This Chromebook thinks it’s for gamers - Acer Chromebook 516GE
This Chromebook thinks it’s for gamers - Acer Chromebook 516GE
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Chromebooks are known for being cheap and straightforward laptops meant for offices, schools, and basic use, but that’s about to change with Acer’s new gamer-focused Chromebooks meant for game streaming apps. Does Adam think it makes sense, or should you just stick to playing Fortnite on your phone?
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CHAPTERS
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0:00 Gaming?
0:30 Unboxing
0:50 Design and IO overview
2:23 Sponsor - Vessi
2:57 Keyboard impressions
3:34 Display quality
4:24 Speaker test
5:13 Webcam impressions and other specs
6:04 Potential ways to game
7:05 Some downsides to gaming on this
7:52 Playing Cyberpunk 2077
8:43 Gaming impressions and thoughts on price
9:48 Who should buy a Chromebook?
10:47 Overall thoughts
11:43 Outro
Content
0.179 -> so you like gaming but you don't like it
3.48 -> which is why Asus and Acer have
6.66 -> developed gaming Chromebooks the
9.42 -> operating system that you're pretty sure
11.099 -> was designed to not let you do anything
12.719 -> other than browse the web now let's see
15.059 -> a game apparently and we're not going to
17.22 -> cover the Asus one but just so you know
18.9 -> there's more there's multiples of these
21.119 -> now wait Asus has one it's called the
25.8 -> Asus got one and but the one we're
29.099 -> interested in looking at today is from
31.38 -> Acer the company that everyone confuses
33.719 -> for Asus including me inside the Box we
36.6 -> got is a charger with every possible
38.88 -> vert piece of verification and
40.5 -> certification you could ever want 65
42.96 -> Watts which is plenty for a Chromebook
45.18 -> Chromebooks don't usually come with so
46.739 -> much power in them that means that they
49.2 -> get super great battery life this is
51.6 -> huge this is a big Chromebook it's got a
53.82 -> little two-tone Sheen to it brushed
56.42 -> aluminum the bottom
59.76 -> is plastic usb-a full size HDMI love it
64.08 -> a USB C I believe it's 3.2 Gen 2 of I2
68.64 -> and ethernet oh that's really nice we
70.38 -> got an Ethernet Jack headphone and a
73.08 -> microphone combo Jack and a battery
75 -> charge light that's pretty big
76.32 -> Chromebooks are usually more focused on
78.36 -> portability it's also quite thick which
81.36 -> is interesting because while it is a
84.06 -> gaming Chromebook can't really play all
86.7 -> that many games on Chromebook so the
89.22 -> main thing that this does is it's going
91.02 -> to be really really good at game
92.52 -> streaming why you need a gaming
94.38 -> Chromebook for game streaming I don't
96.18 -> know why can't you why can't you just
97.56 -> use a like a normal Chromebook and
100.079 -> stream games build quality is a feels
102.24 -> pretty good it feels quite sturdy it's
103.92 -> big
104.7 -> deck Flex we got
106.92 -> I mean it's kind of I gotta really push
108.9 -> on it so far I'm really impressed it
110.82 -> does have a plastic frame up here screen
112.439 -> Flex that's pretty good for how thin it
114.72 -> is so when I open it you see they have
116.28 -> these little rubber feet back here so
117.899 -> when I pull this back far enough it
119.399 -> props up the laptop a little bit
120.78 -> allowing you to get a little bit more
121.979 -> airflow keeping things a lot cooler
123.6 -> we've got nice big speaker grilles but
125.159 -> that means nothing as to how good the
126.6 -> speakers sounds we'll take a look at
127.799 -> that wait what four times Force
130.8 -> canceling speakers what the hell is
132.18 -> force canceling what does force can
135.12 -> what
135.95 -> [Music]
137.9 -> do you know what I do know there's a
139.86 -> pair of shoes out there that's water
140.76 -> canceling and they just sponsored this
142.379 -> video vessi thanks to vessi Footwear for
144.9 -> sponsoring this video Vesti Footwear is
146.58 -> known for being lightweight comfortable
147.84 -> and most importantly water resistant
149.58 -> with its dimatex technology and also
151.8 -> it's easy to pack because you can just
153.3 -> smoosh them down flat they're all fabric
154.92 -> their everyday move line is designed
156.66 -> with added support at the midsole and
158.4 -> better breathability to keep up with
159.9 -> your active lifestyle and sweaty feet
161.58 -> take them off and put them on with ease
163.319 -> thanks to the handy pull tab and it's
165.54 -> also made creature free so every step
167.16 -> you take will be free of guilt your feet
169.44 -> will thank you for wearing these so say
171.18 -> goodbye to wet socks and hello to 25 off
173.64 -> with our offer code short circuit at
175.5 -> vesi.com Short Circuit so the nice part
178.319 -> about the gaming Chromebook is that it
180 -> has the wasd keys highlighted for you so
182.22 -> you never forget which Keys you need to
184.319 -> press when you're playing games
185.459 -> interesting that they didn't that they
187.5 -> still make you use the search key
188.76 -> instead of the Caps locks key because if
190.56 -> you're like me caps lock is essential
192.18 -> for gaming also the up Keys highlighted
194.519 -> up and down silent it's weird why they
196.44 -> highlighted some keys in another and how
198.06 -> does it feel to type on it it's fine it
199.56 -> feels a little mushy it's not super
201.959 -> clicky bottoming out feels just kind of
204.48 -> unsatisfying it's almost like it's
206.04 -> settling into like a foam or something
207.48 -> they're not advertising it as a
208.98 -> mechanical keyboard so it's probably
209.94 -> just membrane so not so bad I also think
211.86 -> that the font's pretty classy I like the
213.48 -> lowercase font it's 2560 by 1600 which
216.3 -> means it's a 16 by 10 display so you get
218.459 -> a little bit more of a vertical
219.54 -> resolution which typically is reserved
221.58 -> for productivity stuff
223.26 -> um that might be a little weird some
224.4 -> games don't support 16x10 it's 120 hertz
227.4 -> which is great High refresh rate it's
229.56 -> gaming I don't think you'll be able to
230.94 -> find that on any Chromebooks outside of
233.34 -> the gaming Uber it looks okay just from
235.92 -> staring at it in the menus but we're
237.48 -> gonna watch some videos that I've looked
239.58 -> at before to uh see how it looks and yes
243 -> I know it's YouTube there's compression
244.86 -> that's not the reverse test if it looks
246.36 -> good enough to watch YouTube then it's a
247.799 -> chrome it's a good Chromebook it looks
250.019 -> pretty good I've seen better looking
251.519 -> displays nothing's terribly blown out
253.86 -> colors seem relatively calibrated this
255.72 -> is obviously just a glance it's not the
258.12 -> darkest black so you'll see but it is an
259.919 -> IPS display that so it's a solid white
261.66 -> backlight
262.86 -> um now let's listen to crab rate let's
264.06 -> see how the speakers are playing okay
266.88 -> already it sounds really bad like just
270.12 -> just hearing that water
273.479 -> okay it's louder now
275.58 -> foreign
277.45 -> [Music]
281.94 -> and completely lacks any significant
283.56 -> bass response you could when we're
285 -> playing all you could hear is like
287.28 -> they do get loud though which is good
290.4 -> um and they didn't sound too distorted
293.12 -> [Music]
299.419 -> they don't get any worse when you're
301.38 -> playing them really loud they just kind
302.639 -> of sound bad across the whole volume
303.96 -> Spectrum at least it's consistent and it
305.94 -> doesn't get super distorted um of course
307.68 -> they have DTS certification because you
310.08 -> can just slap that on anything at some
311.82 -> meaningless badge uh looking at the
314.1 -> Quality it looks about as good as I
316.08 -> would expect from a 650 laptop which
319.08 -> means that the webcam quality is not
320.639 -> great the microphone quality though I
323.28 -> haven't heard it yet so let me know what
326.039 -> it sounds like
327.72 -> so inside this we have a Intel Core i5
330.5 -> 1240p which is 12 cores four performance
334.02 -> cores eight e-cores so a maximum of 16
336.36 -> threads good CPU for a Chromebook that's
339.66 -> a lot of uh horsepower actually max
341.88 -> turbo 4.4 gigahertz that's a beefy CPU
345.419 -> for what is considered a lightweight
346.979 -> platform we also got eight gigs of RAM
349.5 -> which is uh I don't want to say it's par
351.479 -> for the course for the for a Chromebook
352.979 -> it should but it's the new standard for
354.539 -> Chromebooks you'll see Chromebooks On
355.919 -> The Low End having around four gigabytes
357.96 -> a lot of the time we've got 250
359.82 -> gigabytes of nvme storage which is a lot
363.72 -> for a Chromebook Chromebooks are famous
365.34 -> for having like 64 gigabytes so 256 of
367.919 -> nvme pcie is great for all the programs
370.919 -> that I guess you're going to have loaded
372.12 -> on here which I don't expect to be ton
373.74 -> but remember just because we're talking
375.9 -> about game streaming doesn't mean that
377.52 -> you can't install Linux using the Linux
379.32 -> subsystem I actually just did it while
381.06 -> we were talking earlier I don't know
382.38 -> what the status of it is steam will be
384.3 -> running natively on Chromebook soon it
386.16 -> just runs all of the games through the
387.36 -> Linux and implementation of the system
388.74 -> but soon you'll be really thankful that
390.72 -> you have 256 gigs of storage so that you
392.759 -> can actually keep some games on here and
394.259 -> have them running but let's talk about
395.699 -> game streaming that's the main claim to
398.16 -> fame that's why you have the 2.5 gigabit
399.96 -> Ethernet or the 120 hits display it's
402.3 -> all about the game streaming I also
404.46 -> appreciate that they have the full size
405.479 -> HDMI a lot of laptops will forgo the
408.96 -> full-size HDMI make you use a dongle but
411 -> if you're going to use this as like
412.02 -> maybe this is your gaming laptop maybe
413.819 -> this is your only computer being able to
415.38 -> plug it into a display that you have is
417.66 -> awesome I don't know if you can hear it
419.22 -> you can't really but this thing is like
421.44 -> just not even sweating
422.94 -> um and it is doing a screen capture
425.78 -> we are we are full up on memory and I
428.28 -> only got I mean I can close this YouTube
430.5 -> app even with game streaming eight gigs
432.78 -> is not a lot and especially if you're
434.759 -> you know if you do decide to play games
436.5 -> locally you might be uh hurting oh
439.08 -> that's kind of an interesting caveat I
440.52 -> never thought about if you're using like
441.72 -> a gaming peripheral say you have like
443.639 -> your settings stored and it's in the
445.5 -> cloud because that's how
447.72 -> so many stupid gaming peripherals work
449.699 -> you don't have local storage on your
451.259 -> mouse you're not going to be able to
452.46 -> configure it because they're not going
453.84 -> to have a Chrome OS app that's kind of
455.52 -> something that you don't really think
456.24 -> about until you start using it so you go
458.039 -> oh wait if my mouse requires software to
460.319 -> be configured then I'm not going to be
461.759 -> able to do that on here I'm going to be
462.9 -> stuck with the default settings and the
464.4 -> default DPI settings see here's the
466.02 -> thing I don't know I don't know if I
467.28 -> have to change this in like the GeForce
469.08 -> Now settings GeForce now is only
470.759 -> outputting at 16x9 yeah this is not
473.039 -> using the full refresher to the display
474.599 -> I don't think this is just streaming it
476.099 -> however it is whisper quiet projecting
478.919 -> two hours of battery life which is a
480.599 -> this is it's a lot more than you will
483.06 -> get but playing this game playing
484.62 -> cyberpunk on your actual laptop oh my
486.539 -> God excuse me I'm doing illegal stuff
488.52 -> the cool kind of illegal stuff does the
491.099 -> gaming chromework have a graphics card
492.539 -> no it doesn't it just uses Intel Ze
495.06 -> Graphics which is or XE Graphics which
496.74 -> is actually a good question that we
498.12 -> should have not just brushed over
499.319 -> earlier despite the fact that this is a
500.819 -> gaming Chromebook it has no graphics
503.099 -> card it is just integrated Graphics
505.5 -> which guess that's the Chromebook part
507.06 -> of it huh but again we're not doing this
509.46 -> isn't really being pitched or sold as a
512.339 -> local gaming Beast it's being pitched as
514.5 -> a Chromebook that also games because it
516.719 -> has RGB and because it has a fast
518.82 -> refresh rate that you can't take
520.26 -> advantage of because I don't think
521.279 -> there's any service that streams in 120
522.899 -> frames per second I just played a little
524.7 -> bit of a cyberpunk and most of all it
527.76 -> felt like I was playing a game on a game
529.74 -> streaming surface which
532.2 -> you can do on like an Apple TV you can
535.68 -> do it on your smart TV and your smart TV
537.36 -> definitely has a worse processor however
539.82 -> your smart TV isn't a laptop this you
541.86 -> get a whole laptop and here's the thing
543.72 -> the price is 650 US Dollars which is
548.1 -> actually pretty good for what you're
549.72 -> getting but if I'm going against other
551.279 -> gaming computers let's look at the MSI
553.459 -> gf63 that's got an Intel i5 10300h a
557.399 -> worse processor than this it's got the
559.38 -> same amount of storage the same amount
560.94 -> of ram it's smaller but it does have a
563.22 -> 1650 a GTX 1650 mobile GPU is that
566.58 -> really that much better what about this
568.32 -> Lenovo IdeaPad it's in line with PCS
571.5 -> that are in the same price range so
573.48 -> here's the thing at the price point of
575.12 -> 650. is that a fair price for the specs
577.92 -> that you're getting things will go on
579.36 -> sale like currently it's Cyber Monday
581.22 -> when we're recording this and there's a
583.38 -> lot of higher spec laptops that are
585.18 -> available at a very similar price that
586.92 -> are Windows laptop my word of advice for
589.86 -> a long time was that if you are planning
591.6 -> to spend a more than than 500 on the
593.64 -> laptop go windows don't worry about
595.74 -> Chromebooks if you're spending less than
597.3 -> that that's what that's the category
598.8 -> where the Chromebook becomes really
600.54 -> really compelling is under 500 if you're
603.42 -> looking for a machine that's under 500
604.92 -> what are you really doing on it you're
607.2 -> browsing the web you're like voice
609.959 -> chatting with people you're not doing
611.58 -> heavy stuff Chrome OS has is really
613.68 -> great in that budget segment when you
615.3 -> push beyond that that's when you start
616.74 -> competing with actually competent
618.36 -> laptops it's gonna be better than the in
620.04 -> than the integrated graphics on the pros
622.019 -> despite the fact that this comes with a
623.22 -> great CPU and Iris XE Graphics are
626.339 -> pretty good for built-in Graphics I am
628.68 -> interested to see what Chromebooks are
630.48 -> looking like with similar specs around
631.8 -> this price point core I3 8 gigabytes and
634.019 -> 128 gigabytes of storage for set for 800
636.3 -> bucks bad yes this is the Asus one it's
639.42 -> got a ryzen 5 in it eight gigabytes of
642.06 -> RAM 64 gigabytes of storage that's it
644.279 -> that's it that's all you got it do have
646.079 -> a little number panel 650 50 is actually
648.66 -> a pretty competitive price if you ask me
650.279 -> you have to be really certain that you
652.079 -> want to deal with a lot of the issues of
653.88 -> Chrome OS like low game availability you
656.339 -> might be missing some of your very uh
658.74 -> useful apps like think about this do you
661.019 -> use Discord you'll only be able to use
663.18 -> the web app in this right now I think
664.68 -> you might be able to get it do use the
666.06 -> Android version on here but then you're
667.38 -> dealing with emulation it gets a little
668.94 -> bit wonky until Chrome OS can develop
671.459 -> and add more of those native apps to the
674.94 -> operating system like steam that's
676.56 -> coming up having steamed directly on the
678.12 -> hardware is going to make your life so
679.2 -> much better it's hard to recommend this
681.12 -> at 650. do I think it's cool and I think
683.1 -> it's kind of a step in the right
684.42 -> direction for Chrome OS becoming a more
686.82 -> versatile operating system is that what
689.64 -> Chrome OS should be if for some reason
691.5 -> you're like yes
692.64 -> I would love to game but I need to be on
694.44 -> Chrome West this is actually it's a
696.779 -> great price it's a great product the big
698.339 -> question as are with all Chromebooks is
700.62 -> Chrome OS right for you but do you know
703.8 -> what would be right for you subscribing
705.6 -> to Short Circuit thanks for watching if
707.64 -> you liked this video maybe you should
709.2 -> Mosey on over to our Channel LTT and
712.14 -> take a look at some of the videos I've
713.399 -> done on Chromebooks over there
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4je3MQntfdo