Review: Acer Nitro 5 Is Not Your Dream Gaming Laptop
The Acer Nitro 5 is a budget-conscious laptop game with very limited options. If you wish to have a cheap laptop which could handle the toughest PC games at this time, then this is the best one.
With a Nvidia GeForce GTX graphics card, a user-controllable dual-fans cooling system and an 8th generation Intel Core processor, Acer’s latest laptop ticks off the right box for your portable gaming requirements. Acer rounds off those with a decent 1080p display and a keyboard which can be played comfortably over hours at the end.
This is one of the finest laptops of 2019 and has a cost of $749 only. Besides, its price has fallen with Black Friday.
However, some sacrifices have to be made at its original low price. How do these compromises affect and are large enough to affect the overall performance of this laptop? We’re here to discover that.
Availability and Price
Among the gaming laptops, the Acer Nitro 5 is one of the cheapest laptops currently available. You have its most basic configuration, with its $749 starting price, the same model that we have tested. This exact setup is available in the UK, but it costs around £335 or more.
This configuration is not yet available in Australia. However, only basic configuration of Acer Nitro 5 is available in AU$1,999. It includes the Intel Core i7-8750H 4 GB Processor, 16 GB RAM, a 128 GB SSD and 1 TB HDD processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050.
Several additional configurations are available for the US market, the $1099 being the most expensive. The Laptop has a 256 GB SSD, 16 GB RAM and I7-7700HQ processor for this price.
Design
In terms of fell and look, with the Acer Nitro 5 a lot is to be desired. It’s not really bad, to say, there are actually things that we enjoyed.
We like the gamer’s subdued look, backlight, with its red keyboard trims, trackpad and top rear bars. The display feels secure and strong and the quantity of ports available is an advantage. Moreover, the laptop has a cooling system and a comfortable keyboard.
After all, there is not much to write about the Acer Nitro 5 design. There are signs of reductions, which are quite underwhelming noticeable, because it is a laptop on the budget. For example, the screen lid is made of low-cost plastic. Fingerprints are like crazy in the top cover and the area around the keyboard. The screen has a bezel of almost inch around, making us all feel like we were early on PC gaming.
Worst of all, however, is the trackpad of the laptop. You may argue that a trackpad should not expect a lot to meet your gaming requirements. But we must say, the trackpad of this model is ridiculous.
Keyboard
When you jump back a while, your keyboard is an important win for the Acer Nitro 5. Nothing is openly special. The symbols are of course in red, the backlight that is activated only when connected. Thus the keys are difficult to see when they aren’t red, and the keys of the WASD are red colored.
All in all, it’s only your mid-way typical keyboard. That being said, it is both comfortable and reliable to us. It’s quick and reactive. No lags, missed presses or accidental presses have occurred to us. That is all you need to have, whether you are typing or playing.
Sound, Camera & Display
The camera with 720p 30fps video capture is grainy at its highest level. It’s fine for web chats, but don’t expect a lot of imagery produced here.
The sound of the laptop is very echoic and a bit hyped on the high-end, but you can customize it to Dolby Audio with the equalizer.
The 1080p display is a bit on the darker side, although still sharp and clear, and is practically the opposite of bezel-free. At that price, we saw other laptops for games focusing a little more on the screen that we want to see here.
Performance of Acer Nitro 5
As you know it’s a gaming equipment for a budget, it’s safe to say you shouldn’t expect much from Acer Nitro 5. Limitations on CPU, RAM and GPU mean that new AAA games–blockbuster titles in the world of gaming –probably won’t work properly.
Fair, with the less intense Quantum Break, several years older than Nier, it performs well. This game will go smoothly without visible drops in the frame rate or performance problems in the highest settings.
Budget gamers can still play truly challenging games, but in lower conditions, using this gaming laptop. Without any question of performance, they will certainly achieve better frame rates. But definitely their gaming experience will not be as high-end, because these games won’t look as good.
Battery Life
It’s surprisingly better than what you would expect from a budget gaming laptop and the Acer Nitro 5’s battery life is no exceptional. In general, gaming laptops are known to have a poor battery life. We are therefore not surprised that Galaxy battery Guards ran at 50% brightness only for 3 hours and 20 minutes of juice worth. While, the more expensive and highly successful Asus Strix Scar Edition only had 2 hours and 15 minutes battery life for the same test.
There’s a lot to consider, of course. The GPU and CPU combo were among others more challenging for the Strix Scar Version. We tested the design with an Intel Core processor of the seventh generation. The Nitro 5 has an 8th version, stronger one, because it consumes less battery.
Final Verdict
The Acer Nitro 5, the most challenging major games in the market, is not able to handle them. It’s not as powerful as you would like because it is a budget laptop. The trackpad is also the smallest of all, which we consider to be sufficiently bad for everyday tasks and not to mention playing.
Yet let’s just be here: you get what you are paying for in most situations. You should genuinely not expect much for computer components with a price tag of less than $800. At least the Nitro 5 tries what you can control with its dual fan cooling system. Therefore, a convenient and stable keyboard and, eventually, a longer battery life and a high-end display than expected is a plus point.
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