Acer nitro 5 2021 Review

 The Acer Nitro 5 is a mid-range contender for the list of the best gaming laptops on the market at the moment. In particular, macbook pro 13 inch chargerit brings with it ray tracing capabilities (a key measure of modern graphics power) to a more-affordable-than-normal price point.

To reach that price point, Acer has had to make some compromises here,lenovo ideapad flex 5 charger but we'll explain them all to you in our comprehensive Nitro 5 review. By the time you've finished reading,microsoft surface book 2 charger uk you should be able to work out whether or not this is the right gaming laptop for you.

From battery life to benchmark scores, lenovo ideapad 330s 15arr chargerwe'll explain everything you need to know about the Acer Nitro 5. When you've finished reading up on this laptop, dell xps 9350 chargeryou might want to check out our guides to the best gaming mice and best gaming keyboards available right now.

Design

The Acer Nitro 5 (2021) comes in two sizes-one with a 15.6-inch full HD IPS screen with 144Hz refresh rates, microsoft surface laptop 2 charger 44wand one with a 17.3-inch screen. With the AMD model, which features AMD's newly-announced at CES Ryzen 5000 series of mobile processors,exa1203yh the Nitro 5 has screens that can go up to 360Hz at 1080p, and there are QHD (1440p) screens that feature 165Hz refresh rates as well.ad10280

We had a chance to go hands-on with the 15.6-inch model,magsafe 2 charger 85w and while this is undeniably an Acer gaming laptop, it's not as big or bulky as some gaming laptops tend to be,dell latitude 3490 charger with dimensions of 363.4 x 255 x 23.9mm for the 15-inch model, and a weight of 2.3 kg.

It's not as thin and light as Asus premium Zephyrus lineup, dell xps 13 9380 chargernor Acer's own high-end Triton series, but the Nitro 5 is primarily a mid-range gaming laptop, samsung soundbar hw j355 power cordand for the price, the 2021 model feels nicely put together, even if the outer shell feels a little bit plasticky.

It's actually a little bit thinner and lighter than last year's Nitro 5 model.lenovo ideapad y700 chargerThis is thanks to some changes Acer has made to the design, most noticeably by slimming down the bezels around the screen.microsoft surface pro 3 charger uk Acer tells us that the screen-to-body ratio is now 80%, with the bezels narrowed to 7.02mm. dell inspiron 15r chargerNot only does this allow Acer to shrink the overall size of the Nitro 5 (2021) without reducing the size of the screen, microsoft model 1706 chargerbut it also makes the new Nitro 5 feel more modern and premium.

The power connector has also been moved to the back of the new Nitro 5,surface pro 7 charger 65w which allows for better placement of the exhaust fans. As with any gaming laptop with powerful components,microsoft surface book 2 power supply making sure everything is kept as cool as possible is a must, and it's clear Acer has thought hard about this.

The red-accented keyboard remains the same as the previous model, microsoft 1706 chargerwith a 4-zone RGB backlight. It feels responsive and comfortable to use. The touchpad is offset slightly to the left which may take a little getting used to,lenovo ideapad 720s charger but worked well enough during our time with it in Windows 10. When playing games, however, you'll want to plug in a standard mouse.

Speaking of plugging in stuff, the Acer Nitro 5 (2021) comes with a decent selection of ports.samsung q1 ultra charger On the left-hand side is an Ethernet (good for playing online games with a stable and dependable network connection), two USB ports and an audio jack. On the right-hand side there's a USB-C port, another USB port and a full-size HDMI for plugging into a TV or monitor.

The overall design of the Nitro 5 (2021) definitely has nods to gamer chic,lenovo ideapad 330 15arr charger such as RGB lighting and aggressive edges, but it's not over the top, either. Also, while it won't be mistaken for a premium gaming laptop,pg278q power supply it doesn't look or feel cheap, either. The new, slimmer bezels and overall reduced footprint is very welcome, however, and could make people sit up and take note of the Nitro 5 lineup.

We didn't get a chance to try out the faster screens in our hands-on tests, however.macbook air 2018 charger We'll hopefully get a chance for a full review soon.

Keyboard & Trackpad

The 15.6in Acer has a full-size keyboard with a good layout, including a numberpad with slightly narrowed keys. lenovo t480 chargerThe four-zone RGB LED lighting allows for a reasonable amount of customisation, too.

The keyboard has good performance, too. The buttons are fast, quiet and comfortable,apple magsafe 2 85w so they can easily handle long gaming or typing sessions. Their action is a little soft, which will put off people who prefer a crisper experience, but that's a minor complaint.

The trackpad offers no surprises. It's not particularly big, its buttons are soft, and it's positioned on the left of the base, hp spectre x360 charger ukso your wrist can easily trigger the pad accidentally. A USB gaming mouse will be far better.

Screen & Speakers

The 15.6 inch display has a 1920 x 1080 resolution with a 144Hz refresh rate. This model doesn't have Nvidia G-Sync,microsoft surface go 2 charger so you may see some minor tearing, but it won't be a big or common issue. Ultimately, this display is fine for mainstream gaming and eSports -you'll only get syncing or higher refresh rates if you spend more.

The maximum brightness level of 255 nits is fine for indoor use but not strong enough for the outdoors, and that's paired with a black level of 0.19cd/m2. dell xps13 chargerThat's good, and it creates a contrast ratio of 1347:1-an impressive result. In real-world use, those figures translate to good depth and punch.

The colours themselves are a bit limited, though. acer pa 1450 26 charger ukThe Nitro's display only renders 61.5% of the sRGB colour gamut, so it's a long way short of producing every shade required by games. The Delta E of 5.96 is only mediocre, too, and means accuracy suffers.

Ultimately, the contrast and black point figures mean this display can handle mainstream gaming: at that base level it's got the punch and depth to get the job done. 45w magsafe 2 chargerBut the poor colour reproduction means that everything looks pallid, with the boldest shades not done justice.

The audio kit is poor, too: the speakers are too quiet,asus x705m charger they lack bass, and the rest of their output is tinny. Use a gaming headsetinstead.

Performance

As this is an early hands-on, we weren't able to test out the performance, but Windows 10 felt snappy while we used it. 2008 macbook chargerThe included components certainly suggest that the Nitro 5 in any configuration will offer a great gaming experience, and we can't wait to really put it through its paces.

One thing to note is that there are a lot more configurations with the AMD model compared to the Intel one,microsoft surface 4 charger which makes us feel like the AMD one is Acer's preferred version.

For example, with the AMD model, you can choose between a 1080p screen with huge 360Hz refresh rates, alienware x51 r2 power supplyor a QHD (1440p) screen at 165Hz.

The AMD model is also the one with Nvidia's latest RTX 3000 series GPUs.

Meanwhile, the Intel model only offers 1080p resolution at 144Hz, and the GPU sticks with the GeForce GTX 1650.chicony a17 230p1a Serious gamers, then will want to go with the AMD model, which offers more power. The Intel model,dell 1545 charger however, should still be a good choice for people who are on more of a budget.

Display goes to QHD

Most Nitro 5 models you'll encounter feature a basic 1920X1080 display, but this Nitro 5 boasts a QHD (2560X1440) panel. The added pixels may not pique the interest of gamers, surface dock 2 power supplywho likely play the majority of their games at 1080p rather than 1440p, but the higher resolution is a bonus during productivity tasks because it provides a larger workspace and a finer image. Moving a step further to a 4K resolution on a 15.6-inch display is less useful-most users won't notice much of a difference in resolution on this size of a display, and battery life suffers the higher the resolution gets.microsoft model 1749 A QHD resolution is right in the sweet spot for a 15.6-inch laptop.

The display looked fairly bright and exhibited vivid color and good contrast. I played CS:GO in a sunny room and was able to see details in dark scenes on the Ancient and Militia maps.asus ux303u charger If a friend or two wanted to watch sitting next to you while you played, they'd be able to see the action because the display is an IPS panel. IPS technology delivers a wide viewing angle, so the display doesn't look overly dim when viewed off axis.

PRICE AND VERDICT

There are no real surprises with the Acer Nitro 5: it's a budget-to-mid-range gaming laptop that offers budget-to-mid-range gaming performance at a budget-to-mid-range price. asus adp 45ze b chargerThat's a formula that's likely to appeal to a large swathe of users -people who don't need (or want to pay for) the very highest resolutions or frame rates, but still want to be able to play all the latest PC titles comfortably on a computer that they can pick up and take with them, and get ray tracing thrown into the mix as well.

This laptop isn't going to win any awards for its performance levels, or indeed for its design aesthetics, but then it'll cost you a lot less than some of its rivals. Check the widgets on this page for the latest Acer Nitro 5 prices on the web, lenovo t420 chargerbut at the time of writing the model we reviewed here will set you back around ￡1,200 in the UK-and you can spend more or less than that depending on your chosen configuration. samsung hw j250 power supplyFor a laptop that's able to play the top titles of the moment, that's not bad at all.

You can see where Acer has cut some corners to keep the price down, with lots of improvement possible when it comes to the screen and the trackpad for example. Performance is good but not great, and you don't get as many lighting customisation options as you do on some of the rivals to the Nitro 5. Overall though, we think the compromises that this computer makes are compromises that plenty of users are going to be content with.

When it comes to the business of actual gaming, the Acer Nitro 5 scores highly, and so we can't complain too much about anything else. Be sure you check out the various configurations and their corresponding prices, but if you want a value-for-money machine that's going to be able to cope with just about every game out there at the moment, this is a laptop that deserves a place on your shortlist.