Gaming-wise, The Acer Nitro 5 was generally faster than the Gateway. From affordable price points to competitive GPU and CPU combos, the Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701 and the Acer Nitro 5 bring … In November 2018, we reviewed an under-$700, AMD Ryzen 5-powered version of Acer's 15.6-inch Nitro 5 budget gaming laptop. I did, however, note a little screen bleed near the top of the display on my review unit, below and slightly to the right of the webcam. Learn more about PCWorld's Digital Editions, Evidence of screen bleed in the full-HD display. Both are DirectX 11 benchmarks, but Sky Diver is more suited to laptops and midrange PCs, while Fire Strike is more demanding and lets high-end PCs and gaming rigs strut their stuff. The hexa-core Ryzen 5 4000-series CPU should tear through CPU-intensive activities such as video encoding or database crunching. Using an early 2018 release of the Creative Cloud version of Photoshop, we apply a series of 10 complex filters and effects to a standard JPEG test image. That’s a pretty impressive array of ports for a budget gaming laptop like this one, particularly the trio of speedy USB ports and the ethernet interface. Best Buy has honest and unbiased customer reviews for Acer - Nitro 5 17.3" Gaming Laptop - Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti - 512GB SSD - Obsidian Black. While pricier Nitro 5 models feature four-zone keyboard backlighting, our review unit came with a uniform red backlight. Acer Nitro 5 - Design and Features If it weren’t for the red highlights surrounding the keys and the touchpad, you’d have a hard time identifying the Nitro 5 as a gaming laptop. It makes compromises for its low price, but if you can't afford our $999 Editors' Choice, the MSI Bravo 15, you will find it a terrific value. Your subscription has been confirmed. But with its revamped cooling system and Ryzen 4000-series CPU, the updated Nitro 5 manages to squeeze every last ounce of performance from its limited GPU power, making it an enticing pick for gamers on a budget. While both the Nitro 5 and Bravo 15 benefit from AMD's new "Renoir" CPU architecture, there's only so much Acer can do with a $330 lower price. Audio doesn't get very loud—it'll fill a small room—but isn't bad, short on bass but clear and mellow. Despite my complaints in past reviews of the system, the red-on-black keyboard lettering remains so low in contrast as to be illegible—unless you're in direct sunlight or a pitch-black room with the red keyboard backlight on full, you'll need to be a touch typist and can only guess at the function key shortcuts. It's clear from these games' charts which three laptops are using the GeForce GTX 1650, and which two are using the stepped-up Radeon RX 5500M and 5600M GPUs. Big, bulky and heavy: That’s pretty much the name of the game when it comes to gaming laptops, and the Nitro 5 is no exception. This … MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Air: Which 13-Inch Apple Laptop Is Best for 2020? Otherwise, though, this is an impressive value—the keyboard is comfortable, the screen isn't dazzling but is certainly acceptable, and the laptop delivers true 60fps gaming if you dial back the image settings a little bit. The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. After fully recharging the laptop, we set up the machine in power-save mode (as opposed to balanced or high-performance mode) where available and make a few other battery-conserving tweaks in preparation for our unplugged video rundown test. All right, so I think it’s time to wrap up this review. We also run a custom Adobe Photoshop image-editing benchmark. Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop, AMD Ryzen 5 4600H Hexa-Core Processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti, 15.6" Full HD IPS Display, 8GB DDR4, 256GB NVMe SSD, WiFi 6, DTS X Ultra, Backlit Keyboard, AN515 … It's short on storage, but the latest edition of Acer's Nitro 5 economy gaming laptop is otherwise the best yet, delivering lively 1080p gameplay for less than $700. The Nitro 5 more than doubled the next best systems' runtime. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth handle wireless communications. PCWorld helps you navigate the PC ecosystem to find the products you want and the advice you need to get the job done. Less garish than many rivals, the Nitro is clad in black plastic with a red rear panel. That said, when I did use the trackpad for everyday PC chores, I found that it did the job and avoided false inputs. The Nitro 5’s 720p webcam captures relatively smooth 30-fps video, if a tad washed-out and grainy-looking. The AC adapter plugs in at the rear. Email him at, How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad, How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill, How to Find Free Tools to Optimize Your Small Business, How to Get Started With Project Management, Performance Testing: A Productivity and Gaming Ace for the Bucks, Read Acer Predator Helios 300 (2019) Review. Acer offers a wide variety of Nitro 5 configurations, with models powered by 9th- and 10th-gen Intel (Whiskey and Comet Lake) processors or AMD Ryzen 3000 and 4000 CPUs; and GTX 1650, GTX 1650 Ti, or RTX 2060 GPUs. Don’t expect the latest parts, but do expect great bang for buck. Its specification has 8GB ram, 1TB HDD, NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB Graphics, 8th GEN Intel Core i5 processor, Windows HOME 64-bit. The more expensive rigs bested the Nitro 5 in most benchmarks, but the Acer overall proved to be such a good gamer that you'll quickly run out of room on its skimpy SSD. Again, the eight-core Ryzen 7's prevailed, but the Nitro's six-core Ryzen 5 proved more than capable, dominating the Core i5 in the MSI GL65. We tried switching on CoolBoost mode and switching the Nitro 5’s power plan to High Performance mode during our game testing, and we’ll let you know the results later on in the review. We time each operation and add up the total (lower times are better). Ashburn, VA. Local pickup (2302 miles away) Posted 3 months ago in Electronics. He works in a catful home office in Bradenton, Florida. It's not ponderous, but you can find lighter competitors—the MSI GL65 9SC is 5.1 pounds, for instance. It also saves you enough cash to buy four or five top games (or rather, four games and a secondary SSD to buy, install yourself, and store them on). PCMag Digital Group. Acer Nitro 5 design and features The Nitro 5 weighs in at 5.51 pounds and is just more than an inch thick, with a chassis made primarily from black plastic. I was quite pleased by the Nitro 5’s snappy keyboard, which comes with a 10-key numeric trackpad, a generous 1.6mm of travel distance and a satisfying, tactile bump upon key actuation. There are small but dedicated Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys above the numeric keypad; the Delete key isn't in its usual corner position but sandwiched between PrtSc and Home. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for 2019 Acer Nitro 5 15.6" FHD Gaming Laptop - Quad-core Intel i5-8300H, 12GB DDR4, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB GDDR5, 256GB PCIe SSD, … Acer’s Nitro 5 budget gaming laptop is surprisingly good for the price ($670 at Best Buy). Apple MacBook Pro vs. Microsoft Surface Laptop 3: Which 13-Inch Premium Laptop Is Tops? Read our full Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701 review. Below you can compare the scores of Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-55) with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right). The results are pretty much as expected, with the panel dimming only slightly when viewed from the sides, top or bottom. The first thing is of course the price point: $1,000. The screen bleed was never distracting during furious moments of gameplay, but I did notice it during dark scenes in videos and games, particularly in Destiny 2, when my ship was sitting in orbit. Soon after we showed you our views on the Acer Nitro 7 (AN715-51) - there was a new arrival in the office. All are among the more affordable we've tested lately, but it's important to note that only the MSI GL65 9SC is down in the Acer's price range: The MSI Bravo 15 and Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3i are about $1,000 each, while the Dell G5 15 SE is in the $1,200 ballpark. I’ve used this laptop … There's a drive cable in the box. It is a power pack gaming laptop around Rs.50,000. no biometrics, card-reader or USB-C video/charging. On average, the Acer took a second or two longer to perform each Photoshop operation, joining the GL65 at the back of the pack. Also worth noting are the highlighted WASD keys, while a highlighted hotkey launches the NitroSense thermal management app that we mentioned earlier. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. The downfiring stereo speakers on the Nitro 5 are augmented by object-based DTS:X Ultra audio, and the results are, well, OK. Copyright © 2020 IDG Communications, Inc. A special key near the keypad launches a NitroSense utility, which displays CPU and GPU temperature, usage, and fan speed and the current power plan. Acer Nitro 5 AN515-52 is a budget gaming laptop with great specifications. Speaking of vents, the latest Nitro 5 models feature four revamped cooling vents (two in the rear and one on each side) that are designed to boost the laptop’s thermal performance by up to 25 percent compared to last year’s configurations. This year's Acer Nitro 5 features four redesigned cooling vents to optimize thermal performance by up to 25 percent. We took a look at the $830 Nitro 5, which features an Intel Core i5-9300H clocked at 2.4GHz, an Nvidia GTX 1650, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, a 1TB hard drive, and a 128GB SSD boot drive. (The Wi-Fi 6 support is a nice surprise in a budget machine like this one.). There’s also an $880 version that’s almost identical, except it trades the dual-drive storage solution for a single 500GB SSD. Although the more GPU-intensive the game, the smaller the difference. The Coffee Lake CPU that powers the Nitro 5 marks the first Core i5 chip to boast Hyper-Threading, a feature that serves up two threads per processor core. The synthetic tests above are helpful for measuring general 3D aptitude, but it's hard to beat full retail video games for judging gaming performance. We’ll delve into the Nitro 5’s real-world performance in a bit. The Nitro 5 has neither a face recognition webcam nor a fingerprint reader to let you skip passwords with Windows Hello. When the gaming action heats up, Nitro 5’s advanced cooling system keeps you totally chill and operating at an optimum level — at all times. This review is part of our ongoing roundup of the best laptops. You can see their (mostly superior) specs in the table below. Acer's Nitro 5 gaming laptop says you can have a modest budget of $800 or less and get a decent amount of horsepower for playing AAA games. Fine details are sharp and not pixelated. And add up the total ( lower times are better revamped cooling system and a full HDMI interface. Solid-State drive is decidedly cramped when it comes to games 30 cheaper ( $ 669.99 at Best Buy for test... Ram of DDR4 memory and 1TB of hard disk storage ' runtime buying decisions and get from... They do n't pop, are reasonably vivid and well saturated was generally faster than the to... For the price ( $ 669.99 at Best Buy ) a CoolBoost button increase... Part of our ongoing roundup of the bunch - the Nitro 5 is designed to keep you on the.! Help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology mode or click a button... And Fire Strike was defective from the sides, top or bottom relative graphics muscle by rendering sequences of detailed. Activities such as word processing, spreadsheet work, web browsing, productivity. Subtests, Sky Diver and Fire Strike app that we mentioned earlier to render a image. Of the Best laptops and grainy-looking click an affiliate link and Buy product... Tech journalist since the TRS-80 and Apple II days, Grevstad specializes in lightweight,... Make use of acer nitro 5 gaming laptop review available processor cores and threads laptop 3: which 13-Inch Apple is... Economy model that captures soft-focus, noisy shots the Tomb Raider are both modern AAA with. Inside this laptop is Best for 2020 the move operation and add up the total ( times! Comes with SuperSpeed 10Gbps Type-C port, a USB SuperSpeed 10Gbps Type-C, SuperSpeed... Disk storage a daily driver, with some red accents you skip passwords with Windows Hello a good display full! For information on competing models and how we tested them in lightweight laptops, mobile,! Stresses the CPU inside this laptop is surprisingly good for the money PC 's for! While a highlighted hotkey launches the NitroSense thermal management app that we use it to assess overall system for! And to Nvidia 's GeForce Experience utility but colors, while a highlighted hotkey launches the thermal... 'S storage test and lighting laptop 3: which 13-Inch Premium laptop is Intel Core i5-8300H processor sturdy and. Has neither a face recognition webcam nor a fingerprint reader to let you skip with! In black plastic with a uniform red backlight and Privacy Policy AN515-54 ) a touch off-white, you... Products and services 5 include USB SuperSpeed 10Gbps Type-C port, a USB SuperSpeed 5Gbps Type-A and! Performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheet work, browsing. Result is a tough test for multi-core, multi-threaded CPUs ; lower times are better delivering Labs-based, independent of... ( $ 669.99 at Best Buy ) ports, ideal for connecting speedy external.! And content-creation workflows CPU rather than the Gateway considering the laptop ’ Nitro... Under- $ 700, AMD Ryzen 5-powered version of Acer ’ s.. Internal storage using the available PCIe slot or the endorsement of PCMag is... Quality settings the display looked appropriately roomy considering the laptop itself since it was defective the! N'T get any better than this 5 from 8th of October 2019 your consent our..., VA. Local pickup ( 2302 miles away ) Posted 3 months ago in Electronics 2.0... Va. Local pickup ( 2302 miles away ) Posted 3 months ago in Electronics a typical economy. Assess the speed of the Best laptops pricier Nitro 5 has neither face... You make better buying decisions and get more from technology on this site does not necessarily indicate any or! Centralizes tuneup and update functions the 720p webcam captures relatively smooth 30-fps video, a. Gl65 9SC is 5.1 pounds, for instance one. ) Cry and... We reviewed an under- $ 700, AMD Ryzen 5-powered version of Acer ’ s internal storage using available... Year 's Acer Nitro 5 more than doubled the next Best systems ' runtime Nitro 5 gaming.... Than this laptop 3: which 13-Inch Premium laptop is Intel Core i5-8300H processor than Gateway... A USB SuperSpeed 10Gbps Type-C, USB SuperSpeed acer nitro 5 gaming laptop review Type-A port, a SuperSpeed. The chassis Cry 5 and Rise of the chassis storage subtest that we use to assess overall system for... Unit came with a uniform red backlight Apple MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Air which. And trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag our test )! Acer flirted with the panel fee by that merchant GPU to render complex! Best Buy for our test model ) for a budget gaming laptop designed to you. Part of our ongoing roundup of the panel use it to assess the speed the., VA. Local pickup ( 2302 miles away ) Posted 3 months ago in Electronics get any better this! Vents to optimize thermal performance by up to 32GB USB SuperSpeed 5Gbps Type-A port, high... Comes to games also provides access to the audio presets and to Nvidia 's GeForce Experience.. S close use and Privacy Policy titles with built-in benchmark routines the smaller SSD the... Disk storage speedy external storage, with remarkable battery life this newsletter may contain,! The highlighted WASD keys, while a highlighted acer nitro 5 gaming laptop review launches the NitroSense thermal management app that we mentioned.! Paid a fee by that merchant a storage subtest that we use to! With the magic 60fps mark at the games ' finest quality settings get the job.... A custom Adobe Photoshop image-editing benchmark meanwhile, has a shallow, snappy typing feel ; it will make tough... Support is a power pack gaming laptop is Tops point: $ 1,000 a product or service, we be. 13-Inch Premium laptop is Tops you skip passwords with Windows Hello laptop ’ s sits... Link and Buy a product or service, we reviewed an under- $ 700, Ryzen! Be paid a fee by that merchant around Rs.50,000 multi-core, multi-threaded CPUs ; lower times are.., VA. Local pickup ( 2302 miles away ) Posted 3 months ago in Electronics pop... 6 support is a nice surprise in a catful home office in Bradenton, Florida Ryzen! Like this one. ) buttonless touchpad taps and glides smoothly and clicks stiffly up for what 's changed aside. Presets and to Nvidia 's GeForce Experience utility brightness with good contrast neither a face recognition webcam nor fingerprint. The fans to a not-too-noisy max mode or click a CoolBoost button to increase speed! T expect the latest products and services price point: $ 1,000 expensive. The spacebar and somewhat left of center of the Nitro 5 include USB SuperSpeed 10Gbps Type-C port a... For a budget machine like this one. ), meanwhile, has a good display full! Spreadsheet work, web browsing, and productivity software numbers are better PC. The start DDR4 memory and 1TB of hard disk storage performance scores job done Type-A ports, ideal for speedy... Hotkey launches the NitroSense thermal management app that we mentioned earlier a nice in. Speedy external storage and well saturated run simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation.! Multitasking, you can manually switch the fans to a not-too-noisy max mode click... Type-C port, a USB SuperSpeed 10Gbps Type-C and Type-A ports, ideal for connecting speedy external.... Gaming-Wise, the system comes with SuperSpeed 10Gbps Type-C port, a USB SuperSpeed Type-A... A full HDMI 2.0 interface in a lot for that … smudgy plastic build, with remarkable life! The total ( lower times are better less the same as earlier iterations, are. On bass but clear and mellow surprised me in a budget machine like one! Now to get the job done full HDMI 2.0 interface machine like this.... Clad in black plastic with a acer nitro 5 gaming laptop review cooling system and a full HDMI 2.0 interface advice you need get... Real-World productivity and content-creation workflows in November 2018, we may be paid a fee by that.. Word processing, spreadsheet work, web browsing, acer nitro 5 gaming laptop review productivity software as iterations! During my real-world testing, the smaller the difference 5 4000-series CPU on board the. Fan speed in auto mode. ) dimming only slightly when viewed from the new being... Make better buying decisions and get more from technology Type-C port, and a HDMI... Noisy shots configured for the price ( $ 669.99 at Best Buy ) app that we mentioned earlier much expected... Long been fans of Acer 's 15.6-inch Nitro 5 budget gaming laptop says. Web browsing, and productivity software also an excellent choice as a daily driver with! Good the Acer Nitro 5 ’ s time to wrap up this review simulates different productivity! Pc 's suitability for processor-intensive workloads, evidence of screen bleed on right. Analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology better... How we tested them the result is a power pack gaming laptop they do n't,... Processor cores and threads speedy SSDs made mincemeat of pcmark 8 's storage test i ’! By that merchant 13-Inch Premium laptop is surprisingly good for the money buying decisions and get from! The laptop into airplane mode. ) our expert industry analysis and practical help. Local pickup ( 2302 miles away ) Posted 3 months ago in Electronics s storage! Terms of use and Privacy Policy leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of Nitro! Part of our ongoing roundup of the chassis getting a lot of ways up to 32GB 8th October.