Acer Chromebook Plus 516 Review: Basic Chromebook With a Big Screen and Battery

Posted on April 25, 2025April 25, 2025 by b0uvd

7.5/ 10
SCORE

Acer Chromebook Plus 516

Pros

Roomy, 16-inch display
Strong overall performance from Intel Core i3
Long battery life

Cons

Some flex to plastic chassis
No keyboard backlighting
Weak audio output
Slow USB ports

It would be easier to recommend the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 if not for the fact that the Acer’s own Chromebook Plus 516 GE can be found on sale for less. The “GE” in this other model stands for Gaming Edition but you don’t need to be a gamer to appreciate its added benefits. Both are large, 16-inch Chromebooks but the GE boasts a higher-resolution display powered by a newer Intel processor while also doubling the storage, adding some metal to its design and RGB backlighting. The Chromebook Plus 516 costs $479 at Best Buy and the Chromebook Plus 516 GE is $200 off at the time of this review and on sale for only $449.

The Acer Chromebook Plus 516 is a fine overall Chromebook. Its enclosure is made entirely of plastic but it’s fairly solidly constructed and doesn’t look or feel cheap. Its 16-inch display is roomy and produces an image that looks crisp enough for general use. The lack of any keyboard backlighting — RGB or otherwise — is disappointing but with its number pad, the Chromebook Plus 516 is perhaps a better fit for number crunchers. Unless you can find it on sale for less than the GE version or absolutely need a Chromebook with a numpad, there’s really no reason to choose the Chromebook Plus 516 over the Chromebook Plus 516 GE.

Acer Chromebook Plus 516 (CB516-1H-31UE)

Price as reviewed	$479
Display size/resolution	16-inch, 1,920×1,200 IPS 300 nits
CPU	Intel Core i3-1315U
Memory	8GB LPDDR5 SDRAM
Graphics	Intel UHD Graphics
Storage	128GB Universal Flash Storage
Ports	2 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, 2 x USB-A USB 3.2 Gen 1, HDMI 1.4, combo audio
Networking	Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3
Operating system	ChromeOS
Weight	3.67 pounds (1.66 kg)

Acer Chromebook Plus 516 specs and performance

The Chromebook Plus 516 (model CB516-1H-31UE) is available at Best Buy for $479 and features an Intel Core i3 1315U processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of flash storage. The display is a 16-inch IPS LCD display with a 1,920×1,200-pixel resolution and a standard 60Hz refresh rate. It does not offer touch support.

As a Chromebook Plus, the Chromebook Plus 516 comes preloaded with Google’s Gemini AI chatbot. It also includes 12 months of Google One AI Premium, which supplies Google’s latest AI models, access to Gemini in Gmail, Docs and NotebookLM Plus and 2TB of cloud storage. This premium plan costs $20 a month, making it a $240 value here.

Acer has product pages for the Chromebook Plus 516 in the UK and Australia but it is not yet available at the time of this review.

Acer Chromebook Plus 516 keyboard deck with Intel Core i3 sticker — Matt Elliott/CNET

The Chromebook Plus 516 is basically an entry-level model for Google’s Chromebook Plus category. The minimum requirements to be labeled as a Chromebook Plus are:

12th-gen Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 7000 processor or better
8GB or more of memory
128GB or more of storage
1080p-resolution IPS LCD or better
1080p webcam with temporal noise reduction

Other than its 13th-gen Core i3 chip, the Chromebook Plus 516 hits the minimum requirements and goes no further.

The Core i3 1315U is now two generations old, behind Intel’s Meteor Lake and Lunar Lake series. The Core 5 120U chip in the Chromebook Plus 516 GE, for example, is a Meteor Lake chip. As you can see in the performance charts below, the Chromebook Plus 516 GE outpaced the Chromebook Plus 516 on most of our benchmarks. The Chromebook Plus 516 is still a top performer among Chromebooks because many current models feature a 12th-gen Core i3 or a low-power chip from Intel’s N series.

The Chromebook Plus 516 is also one of the longest-running Chromebooks we’ve tested, lasting 11 hours 35 minutes on our YouTube streaming test. That’s an excellent runtime for any Chromebook but especially for one with such a large display.

Larger than your average Chromebook

The Chromebook Plus 516 is the opposite of the undersized Chromebooks you or your kids might have used in school at some point. Instead of a small touchscreen, it’s based on a large, 16-inch display that lacks touch support. It’s a basic IPS panel with a standard resolution and refresh rate. Text looks crisp and images look sharp on the 1,920×1,200-pixel screen but things are finer on the 2,560×1,600-pixel display of the Chromebook Plus 516 GE. For general Chromebook use of browsing the web and working on Google Docs and Sheets, there’s no need to spend more for the higher-resolution panel unless that higher-resolution panel is on sale for less as it was at the time of this review.

Acer Chromebook Plus 516 has a 16-inch display — Matt Elliott/CNET

Likewise, the higher 120Hz refresh rate of the GE model isn’t a requirement for most users but is nice to have if the price is right. The speedier refresh rate is a boon for gamers because movement in games looks smoother. And while you might be able to detect smoother scrolling through web pages on the GE model compared with that on the 60Hz panel here, it’s not like you’ll see drastic stuttering. Again, it’s a nice feature to have but not a necessity for most Chromebook users.

Despite the large display, the Chromebook Plus 516 remains relatively portable. It weighs 3.67 pounds, which is the same as the GE model and about a half a pound lighter than the 16-inch Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook. Meanwhile at 3.2 pounds, the 14-inch Acer Chromebook Plus 514 is a half pound lighter than the Chromebook Plus 516.

Acer Chromebook Plus 516 plastic top cover — Matt Elliott/CNET

The Acer Chromebook Plus 516 features an all-plastic enclosure, which is the norm for most Chromebooks. It has passed MIL-STD-810H tests for durability, according to Acer, but some flex can be felt. The flex is at its worst in the middle of the keyboard, which isn’t unexpected given the large expanse on such a big Chromebook. The plastic top cover also flexes a bit behind the display. The 516 GE model is mostly plastic but has an aluminum top cover behind the display for added rigidity and style.

The keyboard is comfortable to use; the keys feel stable and offer a good amount of travel. They’re also quiet when pressed; this is not a cheap, clacky keyboard. Acer added a number pad but not at the expense of the rest of the keyboard — there are no shortened keys. It includes a new key I’ve not seen before on a Chromebook — the caps-lock key doubles as a Quick Insert Key that calls up a context-sensitive menu with Google AI assistance for rewriting and editing content as well as shortcuts to add emojis, GIFs and recent files.

Acer Chromebook Plus 516 keyboard and touchpad — Matt Elliott/CNET

Above the keyboard is a wide speaker grille, which gave me some hope that the audio output would have some kick to it. Sadly, my hopes were unfounded. The stereo speakers do fire upward, which is always a good start for laptop audio as opposed to downward-firing speakers that push the audio into your desk or lap. The speakers sounded terribly weak and are an absolute no-go for music enjoyment. They provide nothing in the way of bass response and mids and highs sound muddied. Even dialogue when watching a show or movie sounded uninspired.

The 1080p webcam provides a fairly clean image but it certainly has more noise than you get with, say, a 1440p camera. The onboard AI tools designed to remove this digital graininess did not do a very effective job. On the positive side for the webcam, it features a physical shutter so you can protect your privacy when you aren’t on a video call.

Acer Chromebook Plus 516 ports on left side include two USB-C connections — Matt Elliott/CNET

The Chromebook Plus 516 offers two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports, so you won’t need to carry around an adapter to connect any USB devices to it. But the ports are slow by modern standards. Thunderbolt 4 offers 40Gbps speed but the pair of USB-C ports here top out at 10Gbps. And the USB-A ports are even slower at 5Gbps.

Is the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 worth buying?

There is nothing wrong with the Chromebook Plus 516 to prevent a recommendation. Its shortcomings — uninspired plastic design, weak audio output, no keyboard backlighting — are not uncommon to a Chromebook. However, the Chromebook Plus 516 GE is clearly a better buy when it can be found for less. I would only point you toward the Chromebook Plus 516 when it’s on sale and the GE model isn’t.

The full price of the GE model is $649, which is $170 more than the “non-GE” Chromebook Plus 516. That’s a reasonable discount for giving up some screen resolution and speed, processing power, keyboard backlighting and an aluminum lid. But when that price difference not only disappears but swings the other way, there’s no reason to choose the Chromebook Plus 516 over the GE model. Only during times when you can get the non-GE model for $170 less than the GE model does it makes sense to choose it.

Geekbench 6 (Android version, multi-core)

Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE 7559Acer Chromebook Plus 516 5581Acer Chromebook Plus 515 5069HP DragonFly Pro Chromebook 4489Acer Chromebook Plus 514 4395HP Chromebook Plus x360 4328Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook 3872Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11 2375