Acer is prepping a new Chromebook Plus 516 for imminent release

Thanks to a bit of digging and a keen eye from a reader, we now know Acer is prepping the imminent release of a new device line we’ve not seen from them before: the Chromebook Plus 516.

Now, that name may sound quite familiar, and I hope the connection is legit. You see, there have been two similarly-named Chromebooks over the past couple years in the Chromebook 516 GE and more-recent Chromebook Plus 516 GE, but they both have a 2-letter suffix that sets them apart a bit.

The GE (which stands for Gaming Edition) denotes a few things that I would 100% expect to see disappear from the 516 GE lineup with this new Chromebook Plus 516. First, I’d say the RGB keyboard won’t be a part of this new device. While the HP Dragonfly Chromebook did come with an excellent RGB keyboard and had nothing to do with gaming, it was the only device to ever do so. I’d bet it will not be a part of this new 516.

Second, I don’t know that Acer will stick with the gamer-like multi-color adornments found on the 516 GE. While subtle, the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE comes with RGB accents on the logo and around the trackpad that give a subtle nod to the fact that it is made for gaming. The standard 516 likely won’t come with that little touch.

A few things I’m hopeful for

Apart from those things, however, I’m hopeful that this new Chromebook Plus 516 keeps much of the formula from last year’s 516 GE. Let’s keep the rigid, light body and the 120Hz screen around, shall we? According to the listing, this is going to be a Raptor Lake refresh device, so performance shouldn’t be an issue at all. Paired up with 8GB or 16GB of RAM and the same 256GB of storage, and we’ll have a great device, here.

And while I’m dreaming a bit, it would be awesome if the 16:10 aspect ratio, QHD resolution and 350+ nits of brightness could be joined by a touch input layer this time around. However, at this point, none of that is for sure. All we know is the device name and the processor family; and apart from that we wait for an official unveiling.

We also don’t have any firm info on the expected time frame we should expect with this device, so we can only hope that this one will show up at or before the likely Chromebook Showcase in April or May. I do, however, now have the code name for this new device, so I’ll be doing some digging to see if I can come up with any specifics beyond what we know. Stay tuned.