Acer Chromebook 516 GE (16-inch, 2022)

Performance and endurance Great display Good price for the specs Well-built Play AAA games without your lap turning into lava

Gaming-related bugs and crashes No touchscreen Could use customizable keys

Large, high-res screen ; Fast and responsive ; Decent keyboard ; Runs AAA games ; Excellent value

Not a touchscreen ; Backlit keyboard too dim ; No fingerprint scanner

The Acer Chromebook 516 GE makes cloud gaming on a laptop affordable, and does a decent job of playing AAA games via Nvidia's GeForce Now service. The 16-inch 2K screen is both large and detailed, and the 120Hz refresh rate makes for a smooth gaming...

Excellent performance ; Light and easy to carry around ; Great display and battery life

Cannot directly use Steam ; Pricey for a Chromebook with limited availability ; Poor sound quality

Though the title of the first gaming Chromebook is a bit overstated, the Acer Chromebook 516 GE is an excellent gaming machine when paired with streaming services. However, it's still not capable of direct Steam gaming, which is unfortunate.

Superb performance in gaming (and everything else) ; Powerful hardware for a Chromebook, from processing to storage ; Rich port selection ; RGB keyboard with anti-ghosting tech ; Gorgeous 120Hz display

No touch screen ; USB-C ports aren't Thunderbolt 4

Acer's rousing Chromebook 516 GE is among the first Chromebooks designed specially for cloud-based gaming. If this machine is any indication, we may be seeing the birth of a promising new class of laptop.

Attractive and rigid design ; Excellent CPU performance ; Plenty of wired and wireless connectivity ; High resolution 1600p display

Mediocre keyboard and touchpad ; Disappointing speakers, microphone ; Display falls behind in contrast, color vibrancy

Fast, handsome, and affordably priced, the Chromebook 516 GE is a great do-it-all laptop that’s also ideal for cloud gaming.

Smooth 120Hz display ; Fast performance ; Decent 1080p webcam ; Great value for price

Tinny audio ; Mushy keyboard ; So-so battery life ; No touchscreen is awkward for Play Store games

This $500 cloud-gaming Chromebook boasts an RGB keyboard, a 120Hz display, and a quad-speaker setup, but these specs are futile for facilitating smooth remote-server streaming.

12th-gen Intel i5 CPU ; Attractive 16-inch/120Hz screen ; Slim and lightweight design ; Good connectivity

No dedicated GPU ; Only 8GB memory ; Heavily reliant on streaming game services ; Modest battery life

Taken on its own terms the Chromebook 516 GE proves to be surprisingly successful at bringing gaming to the Chromebook market. Its reliance on subscription-based streaming services for gaming won’t suit everyone - after all, you’re paying a monthly...

High-performing display unmatched by even some high-end laptops ; Ethernet port for lag-free gameplay

Appeal is very specific to cloud gaming only ; Cloud gaming subscriptions needed to see true potential

High-end spec suits all applications ; Impressive high-resolution screen ; Strong gaming experience with Xbox Game Streaming and GeForce Now ; Enough performance to run Android games and older games with Steam

Game streaming will depend on your bandwidth at home ; Limited game support through GeForce Now ; Expensive by Chromebook standards

The Acer Chromebook 516 GE isn’t going to be everyone’s dream games machine. In fact, if you’re a serious PC gamer, you’d still be better off with a budget gaming laptop, where performance and game support is going to be more predictable.

Buttery-smooth performance ; Gorgeous 120Hz display ; Subtle gamer aesthetics

Keyboard backlighting is underwhelming ; On the thick side ; Charger feels a little dated

You're looking at pretty much all you need for a very compelling gaming experience.