not to include a touchscreen in the Chromebook 516 GE, which is a rare exclusion for ChromeOS. That said, I haven’t found myself missing the ability to use touch.

• Acer Chromebook 516 GE at Best Buy

Hardware

Of course, there’s more to making a great cloud gaming device than just attaching a nicer display. For starters, each gaming Chromebook includes an anti-ghosting keyboard (with RGB lighting, because gaming), which is a technique to ensure that all of your simultaneous keypresses are correctly sent to your game. Traditional Chromebooks do not have this, so if you’re a keyboard-and-mouse type of gamer, this alone could be a reason to upgrade.

The keyboard on the Acer Chromebook 516 GE is well arranged, with everything feeling precisely placed and comfortable. The included RGB lighting is a bit disappointing here, offering soft light and color rather than a bold effect, but the RGB is also not something that I particularly care about.

Beyond that, Acer actually included a useful hardware feature on the Chromebook 516 GE that none of the other gaming devices offer — a full 2.5-Gigabit Ethernet port. While there have been significant enhancements in Wi-Fi technology over the past few years — including Wi-Fi 6E support in this particular model — a hardwired Ethernet cable will almost always offer a more stable experience for cloud gaming.

Digging into the rest of the spec sheet, the Acer Chromebook 516 GE that I tested included a 12th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of NVMe storage. These upper-midrange specs are more than enough to keep ChromeOS running smoothly at the higher refresh rate, run some games through Steam, or serve as a developer’s device.

All of that is wrapped in a sleek chassis with upward-facing speakers and a full range of useful ports. The two-tone design of the lid makes the Acer Chromebook 516 GE a fun device to use in public without looking too much like an edgy “gaming” laptop. That said, I found the Chromebook needs to be babied a bit as it’s somewhat prone to scratches.

Should you buy the Acer Chromebook 516GE?

The ideal customer for the Acer Chromebook 516 GE today is someone who does the majority of their gaming through GeForce Now and prefers to play with a keyboard and mouse. For $650, you can bring the full might of modern cloud gaming anywhere (with internet access) without compromising on screen size or awkward controls.

With time, as more cloud gaming services pick up higher framerate streaming, the Acer Chromebook 516 GE will become easier to recommend. Even outside of gaming use, having a Chromebook with a high refresh rate has been a delight, but ChromeOS still has some catching up to do before I’d recommend one on that spec alone.

For the person who takes cloud gaming quite seriously, the Acer Chromebook 516 GE strikes an excellent balance between being “gamer-ready” and useful as a simple laptop. Unlike other gaming-focused devices, like the upcoming Razer Edge, you have a full laptop experience courtesy of ChromeOS.

For a limited time, Best Buy is offering the Acer Chromebook 516 GE for $549 — a $100 discount — making it an even more compelling option going into the holiday season.