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Acer Nitro 5: At First Glance
The Acer Nitro 5 is a budget-friendly gaming laptop with nice specs. It has a carefully designed setup that makes the necessary modification attractive to bargain-hunting gamers.
To give users a decent graphics card at a reasonable price, Acer sacrificed premium build quality and a bright, vibrant display.
As previously mentioned, the Acer Nitro 5 is an affordable gaming laptop. The laptop starts at $812 as of the time of publication of this article (July 2021).
Now that we’ve covered a little bit information about the laptop, let’s get down to the main business of this review – determining the laptop’s performance.
#1 Best Overall
- Take your game to the next level with the 12th Gen Intel Core i5 processor. Get immersive and competitive performance for all your games.
- RTX, It's On: The latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 (4GB dedicated GDDR6 VRAM) is powered by award-winning architecture with new Ray Tracing Cores, Tensor Cores, and streaming multiprocessors support DirectX 12 Ultimate for the ultimate gaming performance.
- Picture-Perfect. Furiously Fast: With the sharp visuals of a 15.6” Full HD IPS display with a lightning-quick 144Hz refresh rate, your game sessions will be fluid, unbroken, and unmatched.
- Internal Specifications: 8GB DDR4 3200MHz Memory (2 DDR4 Slots Total, Maximum 32GB); 512GB PCIe Gen 4 SSD (2 x PCIe M.2 Slots, 1 x 2.5" Hard Drive Bay Available)
- Killer Connectivity: Get an edge on-line by taking control of your network and prioritizing your gameplay with Killer Ethernet E2600 and Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650.
Acer Nitro 5: Design, Dimension and Weight
The Acer Nitro 5 looks every bit like an excellent gaming laptop with its strong red accents and tapered sides. The laptop’s entire body is composed of plastic.
The laptop has an onyx-coated lid which features a glossy but subtle Acer logo in the center. A smooth, fingerprint-attracting black center is flanked by a unique hexagonal pattern design on the lid.
The display is connected to the deck by a lovely red hinge with the word “Nitro” on it. Acer included a red-trim accent around the Nitro 5’s keyboard keys and touchpad
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Talking of keyboards, the Acer Nitro 5’s four-level keyboard backlighting is what makes it one of the best gaming laptops. It is incredibly bright at maximum brightness, and the red glow gives the laptop a menacing appearance.
Furthermore, in the Windows Control Panel settings, there’s a toggle switch for switching off the keyboard backlighting after 30 seconds or letting them stay on continually.
The laptop’s keyboard provides a pleasant typing experience, with responsive keys that are quiet yet not spongy when pressed. The right Shift key which was trimmed to accommodate the dedicated number pad is my only criticism.
Right below the keyboard, you will find a big and responsive touchpad. When clicking the touchpad, it’s a little too firm, but it’s preferable to be too firm than weak and unsteady.
In addition, the touchpad is responsive to Windows 10 gestures like two-finger scrolling and three-finger tabbing.
Another gaming-centric design element on the keyboard is the red outline used for the WASD, and arrow keys. These keys have the same feel and response as the other keys.
Moreover, the red-outlined WASD keys provide gamers with a quick reference point for the keys they use the most. Above the number pad, you will find a special key that launches Acer’s NitroSense software.
The NitroSense software allows you to monitor your CPU and GPU temperatures, as well as adjust fan speed and power plan settings. Since most people are likely to just keep the fan control setting at Auto, the most useful tool in NitroSense is the keyboard backlight setting.
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The Acer Nitro 5 features a touchscreen IPS display. However, the colors on the IPS display appeared to be a little dull.
Furthermore, the display, which is rated at 300 nits, is fairly bright, but it is still better suited to a dark room rather than a bright environment. Nonetheless, it appeared to be a little brighter than the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3i’s screen.
Right above the display, there is a 720p webcam which isn’t very good. There is no privacy cover and the image is quite pixelated.
The Acer Nitro 5 features some applications such as Acer Product Registration, which offers discounts and exclusive offers. It also features Acer Collection S, an app store, and Acer Care Center – a platform that runs system updates, tuneups, and diagnostics.
Furthermore, Acer also included its branded versions of Cyberlink’s PhotoDirector and PowerDirector, both of which are capable content-creation apps. The Nitro 5 has an impressively little amount of preinstalled software, which is fantastic.
Moving on, you’ll also discover some typical Windows 10 bloatware apps, including Candy Crush Friends and Farm Heroes Saga on the laptop. The Nitro 5 also comes with a one-year limited warranty.
Let’s talk about the ports; the Acer Nitro 5 has a good selection of ports. On the left side, there are two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, a mic/headphone combo jack, and an Ethernet port.
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Rank #2
- Dominate the Game: With the 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H processor, your Nitro 5 is packed with incredible power for all your games
- RTX, It's On: The latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (6GB dedicated GDDR6 VRAM) is powered by award-winning architecture with new Ray Tracing Cores, Tensor Cores, and streaming multiprocessors support DirectX 12 Ultimate for the ultimate gaming performance
- Visual Intensity: With the sharp visuals of a 15.6” Full HD IPS display with a lightning-quick 144Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time, your game sessions will be fluid, unbroken, and unmatched.
- Internal Specifications: 16GB DDR4 3200MHz Memory (2 DDR4 Slots Total, Maximum 32GB); 512GB PCIe Gen 4 SSD (2 x PCIe M.2 Slots, 1 x 2.5" Hard Drive Bay Available)
- Prioritize Your Gameplay: Killer DoubleShot Pro with Ethernet E2600 and Killer Wi-Fi 6 1650 lets you use Wi-Fi and Ethernet at the same time, and have total control over priority traffic to maximize speed, throughput, and control
On the other hand, there’s an HDMI 2.0 port, a USB 3.2 Type-C port, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port on the right side. Furthermore, the power connector is also located on the laptop’s right side.
Finally, laptop measures 390 x 266 x 26.75 mm and weighs 2700g.
The Nitro 5 is significantly heavier than the IdeaPad Gaming 3i. The IdeaPad Gaming 3i weighs 2177g and measures 358 x 249 x 24 mm in size.
Finally, I’ll rate the Acer Nitro 5 a seven out of ten for its design.
Acer Nitro 5: Processor (CPU) Performance
The Acer Nitro 5 has a 4-core Intel Core i5-7300HQ processor. The processor features a 2.50 GHz base frequency and a 3.50 GHz maximum frequency, as well as 6 MB of cache memory.
It is important to note that the Intel Core i5-7300HQ processor is not the fastest on the Intel processors ladder.
However, on Acer Nitro 5 it is actually good at multitasking. The Acer laptop effortlessly handled 45 Google Chrome tabs and three YouTube videos without lagging.
To determine the processor’s performance, I ran a Cinebench R15 benchmark test. Based on the benchmark results, the laptop received a score of 1,404 points.
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The Acer Nitro 5 has shown to be a reliable laptop based on these results. As a result, I’ll rate it an eight in this category.
Acer Nitro 5: Memory (RAM) Performance
The maximum amount of RAM that can be installed on the Acer Nitro 5 is 32 GB. The laptop features two memory slots, each of which can take up to 16 GB of memory.
It’s also worth noting that any Acer Nitro 5 laptop you buy will come with 8GB of RAM by default. If you’re not planning to use the laptop for gaming or heavy graphics, 8GB of RAM should be enough.
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To determine how well the laptop’s memory performed, I ran a PCMark 10 benchmark test. The laptop received a score of 4827 points on the benchmark test.
In comparison, the Acer Nitro 5 outperformed the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3i, which received 4692 points.
Overall, the Acer Nitro 5’s RAM performance is amazing. As a result, I’ll give it an eight in this category.
Acer Nitro 5: Storage Options & Performance
Acer Nitro 5 has a Serial ATA SSD which can take a maximum capacity of 1TB. This is a major advantage as SSD delivers better performance than Hard Drives (HDD).
Another advantage of SSD over HDD is that, unlike HDDs, SSDs are lighter and better able to withstand movement and they don’t crash from drops. The laptop also features an SD card reader for extra storage.
The model I reviewed came with a 256 GB SSD. To determine the transfer speed of the SSD, I performed a data transfer test.
Rank #3
- Dominate the Game: With the 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12500H processor, your Nitro 5 is packed with incredible power for all your games
- RTX, It's On: The latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (6GB dedicated GDDR6 VRAM) is powered by award-winning architecture with new Ray Tracing Cores, Tensor Cores, and streaming multiprocessors support DirectX 12 Ultimate for the ultimate gaming performance
- Visual Intensity: With the sharp visuals of a 15.6” Full HD IPS display with a lightning-quick 144Hz refresh rate, your game sessions will be fluid, unbroken, and unmatched.
- Internal Specifications: 16GB DDR4 3200MHz Memory (2 DDR4 Slots Total, Maximum 32GB); 512GB PCIe Gen 4 SSD (2 x PCIe M.2 Slots, 1 x 2.5" Hard Drive Bay Available)
- Prioritize Your Gameplay: Killer DoubleShot Pro with Ethernet E2600 and Killer Wi-Fi 6 1650 lets you use Wi-Fi and Ethernet at the same time, and have total control over priority traffic to maximize speed, throughput, and control
Based on the test result, Nitro 5 copied 4.97 GB of data in 18 seconds, at a rate of 301MBps. With this result, the Acer Nitro 5 beats the category average of 285MBps
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I also conducted a CrystalDiskMark test to determine the Acer Nitro 5 SSD’s read and write speed. In the test the Acer Nitro 5 recorded a sequential read speed of 971MB/s as well as a sequential write speed of 920MB/s.
All these considered, I will rate the storage performance of the Acer Nitro 5 a nine out of ten.
Acer Nitro 5: Graphics Card Performance
The Acer Nitro 5 features a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GPU. This GPU has a base frequency of 1290 MHz and a boost frequency of 1392 MHz.
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The Nvidia GeForce RTX 1050 is a high-end GPU, which is based on Nvidia’s new Ampere architecture, named Pascal. That means the card also supports the NVIDIA Ansel screenshot technology and can support G-Sync displays.
NVIDIA Ansel screenshot technology allows you to screenshot your games. The technology offers 360-degree, super-resolution, HDR, and stereo screenshots.
The GPU also comes with a 4 GB GDDR5 dedicated memory. The dedicated memory enhances the laptop’s performance when you use it for gaming or heavy graphics.
To determine the graphics performance of the laptop, I performed a 3DMark benchmark test.
Based on the benchmark result, the Acer Nitro 5 scored 24476 points. Comparatively, this result surpasses that of the HP Omen 15 which scored 20535 points.
Additionally, I also performed real-life gaming tests. In the test, I played Far Cry 5 at different settings and 1080p resolution.
Consequently, at normal settings the game played at a frame rate of 65fps. Also, at ultra settings the game played at 55fps, which is quite impressive for a budget laptop.
Hence, I will rate the laptop a nine in this review for its excellent gaming and graphics performance.
Acer Nitro 5: Battery Life & Performance
The Acer Nitro 5 has a decent battery life for a budget gaming laptop. The laptop comes with a 4-cell Li-Polymer battery.
Furthermore, the battery is not glued in and it can be easily replaceable when damaged. There are only two screws and two tabs holding the battery in.
Acer claims the laptop can last up to 8.5 hours. To verify Acer’s claim about the laptop’s battery, I conducted a battery test.
The test involved continuous surfing of the internet over Wi-Fi and at 150 nits of screen brightness. From the test, the Acer Nitro 5 lasted 7hrs 6mins, which outlasted the average budget gaming laptop of 6hrs 56mins.
Comparatively, the Acer Nitro 5 delivers more battery life than the ASUS ROG Strix G15, which lasted only 5hrs 11mins.
Finally, due to the excellent battery life of the Acer Nitro 5, I will rate it an eight out of ten.
Rank #4
- Dominate the Game: With the 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H processor, your Nitro 5 is packed with incredible power for all your games
- RTX, It's On: The latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti (8GB dedicated GDDR6 VRAM) is powered by award-winning architecture with new Ray Tracing Cores, Tensor Cores, and streaming multiprocessors support DirectX 12 Ultimate for the ultimate gaming performance
- Visual Intensity: With the sharp visuals of a 15.6” QHD IPS display with a lightning-quick 165Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time, your game sessions will be fluid, unbroken, and unmatched.
- Internal Specifications: 32GB DDR4 3200MHz Memory (2 DDR4 Slots Total, Maximum 32GB); 2TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD in RAID 0 configuration (2 x 1TB) (2 x PCIe M.2 Slots, 1 x 2.5" Hard Drive Bay Available)
- Prioritize Your Gameplay: Killer DoubleShot Pro with Ethernet E2600 and Killer Wi-Fi 6 1650 lets you use Wi-Fi and Ethernet at the same time, and have total control over priority traffic to maximize speed, throughput, and control
Frequently Asked Questions
Definitely YES! The Nitro 5 has an Intel Core i5-9300H Processor, 8GB DDR4 Ram (expandable for up to 32 GB!), Nvidia GTX 1650 4GB Graphics card, and it is also priced at around $800. Its specs are really worth this price.
Yes, it is, the Acer Nitro 5 keyboard is more than good enough for typing, and for a student wanting something to write essays on, it’s perfect.
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Quality-wise, no doubt, Dell is better. Acer, on the other hand would give you better specs at a cheaper price.
ASUS is a better choice than Acer. The only area where Acer is better than ASUS is the price – everything else like customer support, design, and performance, ASUS is the better option
In general, no. Their laptops tend to have good specs and relatively low prices. However, they mainly use plastic design and have a low build quality.
No, it isn’t, Acer is a Taiwan company. It has manufacturing plants in Xizhi, New Taipei, and India. Also, their main headquarters are in the U.S. and Taiwan.
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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →The Acer laptops on average last for up to 5 to 6 years. However, how long a laptop lasts depends on how it is used.
Yes, it can, even though it doesn’t meet the recommended system requirements for GTA 5. However, it can still play the game with lowered settings.
Yes, the laptop has been referred to as a gaming laptop, but it is also the perfect laptop for an engineering student.
Yes, it’s an all-plastic build, but it’s still pretty durable.
Conclusion
The Acer Nitro 5 is a well-designed and well-priced gaming laptop. With its native 1080p resolution, it can play most games at decent graphics settings.
This Laptop’s plastic body is a bit chunky, but its Core i5 processor and Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti GPU make up for its design. If you’re looking for a laptop that can handle all of your computing tasks, the Acer Nitro 5 is a great choice.
However, there are a few aspects about the Acer Nitro 5 that aren’t up to par. Its dull display, for example, isn’t really appealing.
Make no mistake, the Nitro 5 redefines the sort of gaming performance you can expect for less than a thousand dollars. Combine that with its excellent graphics card, a pretty good keyboard, and the Nitro 5 is a pure success.
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