Acer Nitro 5 overview: Is it value $2,300 with an RTX 3080?
Acer Nitro 5 specs
Value: $2,229
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 1TB SSD
Show: 15.6-inch, 1440p, 165Hz
Battery: 4:33
Dimension: 14.3 x 10 x 0.9 inches
Weight: 5.1 kilos
The Acer Nitro 5 (reviewed at $2,299), jam-packed with an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, is like store-bought pizza. After you pop it into the oven and chow down on it, does it style good? Positive! Nonetheless, when you evaluate it to the tacky, delectable slices out of your native mother and pop’s pizzeria, you begin questioning your new field of DiGiorno. They’ve the identical substances and the same worth, however the fresh-out-of-the-brick-oven pizzas have an edge.
In the identical means, the Nitro 5, on paper, is a superb gaming laptop computer, nevertheless it loses its razzle and dazzle after evaluating it to different heavy hitters with comparable internals. It’s an honest possibility and also you wouldn’t thoughts spending cash on it, however there are higher rivals on the market that provide extra pizzazz — heh-heh — for a similar worth.
The Nitro 5 sequence sometimes targets budget-conscious avid gamers, however Acer kicked it up a notch by providing some beefy internals and catering to a crowd with cash to blow. Although my pizza analogy could come throughout as a critique of the Nitro 5, it holds up surprisingly properly within the premium area. There are many features of this Acer gaming rig that I am keen on and I wouldn’t rule it out as one of many greatest gaming laptops, however after operating our in-house checks on the Nitro 5, I can’t assist however really feel as if the grass is greener on the opposite facet.
Acer Nitro 5 worth and configuration choices
My overview unit prices $2,299; it’s jam-packed with an octa-core, 3.3-GHz AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 with 8GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 15.6-inch, 2560 x 1440-pixel IPS show with a 165Hz refresh price.
If that configuration is simply too costly to your tastes, there’s one other AMD mannequin at virtually half the worth. For $1,699, you’ll be able to snag a Nitro 5 with an octa-core, 3.2-GHz AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 15.6-inch, 2560 x 1440-pixel show.
Acer Nitro 5 design
I at all times benefit from the designs that Acer creates for the Nitro 5 sequence. It’s as if an Acer worker snuck up behind Optimus Prime, ripped just a few elements out of his robotic construct, and sprinted again to the manufacturing facility earlier than the Autobot rips them into shreds.
The onyx-coated lid options an Acer brand and two squiggly black traces that look like placing the hinge like twin lightning bolts. Talking of the hinge, you’ll spot the phrase “Nitro” in daring purple letters on it. Maintain your microfiber material helpful as a result of the chassis — notably the lid — attracts fingerprints like a moth to a flame. Chances are you’ll discover that the chassis feels somewhat plasticky, and properly, that’s as a result of it’s, certainly, made out of plastic. This doesn’t faze me an excessive amount of. In spite of everything, plastic is much less inclined to overheating whereas gaming.
The facet bezels are slim, however the chin and prime bezel are thick. The panel’s corners have an attention-grabbing, beveled-edge design. Shifting on to the deck, it incorporates a keyboard with a black-and-white motif. Some keys stand out greater than others as a result of they’re outlined with a thick, white define. Sadly, I’m not a fan of the format (I’ll dive into its hiccups within the keyboard part under).
Flip the Nitro 5 the other way up and also you’ll spot 4 rubber toes on every nook, making room for a big, edge-to-edge air flow grill that takes up virtually half of the underside.
At 5.1 kilos and 14.3 x 10 x 0.9 inches, the Acer Nitro 5 is heavier than the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 (14.0 x 9.6 x 0.8 inches, 4.2 kilos) and the Razer Blade 15 Superior (14 x 9.3 x 0.7 inches, 4.4 kilos), however lighter than the hefty Alienware m17 R4 (15.7 x 11.6 x 0.7-0.9 inches, 6.6 inches)
Acer Nitro 5 ports
The Acer Nitro 5 has an honest inventory of ports.
On the left facet, you’ll discover an RJ45 Ethernet port, a USB Kind-A port, a headset jack and a Kensington lock slot. On the appropriate facet, you’ll uncover an HDMI 2.1 port, one other USB Kind-A port and a USB Kind-C port. And no, the latter shouldn’t be of the Thunderbolt selection, which is a limitation of AMD-equipped laptops.
Acer Nitro 5 show
The Nitro 5’s 15.6-inch, 2560 x 1440-pixel show, providing a screen-to-body ratio of 80%, was a sight to behold whereas I watched The Suicide Squad trailer.
Margot Robbie, whereas capturing enemies with two weapons in her fingers, spun round in maniacal glee in a blinding, eye-catching scarlet gown, displaying off panel’s colour copy prowess. I noticed the specks of lint that populated John Kinnaman’s backpack straps — a testomony to the show’s potential to render sharp imagery. I even noticed the intricate particulars of the tattoo on his arm, which featured the facet profile of a lady.
Once I performed Dishonored 2 on the Nitro 5’s 165Hz show, I used to be hypnotized by the royal chambers inside a storied medieval fort. The wealthy cobalt blue sheets, adorned with a floral and diamond design, caught my consideration as its golden trim tickled the worn-out, picket flooring. Solar rays poured into the bed room, exposing glittering mud particles that had been as soon as invisible to the bare eye. I even took a while to marvel at an enormous, creepy portray within the room that incorporates a ghostly ship crammed with pale specters and phantoms. I noticed tiny crinkles within the portray and different indicators that the art work is an historic, deteriorating masterpiece.
Sadly, the Acer gaming rig is somewhat bit on the dim facet. It emanates solely 284 nits of brightness, which is dimmer than the common premium gaming laptop computer (324 nits), the ROG Zephyrus G15 (286 nits) and the m17 R4 (316 nits), however is brighter than the Blade 15 Superior (244 nits).
The Nitro 5 covers 82% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, nevertheless it’s up in opposition to some stiff competitors. The Acer (lastly) outperformed the m17 R4 (81%) and the ROG Zephyrus G15 (77%), nevertheless it’s much less colourful than the common premium gaming laptop computer (86%) and the Blade 15 Superior (88%).
With a Delta-E colour accuracy rating of 0.21 (nearer to 0 is best), the Nitro 5 beat the common premium gaming laptop computer (0.26), the Blade 15 Superior (0.23) and the ROG Zephyrus G15 (0.24). The Acer and the m17 R4 share the identical rating.
Acer Nitro 5 keyboard and touchpad
Typing on the Nitro 5 keyboard is like shifting to a overseas nation and needing to get accustomed to the meals, tradition and lifestyle. OK, perhaps I’m being dramatic, however the level is that you simply’ll have to get acclimated with Nitro 5 earlier than you could be actually comfy. The shortened Shift key drove me up a wall. This, by the best way, is a matter I addressed in 2020 laptop computer tendencies that should die.
Capitalizing phrases was a ache within the rear. As a substitute of touchdown on the Shift key, my finger typically landed on the up arrow, which made my cursor fly into one other paragraph. And subsequent factor , I discovered myself by accident typing between beforehand written sentences. Boo! It’d even be good if the keys had been springier and bouncier.
On the 10FastFingers.com take a look at, my words-per-minute common dropped to 75, an enormous drop from my typical 85 to 90-wpm common. This isn’t to say that typing on the Nitro 5 keyboard is terrible — you simply have to get used to the atypical format.
On the plus facet, probably the most oft-used keys in PC gaming (i.e. the W, A, S, D and arrow keys) are outlined with a thick, white trim to assist them stand out. There’s additionally an “N” key situated inside the top-left nook of the full-sized numpad, which quick-launches the NitroSense app for fan administration. The earlier Nitro 5 I reviewed outlined these keys with purple trim; I desire the white by miles as a result of white-on-black has higher distinction.
When you’ve got a choice for crimson-and-onyx colour schemes, you will get this motif by turning on the purple backlighting, which has 4 ranges of brightness. Sadly, in case you desire customizable, per-key RGB lighting, you’ll be disenchanted since you’re caught with red-backlit keys and no enjoyable animations. Name me a bore, however I don’t thoughts this; I desire gaming with out the fanfare of distracting mild exhibits.
The 4.1 x 3.1-inch touchpad matches the width of the spacebar. Its floor has the correct amount of resistance and smoothness to make cursor navigation seamless. It’s additionally aware of Home windows 10 gestures akin to two-finger scrolling and three-finger tabbing.
Acer Nitro 5 audio
The Nitro 5’s audio system don’t get loud sufficient. I discovered myself straining to listen to riveting tales of former criminals recounting heart-stopping tales of pulling off record-setting robberies on Netflix’s Heist. I adjusted the amount to the best setting on the Netflix app, however the amplification bump was imperceptible. I navigated to my Home windows taskbar to show up the amount, however think about my shock after I noticed that the amount was already at its max setting.
I moved on to testing the Nitro 5’s twin DTS: X Extremely audio system on Spotify and listened to Lil Nas X’s “Trade Child.” The amplification on Spotify was barely higher, and it did fill my medium-sized testing room, however for individuals who desire loud-and-proud sound, the Nitro 5’s bottom-firing audio system could also be too quiet. Lil Nas X’s voice sounded somewhat nasally and hole and the audio system lacked that full, well-rounded sound that sends chills down your backbone.
I fired up the DTX:Extremely tuning app, which has seven presets: Auto, Music, Voice, Films, Technique, RPG and Shooter. None of them benefitted the audio high quality.
Acer claims that the audio system characteristic 3D spatial soundscape, so I examined this out on considered one of my favourite video games: Hitman 3. I knew I used to be going to have a foul time when the title display loaded and the orchestral main-menu theme, which generally will get so loud that it causes soar scares, sounded too low. Lucas Gray, an ally of my character (Agent 47), tried to offer me distant steering on a plan he needed to take down our enemies, however I had bother listening to him over the Nitro 5’s regular hum.
On the plus facet, the 3D spatial soundscape characteristic labored properly. If an NPC was having a dialog off display, I at all times had a good suggestion of the place they’re situated although I couldn’t see them. You possibly can at all times go for a gaming headset, too
Acer Nitro 5 gaming, graphics and VR
The Nitro 5 is powered by an Nvidia GeForce GTX 3080 GPU and 8GB of VRAM, a beastly chip that may deal with graphics-intensive duties like a champ.
In Dishonored 2, I cranked up all graphics settings to the max, however I low-key regretted it as a result of Dishonored 2 takes place throughout a calamitous rat plague, and the mangy rats seemed to be extra pronounced and detailed. Yuck! I can say the identical for “bloodflies,” bloodthirsty, fictional bugs which can be extra savage than mosquitos. Their nests, which seem like big, ruby-red honeycombs, triggered my trypophobia greater than regular — possible as a result of they seemed to be well-delineated and extra outlined. I additionally seen that the swimming pools of blood populating the Dishonored 2 world had a surprisingly stunning glistening impact.
Fight felt extra visceral as I sliced off enemies’ arms and heads with my sword. The main points of severed heads appeared somewhat bit too actual.
Dishonored 2 takes place in a coastal metropolis, so I used to be blown away by how practical the bay appeared because it ebbed and flowed close to the docks. An eerie fog blanketed the realm and added to the sport’s spooky ambiance. Even with all of those placing particulars, Dishonored 2 managed to hover round 110 and 125 frames per second throughout gameplay. Good!
On the Murderer’s Creed Odyssey benchmark (Highest, 1080p), the Nitro 5 reached 64 fps, which matches the common premium gaming laptop computer. The Acer’s trio of rivals have the identical GPU, however two out of three managed to beat it. The ROG Zephyrus G15 and the m17 R4 beat the Nitro 5 by reaching 67 and 78 fps, respectively. The Blade 15 Superior fell in fourth and final place, solely reaching 58 fps.
The Nitro 5 averaged 101 fps on the Grand Theft Auto V benchmark (Very Excessive, 1080p), which crushed the 95-fps class common. It additionally beat the ROG Zephyrus G15 by a hair (98 fps). Nonetheless, the Nitro 5 couldn’t meet up with the Blade 15 Superior and the highly effective m17 R4, which output averages of 107 and 120 fps, respectively.
On the Far Cry New Daybreak benchmark (Extremely, 1080p), the Nitro 5 climbed to 94 fps, beating the 88-fps class common in addition to the Blade 15 Superior and the ROG Zephyrus G15, which achieved the identical rating (87 fps). After all, the m17 R4 stole the present once more with a killer fps common of 105.
Once we ran 3DMark Hearth Strike Extremely take a look at, the Nitro 5 (6,148) smashed the class common of 5,801, nevertheless it did not surpass the Blade 15 Superior (6,231), the ROG Zephyrus G15 (6,528) and the m17 R4 (7,881).
Questioning whether or not the Nitro 5 can deal with VR? You’ll be completely satisfied to know that the Acer gaming rig knocked it out of the park on the VRMark Orange Room benchmark with a rating of 10,304, crusing previous the common premium gaming laptop computer (8,782). The Nitro 5 additionally defeated the Blade 15 Superior (8,341), however not the ROG Zephyrus G15 (9,874) nor the show-stopping m17 R4 (11,350).
Acer Nitro 5 efficiency
The Nitro 5 sports activities an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU and 16GB of RAM. To jot down this overview, I already had Google Chrome flooded with 35 tabs. To actually put it to the take a look at, I added 4 extra tabs: three Twitch streams and Netflix. The Acer laptop computer juggled my tabs like a proficient court docket jester — I didn’t expertise any lag nor slowdowns.
On the Geekbench 5.4 benchmark, the Nitro 5 served up a rating of 8,485, which beats the class common (6,870), the Blade 15 Superior’s Intel Core i7-10875H CPU (6,531) and the m17 R4’s Intel Core i9-10980HK CPU (8,082), however not the ROG Zephyrus G15’s AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS processor, which output a spectacular rating of 8,640.
The Nitro 5 took solely 6 minutes and 17 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p on our HandBrake benchmark, flying previous the common premium gaming laptop computer (7:42). The ROG Zephyrus G15 shared the identical time because the Nitro 5, however the Blade 15 Superior (9:57) and m17 R4 (6:44) had been slower than the Acer laptop computer.
Once we ran the file switch take a look at, the Nitro 5’s 1TB SSD duplicated 25GB of multimedia recordsdata in 36 seconds at a switch price of 741.65 megabytes per second. That is slower than the class common (851.29 MBps) and the Blade 15 Superior’s 1TB SSD (890.2 MBps), however speedier than the twin 1TB SSDs contained in the m17 R4 (448.5 MBps) and the 1TB SSD packed within the ROG Zephyrus G15.
Acer Nitro 5 battery life
Gaming laptops are sometimes filled with power-hungry internals, so I didn’t count on quite a lot of battery endurance from the Nitro 5 — and my evaluation was appropriate.
The Acer gaming rig lasted 4 hours and 33 minutes on the Laptop computer Magazine battery take a look at (steady browsing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness), which outlasted the common premium gaming laptop computer by seven minutes (4:26). The Nitro 5 additionally has extra endurance than the m17 R4 (2:05), however lower than the Blade 15 Superior (5:14) and the ROG Zephyrus G15 (8:06).
Acer Nitro 5 digital camera
The 720p digital camera discovered on the Nitro 5’s prime bezel is nothing to write down residence about. Identical to most laptops available on the market, this one has loads of visible noise and lacks definition. One optimistic is that it reproduces colour properly, completely capturing the daring and gold letters on my graphic tee and the peach-painted wall behind me.
Nonetheless, don’t count on to develop into a profitable Twitch streamer with this digital camera. Though the beads in my braids have a placing design, the webcam didn’t seize it; you gained’t get sharpness, readability nor element. Try our greatest webcams web page to get a digital camera with higher video high quality.
Acer Nitro 5 warmth
After testing out just a few video games on the Nitro 5, I seen that the chassis acquired somewhat too toasty. Generally, OEMs discover a method to engineer gaming rigs so warmth era concentrates in untouched areas, however sadly, I discovered that the center of the keyboard acquired fairly sizzling. That being stated, I used to be curious to see the temperature outcomes from our thermal checks.
On our gaming warmth take a look at, the Nitro 5’s center-keyboard area climbed to 100 levels Fahrenheit, which is 5 levels hotter than our 95-degree consolation threshold. The touchpad hit 77 levels and the underside was the most popular location, reaching a scorching 126 levels.
After taking part in a 15-minute, 1080p YouTube video, the Nitro 5 remained comparatively cool. The Acer laptop computer’s heart (88 levels), touchpad (79 levels) and underside (94 levels) all hovered under the 95-degree consolation threshold. Once more, the most popular location was the underside.
Acer Nitro 5 software program and guarantee
The Nitro 5 has a cornucopia of pre-installed Acer-branded apps, together with Acer Product Registration and Care Heart, a platform that runs system diagnostics, updates and tuneups. The NitroSense app is especially helpful for monitoring CPU and GPU temperatures; you too can regulate the pace of the followers and handle your power-plan settings.
Bloatware is surprisingly mild on the Nitro 5. You’ll discover Fb Messenger and Skype, however no foolish video games like Sweet Crush Saga and Microsoft Solitaire Assortment.
Content material creators could take curiosity in Cyberlink’s PhotoDirector and PowerDirector apps; the previous is a photo-editing app and the latter is a video-editing program.
The Nitro 5 comes with a one-year restricted guarantee. See how Acer carried out on our Tech Assist Showdown and Greatest and Worst Laptop computer Manufacturers.
Backside line
The Acer Nitro 5 has acquired rather a lot going for it: a rival-crushing AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU, a formidable Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU and a color-accurate, visually satisfying show. Plus, it nailed our video-transcoding and Geekbench checks.
The Nitro 5 is a superb laptop computer, however its rivals put up an excellent combat, particularly the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15. It’s solely $100 greater than the Nitro 5 ($2,499) and packs a Ryzen 5000-series CPU and an RTX 3080 GPU, too. The Asus gaming rig lasts greater than 8 hours on a cost (longer than the Acer’s 4-hour runtime), it defeated the Nitro 5 on most gaming benchmarks, and the audio system aren’t as quiet. As such, I’d advocate the ROG Zephyrus G15 over the Nitro 5.
Nonetheless, in case you’re an expert video or picture editor, I’d lean towards the Nitro 5. Its video-transcoding pace is lightning quick, and everyone knows that point is cash. Additionally, the show can also be extra colour correct than these on rivals. To sum all of it up, the Nitro 5 is an honest laptop computer, nevertheless it struggles to face out as the most effective in a sea of premium greats.
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