Once I reviewed the $500 Acer Chromebook 516 GE, I did not anticipate a lot from it. All the pieces about it’s mid, which is par for the course for a laptop computer in its worth vary. Nevertheless, if I will shell out 1,000 smackeroos, it higher be price each penny.
That being stated, think about my shock once I dove right into a comparative evaluation between the $499 Acer Chromebook 516 GE and the $1,000 Dragonfly Professional Chromebook — and located that the latter is definitely worse than the previous in a number of benchmarks.
Many have known as HP out for rolling out an overpriced Chromebook, together with our very personal Editor-in-Chief Sherri L. Smith, Monica Chin from The Verge, and extra, but it surely actually hit me how ridiculous the pricing is when it can not even compete with a $600 Chrome OS machine.
The Chromebook 516 GE crushed the HP Chromebook in efficiency
Earlier than I dive into the efficiency scores the Acer Chromebook 516 GE and HP Dragonfly Chromebook delivered on our testing, let’s get into their internals.
The Acer Chromebook evaluate unit we examined got here with the next specs:
- CPU: Intel Core i5-1240P
- GPU; Intel Iris Xe graphics
- Reminiscence: 8GB of RAM
- Storage: 256GB
- Show: 16-inch, 2560 x 1600 pixels
Our HP Chromebook got here filled with the next parts:
- CPU: Intel Core i5-1235U
- GPU; Intel Iris Xe graphics
- Reminiscence: 16GB of RAM
- Storage: 256GB
- Show: 13.5-inch, 2256 x 1504 pixels
At a fast look, it is no surprise the Chromebook 516 GE bested the HP Dragonfly Professional Chromebook in efficiency. It is filled with a P-series chip (indicated by the letter “P” in its CPU identify), which implies it delivers a bit extra “oomph” in its processing in comparison with the U-series chip (also called an “ultra-low energy” processor) contained in the Dragonfly Professional Chromebook.
The chip contained in the Acer Chromebook additionally has extra cores and threads (12 cores and 16 threads vs. 10 cores and 12 threads) in comparison with Intel Core i5-1245U-packed HP Chromebook. As such, the $499 Acer Chromebook can roll out extra simultaneous calculations in comparison with the $1,000 HP Chromebook.
Why is the $499 Chromebook packing a extra highly effective CPU than the $1,000 HP Dragonfly Professional Chromebook? It has a unique target market. The previous is focusing on cloud players searching for the most effective premium expertise they will squeeze out of a Chromebook. As for HP — effectively — possibly they’re focusing on shoppers who take pleasure in setting a $1,000 on hearth?
Total efficiency scores
The Chromebook 516 GE delivered a Geekbench 5 multi-core rating of 8,077, however the Dragonfly Chromebook fell brief with a measly rating of 5,246. Yikes!
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Acer Chromebook 516 GE | HP Dragonfly Professional Chromebook |
| Geekbench 4.3 | 8,077 | 5,246 |
| JetStream 2.0 | 256.18. | 213.7 |
Internet shopping scores
To check net shopping, we whipped out the JetStream 2.0 take a look at. Sadly for the HP Dragonfly Professional Chromebook, it additional proved that it’s not price its $1,000 price ticket by delivering a awful rating of 252.68. The Acer Chromebook 516 GE, however, outpaced it with a rating of 256.18.
Backside line
In fact, there are areas the place the HP Dragonfly Professional Chromebook bests the Acer Chromebook 516 GE. For instance, it has a battery lifetime of 9 hours and 17 minutes, which is not that nice for a $1,000 Chromebook, but it surely’s higher than the 7 hours and 40 minutes you get out of the Chromebook 516 GE.
The HP Dragonfly Professional Chromebook has an ultrabright show. In actual fact, it’s practically 4 occasions brighter with its 1,276-nit show. The dim Acer Chromebook has a disappointing 346-nit display screen, however in fact, that is anticipated from a $600 laptop computer. The Dragonfly Professional Chromebook’s show additionally takes up extra of the DCI-P3 shade area in comparison with the Acer Chromebook, however the distinction is negligible (77.8% vs. 75.8%).
One other plus is that the HP Dragonfly Professional Chromebook has a uncommon, however beautiful 8MP webcam, which is kind of refreshing contemplating the 720p and 1080p shooters that we regularly disappointingly see on laptops.
Nonetheless, the HP Dragonfly Professional Chromebook is grossly overpriced. Maybe the Acer Chromebook 516 GE (at the moment on sale at Greatest Purchase for $499 (opens in new tab)) is likely to be a greater deal.
Again to Ultrabook Laptops
