68 reviews for Acer – Nitro 5 15.6″ Gaming Laptop – NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 – 1TB Hard Drive + 128GB SSD – Black

Saldan3637
Rated 3 out of 5
2020
First gaming laptop and so far it hasn't disappointed

 
Pammy
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
My son loves, he said it was for school but he’s on it all night playing games.

 
Gamer
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
My personal laptop and very first gaming laptop! Loving it doesn’t fail my expectations. Worth getting.

 
superbroly13
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
Affordable, powerful, stylish, and all around amazing laptop.

 
BubbaD12
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
Fast and great to use for home office, student and gamer..

 
tdrails
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
working great so far. good specs. fast processor more substantial than some other laptops so good for work at home

 
Blaster
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
Bought this for my son to game on since his older laptop was ancient. This one is feature packed. We got it at the right time with all the home school...More
Bought this for my son to game on since his older laptop was ancient. This one is feature packed. We got it at the right time with all the home schooling now too. Zoom meetings and Skype calls with family are easy with either built in webcam or additional webcam mounted above TV. Built in HDMI also sends great picture and sound directly to the TV. He loves it and notices better game speed.



 
Sakurai
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
Perfect for beginners who want to start gaming. Cost may be pricy but I bought it for about 130$ less. Very good quality gaming laptop

 
Teddy
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
Have had this laptop for only a month, but so far it exceeds expectations. It is very fast, and there is no lag with game controller's.

 
Dadof3
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
Bought this for my kids to share for game playing and online school. Works great and easy to use.

 
Vanben
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
Fast and flashy computer. Great for streaming movies!!

 
Bob17
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
Replaced an older HP laptop and it’s so much faster and easier to use.

 
goldnblackmason
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
It's my first gaming laptop. All my games run great. I've used it for group video workouts and the camera is good but the audio could be better.

&n...More
It's my first gaming laptop. All my games run great. I've used it for group video workouts and the camera is good but the audio could be better.



 
Yoyo
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
Works great for me. Plays the games I like, No problems so far. If it's like their monitors should last Awhile.

 

GoodLookingSugar
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
I use it for work, flawless. It’ll do everything you need for work. For games. Flawless. I would upgrade to 8 more gb of ram for a total of 16 gb whic...More
I use it for work, flawless. It’ll do everything you need for work. For games. Flawless. I would upgrade to 8 more gb of ram for a total of 16 gb which it’s set up to evolve into. Then you can work and play your video games at the same time. Everything works wonderfully. It’s also very stylish.



 
BabyBull
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
Purchased this as my 1st gaming laptop I love it. Staff was very helpful with making my decision in store.

 
Bj814
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
Great laptop for the money. Will most likely max out all the specs on it to max. But it dont need it.

 

 
Doppleganger
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
It's done everything I've thrown at it really well so far. I would definitely recommend it to other first-time PC owners.

 

 
Gilly
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
Outstanding laptop for the price and the quality. Highly recommended if you want to game outside of a console and be mobile by having a laptop instead...More
Outstanding laptop for the price and the quality. Highly recommended if you want to game outside of a console and be mobile by having a laptop instead of desktop.



 



 
Saldan3637
Rated 5 out of 5
2020
First gaming laptop and so far it hasn't disappointed

 

 
Todd
Rated 4 out of 5
2020
This laptop gets the job done. Weather editing or gaming. It’s not the biggest baddest machine out there but for the money it’s a great value.
AB09
Rated 4 out of 5
2020
Got for my daughter to have a computer with better speed and capacity for college. So far, she is enjoying it for playing various "virtual reality" ba...More
Got for my daughter to have a computer with better speed and capacity for college. So far, she is enjoying it for playing various "virtual reality" based games.
Pacaderm
Rated 4 out of 5
2020
Great for a first time budget gaming laptop, runs new games a mid range settings and the keyboard feels great.
Chet
Rated 4 out of 5
2020
Excellent purchase. Great for gaming and basic home use. Keyboard feels great too. Highly recommended.
scholtl
Rated 4 out of 5
2020
I've been using this computer for work training sessions, online schooling for my kiddos, and occasional gaming. It was easy to set up and works well ...More
I've been using this computer for work training sessions, online schooling for my kiddos, and occasional gaming. It was easy to set up and works well for what I need it for. I have it hooked into an additional monitor and it's been working well so far. The screen has been glitching off and on when I don't have it plugged into a power source. It's annoying, but doesn't destroy or distort any information I have open on the screen.
Jareco
Rated 4 out of 5
2020
I do not feel like I push this very hard but after playing online for an hour or so its started getting hot and short freezes start happening. only la...More
I do not feel like I push this very hard but after playing online for an hour or so its started getting hot and short freezes start happening. only lasting about 1-2 seconds however if you are playing something online that 2 seconds can mean death. This is a gaming laptop that overheats to fast. Other than that It's great and runs higher-end graphics( not top tear but high)

Erik77
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
Pros: Good design Back lit keyboard Graphics and display Dual M2 ssd slot High class Processor Cooling technology

Cons: Touch pad position (in my o...More
Pros: Good design Back lit keyboard Graphics and display Dual M2 ssd slot High class Processor Cooling technology



Cons: Touch pad position (in my opinion) 5400rpm (secondary) HDD



Neutral: Weight



+1
callmeageeth
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
First, a little about me, I'm a lifelong gamer but have mostly gamed on consoles. I'm also a tech enthusiast but gaming on a PC just never caught on w...More
First, a little about me, I'm a lifelong gamer but have mostly gamed on consoles. I'm also a tech enthusiast but gaming on a PC just never caught on with me, can't explain why. I've always known that you can get better performance on a gaming PC but I just always preferred the stability of popping a disc into a console and it just working without having to worry about settings, drivers, compatibility, and services to buy games.



But nowadays, it's hard to get away from gaming PCs. They seem to be more prevalent and more main stream (I'm in no way suggesting PC gaming hasn't been popular). So my take in this Acer gaming laptop comes from someone with limited PC "tinkering" experience and someone who is aware of the various graphics cards, CPUs, RAM, etc, but simply never invested the time and energy into creating my own gaming PC. What's important to me, is that it just works and works well. And this PC succeeds on all fronts.
Terrie
Rated 3 out of 5
2019
Good buy so far it has performed it is a bit Compa but I enjoy
Coda
Rated 3 out of 5
2019
Runs great, solid battery life, but fans are really loud. Easy fix but it’s a hassle to buy higher quality ones and replace them, but worth it.
Capios
Rated 3 out of 5
2019
First the good. I got this mainly for off-site gaming and am surprised by how well it runs. After tweaking and removing bloatware everything I throw a...More
First the good. I got this mainly for off-site gaming and am surprised by how well it runs. After tweaking and removing bloatware everything I throw at it runs on High settings just fine and it boots up instantly. I was a little worried about how the HDD would perform when I ordered but surprisingly it loads games fast enough. Battery life could be better but you get what you pay for. I mostly leave it plugged in anyway.



Now for the bad. The keyboard backlight shuts off automatically after 30 seconds and there is no setting to change it. This is fine for when you're on battery, and I get that, but on AC power you should have the option to leave it on. The reason being in low light YOU CAN'T SEE THE LETTERS ON THE KEYS. This means anyone who games descreetly at night is screwed. Acer didn't bother to add any light color to the letters so you could see them with the room lights off. This would be ok if the backlight stayed on all the time, but it doesn't. Even with a BIOS update, and setting the option of the backlight timer to 'Disabled' doesn't change it. I'm very disappointed Acer didn't take 2 minutes to include a Windows utility to toggle this option on and off.



I would avoid this product if you like gaming at night.
Sharissa
Rated 3 out of 5
2019
There was a little bit of lag when first turning on the laptop and installing original products, but it seems to sped up a bit and is working fine so ...More
There was a little bit of lag when first turning on the laptop and installing original products, but it seems to sped up a bit and is working fine so far.



 
DarthNeyehilus
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
This review is for the Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop. My variant has the Intel Core i5 processor with 8GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, a 1TB mecha...More
This review is for the Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop. My variant has the Intel Core i5 processor with 8GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, a 1TB mechanical hard drive, and a 128GB solid state drive. With that hardware configuration this laptop is quite capable of multitasking movies, music, internet, and intensive gaming, but the best part is that it won't break the bank. I believe this is the best compromise between performance, and price for a gaming laptop today. The outer casing of the laptop is made of plastic, but the build quality, fit, and finish are all excellent. The best part for me is that it is not a fingerprint magnet.



Neither is the screen with its nice matte finished 1080p IPS screen. The design cues suggest that it is a gaming laptop, but it is not gaudy. I find the design very elegant, and classy. The keyboard is backlit in red which matches the accent color present elsewhere throughout the laptop. Key travel is excellent, and very comfortable to type on. The internal solid state drive contains the Windows OS, and I also install the rest of my programs there. The computer boots fast, and programs are snappy. All of my other media, and games are stored on the 1tb mechanical drive. There is also a spare M.2 slot if you want to add another SSD. My variant comes with 8GB of DDR4 RAM.



There is one 8GB chip installed, and a total of 2 slots so you can expand up to 32GB. Even though I am very impressed with the performance of this computer this will be my first upgrade. Why? Why not. It is a cheap, easy, and effective upgrade through the panel on the bottom of the laptop which allows you to access the battery, RAM and M.2 slot. I tried a variety of Steam games on this laptop from first person shooters to RPGs, and lighter indie programs. I have come away from every one of these experiences thoroughly impressed. Are there better gaming laptops out there? Sure. But like I said before I do believe this is the absolute best compromise between price, and performance. If you are in the market for a gaming laptop, but don't want to break the bank you should be looking at the Acer Nitro 5.



I highly recommend it, and I strongly believe you won't be disappointed.



 



 
Kat777
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
OK this laptop was better than I expected. This thing is beautiful straight out of the box. Build quality is great and feels sturdy. The lines are sle...More
OK this laptop was better than I expected. This thing is beautiful straight out of the box. Build quality is great and feels sturdy. The lines are sleek and the weight is less than I imagined for something geared towards gaming. The screen quality is one of the most stand out features as every game or video I stream is crystal clear. Sound quality is great without headphones and the volume can go quite loud if needed. This thing starts up in seconds and has run ever task asked of it without issue so far. The keyboard layout is comfortable and the red back lit keys give it an added edge. I don't consider myself a serious gamer so I can't speak to any hard-core use however the battery life and performance has been superb at this point. For the price I think this is a lot of bang for your buck and would recommend to anyone looking for a solid laptop for heavy use.



 



 
TravisJ
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
If you’re looking for a laptop that will get you in the game without sacrificing on graphics or pummeling your wallet, you’ve probably come across Ace...More
If you’re looking for a laptop that will get you in the game without sacrificing on graphics or pummeling your wallet, you’ve probably come across Acer’s lineup of Nitro 5 model gaming laptops.



-=The TL/DR=-



This portable, snappy, 15” laptop plays Apex at 60 FPS on high settings, Anthem at 40 FPS on medium settings, has a Cinebench 20 score of 1607, Unigine Heaven extreme preset score of 1435 @ 57 FPS, and a gaming score of 53 using User Benchmark. Keyboard and trackpad are good enough, sound isn’t bad at all for a laptop. The dedicated Nitro Sense button is a nice addition. Display, at 1080p, looks fantastic although the backlight could be brighter. This is an entry level gaming laptop for AAA titles.



-=Performance=-



The 9th generation i5 that comes in this is impressive. I don’t have any issues at all browsing, loading programs or playing games. It does run a bit warm as the recent generation intel chips do, but I haven’t noticed this affecting performance. The Cinebench 20 score of 1607 is respectable for being a quad core CPU. The 8gb of ram installed is enough for most normal tasks. Probably won’t be editing large high res video without doubling up.



-=Graphics=-



The 1650 will surprise you in this machine. In the past, the 50 suffixes on Nvidia’s cards was enough to be able to say it had dedicated graphics but didn’t really do a whole lot for gaming. The 1650 will let you game at 1080 at medium to high settings, depending on the game. I played several farm runs in Anthem and only seen frame drops when I was in Fort Taris. Didn’t have any issues at all going into Apex Legends. The graphics defaulted to high, another stick of ram could possibly get you to very high.



-=Audio/Video=-



I fired up Spotify on this to do some housework. I wasn’t expecting much, and honestly, was expecting a lot worse. I was pleasantly surprised when the sound at max settings didn’t sound muffled or distorted at all. It wasn’t heavy in the bass or loud enough to be heard throughout the house, but it sounded good. I noticed in games too when the volume was turned up, it was clear enough to hear what direction the enemies were in. The webcam is awful. I suppose if you need one for any reason, it’s there, but it’s grainy and dark.



-=Design=-



Acer is sticking to the dark red and black look that’s been a staple of their Nitro series of laptops. I like how from the front and sides it seems like a typical laptop, but when you look at the sharp angles and edged that is the exhaust, you can tell it might do something more than type up emails or reports. The build quality seems to be OK. The keyboard has some flex, but the hinge and display appear to be solid. I would have liked to see RGB on the keyboard. Having just one color (red) is kind of blah in todays day and age. They did manage to keep the laptop thin and thin enough that they had to use a hinge for the ethernet port.



-=I/O=-



The right side has the power input, USB 2, and audio jack. The left side has two USB 3 Type A and one USB type C (no thunderbolt 3, sad), HDMI, and an Ethernet. It has an intel Wireless AC 9560 with Bluetooth 5.0. I’m currently rocking 866.7 Mbps on wireless.



-=Memory/Storage=-



This Nitro 5 model ships with a 128GB NVMe OS drive and a 1tb HDD. The memory has two slots with only one occupied with an 8GB stick of 2667mhz memory.



-=Battery=-



The battery seems solid as long as you’re not gaming. I streamed a 4k video for 30 minutes and still displaying 4 hours remaining. I would imagine gaming would quickly drain the battery if you’re not plugged in. You’ll get several hours of browsing and streaming videos when you’re not running the GPU.



-=Final Thoughts=-



I think Acer has a great machine in the entry level of AAA gaming laptops. The 1650 outperforms last year’s 1050 Ti as well as the i5 9300H, edging out last year’s i5 8300H. You wouldn’t be embarrassed to use it in a coffee shop or conference room. It’s small enough to fit nicely in your lap, but 15” is large enough not to have to squint at the screen. I’m very impressed with this Nitro 5.



 



 
Nismo456
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
For a budget gaming laptop, it has good power, specs and well rounded specs. Acer CoolBoost and the massive fans and exhaust ports does a great job, j...More
For a budget gaming laptop, it has good power, specs and well rounded specs. Acer CoolBoost and the massive fans and exhaust ports does a great job, just remember do not sit on your lap (it has a warning also). The fan cooling customization is very helpful. Beautiful display combines an excellent refresh rates with an FHD screen outfitted with an IPS panel. Many, many ports are available. No SD Card Slot For a gaming laptop it has a long battery life



 



 



+1
jago
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
This seems like the perfect mid-range laptop for gaming that I have come across. The 9th Gen Intel Core i5-9300H mobile processor has eight cores and ...More
This seems like the perfect mid-range laptop for gaming that I have come across. The 9th Gen Intel Core i5-9300H mobile processor has eight cores and uses Intel Turbo Boost Technology to speed things up when you need it and less energy when you don’t. The 15.6” HD display is 1920 x 1080 and is bright, clear and responsive. The viewing angle is pretty good as well. The bottom of the laptop is removable when you take off the 12 screws and then you have access to the battery (3720 mAh), storage, and RAM, it does take a little effort to pull the whole panel off and I was afraid of breaking some clips, but I did not. It comes with 8GB DDR4 SDRAM , but you have another slot so you can increase it to 32GB in all. It is nice that this laptop has a M.2 NVMe drive (128GB) for the OS to load up and a 1TB SATA drive for storage, there is also an additional M.2 slot that is unused. There is a memory card reader, BT chip, Ethernet port, 1 USB Type A 2.0 port, 3 USB 3.0 Type A ports, 1 USB 3.1 Type C port, and an HDMi output. Graphics is supplied by a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 with 4GB of memory. There are better cards out there, but this is a good card for the money. Oh, and the backlit keyboard (Red only) that has the typical FPS markings on them for gaming. The keys are responsive, and the layout does take a little bit getting used to and I found myself always hitting the incorrect keys. A small learning curve, but it’s not too bad. This is a pretty heavy laptop but the design is nice and not overly “gamerly” is that makes sense. One of the best features I think for this laptop is the fact that you can open it up with one hand by just lifting the top and you don’t have to hold the bottom down. Every laptop I have owned you had to use two hands to open it up and I just find this really handy. Battery life is decent and it’s rated for 6 hours, but I was having to recharge every 4 to 5, unless I was gaming, then it only lasted about 3 hours. This laptop handed everything that I threw at it without skipping a beat. Windows 10 Home performs fast and is what you expect from a modern day PC. While gaming, the fans will spin up but the noise isn’t too bad unless they are full bore! Then the laptop sounds like it’s going to take off. The internal speakers are surprisingly good and they can drown out nearly all of the fan sound except when they are fully on. A nice set of headphones always solves that issue though. Acer also includes a nice neoprene sleeve to keep the laptop in and I was pleasantly surprised by that as well. Overall, I will highly recommend this laptop to my friends who are looking for a budget device that is well built and works great.



 



 
bigshayn87
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
I love this gaming laptop. It's very fast and plays anything I throw at it with ease. I have played games from now and games from the past and they al...More
I love this gaming laptop. It's very fast and plays anything I throw at it with ease. I have played games from now and games from the past and they all play at 60fps with high to ultra settings. The sound is pretty good for a laptop but not anything special. The design is very slick and I love the led lit keyboard. Definitely a great laptop.



 



 

mrjlwilliams
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
This laptop is a nice update over last year's model, because it's a lot slimmer. The screen is still beautiful, and the keyboard feels much better to ...More
This laptop is a nice update over last year's model, because it's a lot slimmer. The screen is still beautiful, and the keyboard feels much better to type on. They did a great job. The laptop is great for the gaming I've done, but I've also done some editing. It's great for that too. The one Con that I found is that they too away the full size SD card slot, as I needed that when transferring files. Other than that, the price is right and battery life is great in my usage.



 



 
pMurphy
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
Plenty of memory space in this beast. LOVE the 1TB Hard Drive. I do not have to worry about storage now. The screen is fantastic. Just the right size ...More
Plenty of memory space in this beast. LOVE the 1TB Hard Drive. I do not have to worry about storage now. The screen is fantastic. Just the right size while not being too large for a laptop. This fits nicely in my backpack for carrying around and is surprisingly not too heavy. It is lighter than it looks. I love the lighted keyboard. The keys are very responsive and easy to type on. It boots up quickly and easily runs multiple programs and internet tabs at one time. Set up was a breeze... it walks you though all the steps. The price point is very competitive. I was surprised how much memory and speed I was getting for this cost compared to other more expensive laptops with similar specs.



 
DHmom
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
Very nice computer for the money! Very pleased with it!

 
jonnyd2885
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
The Acer gaming laptop is a great choice for anyone looking to get a good all around gaming laptop at a great price. This model specifically with the ...More
The Acer gaming laptop is a great choice for anyone looking to get a good all around gaming laptop at a great price. This model specifically with the 1TB hard drive and a 128GB SSD offers fast startup with good storage space. There is just about enough room on the SSD to throw a few games or programs that you want to boot quickly and cut down load times, and the included hard drive can hold a good amount of other items. The graphics card is fully capable of running most titles at high in 1080p, you may need to tweak some settings in some games, but for the most part it runs most titles really well at around 60FPS. The 15.6" size is a good size that offers good screen size but still offers a portable laptop that is easy to take with you anywhere. The laptop is not too overly thick, overall it is a good size.



 



+1
JKinSYR
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
Fantastic laptop in my opinion so far as I’ve been playing with it for the last couple days now. Let’s recap...this has an Intel core i5 with 8 GB RAM...More
Fantastic laptop in my opinion so far as I’ve been playing with it for the last couple days now. Let’s recap...this has an Intel core i5 with 8 GB RAM. 1TB hard drive and a 128 GB solid state drive and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics. Windows 10 home OS. Expandable memory up to 32 GB. 1080p screen. Size 15.6 inch screen. Weighs in at 5.51 pounds. 3 USB ports, 1 USB-c port, Ethernet jack, and an HDMI port. Overall I think this is great for the beginner to mid level pc gamer that wants to have fun and play intense games without having to break the bank on a high end machine. This computer is certainly capable but may have its limitations on higher multimedia based games running 4K for example. Not at all a bad machine but may be frowned upon by someone who regularly uses a pc that runs over a grand.



Windows 10 performs quickly and responsively and never seems to lag. The specs of this machine are adequate and can handle most games without feeling like the machine is overwhelmed. It’s a bulky laptop and for good reason. Acer may have used plastic casing for this laptop but they stuffed it with plenty of fast hardware components to ensure a smooth gaming experience. I feel the audio speakers on this machine are very nice. I was feeling submerged in the sound as I was getting a full surround effect steaming movies and playing games. Most will use dedicated gaming headsets with this laptop which will enhance the experience but I feel audio clarity and sound is fantastic from the laptop alone.



The design is very nice and has an aesthetic appeal. An obsidian black accented with a crimson edging. The red keyboard is a nice touch with the backlight and the color can’t be changed but I’m ok with that. It stays on par with the red themed Acer Nitro branding. The keyboard feels nice and has a great tactile feel on the depressing of the keys. I find the screen to be very nice and sufficient for my purposes. Whether I’m gaming, surfing, or composing a spreadsheet the screen is crisp and clear. Gaming on this has been a fun ride for me. I don’t notice any lagging or slow down or overheating. This battery is sufficient when not plugged in with maybe 6-7 hours of usage. One thing I find will be useful to gamers will be the Nitrosense control panel on this machine. It will allow you to customize and adjust the various settings internally to help you monitor your machine and have it run to your liking. Call of duty is my go to game for playing and I loved it on this machine.



No lag and screen had no issues with refresh. As pointed out earlier the sound was clear and crisp without headphones as well. PRO: Budget minded Fast internal hardware Great color scheme CON: Heavy and bulky (but it’s expected)



 
jailoliv
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
I would like to clarify that the screen is 1080p and the processor is an i5. In other words, this is not a hardcore gaming PC. Instead, it is a mid-ra...More
I would like to clarify that the screen is 1080p and the processor is an i5. In other words, this is not a hardcore gaming PC. Instead, it is a mid-range gaming laptop that will most likely not disappoint most players looking for a budget gaming portable computer. The GTX 1650 graphics card that comes in the Acer Gaming Laptop is much better than the GTX 1050. Smoother motion at almost 10 FPS above the latter at the same settings but it is not better than the GTX 1060. The image quality is not as detailed as with the 1060 but it did look brighter in some games. Personally, I tend to like brighter but details are just as important to me. In the case of the Nitro, I found it was a good compromise. It plays games very well at 1080p as long as you keep the settings to medium. All the games I played at those settings were smooth and detailed enough to keep me interested for hours but please don’t even try to push 4K on an external monitor/TV. You would be disappointed. You can connect it to a 4K monitor/TV. Just do not try to play at this higher resolution. The WiFi capability is good games but if you are playing many games that require being online all the time or if you are using a VR equipment such as the Oculus Rift, my recommendation is to connect it using an Ethernet cable. Still, I did not experience any issues with WiFi. I like back-lit keyboards and wish there were more colors available but red is ok with me. The ability to upgrade RAM and SSD drive is welcome. After testing with what came with it, I successfully upgraded the SSD to 500 GB and am planning to upgrade RAM to 16. I would just recommend anybody to add a mouse, especially a gaming one, for playing games. There are some USB ports for that, as well as a USB-C for high-speed/high=powered external devices and a HDMI port for monitors and TVs. Although I would like a gaming laptop to run for 8 hours or more on a single battery charge, we are not there yet. Thus, I do not test battery life in this type of laptop. Gaming requires a lot of power and there is not much that can be done about that. What is good news is that even playing games that typically warms up any laptop, the Nitro stayed relatively cooler, which is great for longevity of this type of device. Acer did a good job here. I had a hard time deciding whether to rate it as a 5- or 4-star gaming laptop but considering all that it brings at a budget level plus the ability to upgrade some parts, I thought that five stars was fair.



 
Mikepas
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
This Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop is an excellent machine that is an above average value in the gaming laptop space. Bootup time is wicked fast thanks t...More
This Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop is an excellent machine that is an above average value in the gaming laptop space. Bootup time is wicked fast thanks to the 128GB SSD where Windows is installed. Even the regular hard drive (1 TB) feels faster than one would expect.



To get the basics out of the way first. The overall build quality feels quite sturdy and nice. Yes, it's plastic, but it doesn't feel like "cheap" plastic. I have no worries zipping it up in the included sleeve and putting it in my bag when I'm on the go. The back lit keyboard is very comfortable to type on with just the right amount of key travel. A couple of added bonuses is the full size direction keys and full size number pad on the right side. They keyboard is fine for FSP games but I'd strongly recommend a good gaming mouse as trying to play those games using the trackpad, while possible, is not optimal for fast paced gaming. Speaking of the trackpad it is above average in responsiveness/sensitivity but is awkwardly placed, in my opinion. To me it would be better if it was more centered in relation to the body of the laptop. The display is one of the better I've ever seen on a "budget" machine and I'm rather pleased with it. My only complaint, and it's minor, is some slight light bleed at the top when you're looking at a dark scene. It's not distracting but it is there.



This is a gaming machine and I am happy to report it has handled every game I've thrown at it handily. I've played PUBG, Fortnight, GTA V, as well as the old school Unreal Tournament and it's been fabulous at those titles. PUBG, Fortnight, and GTA V I had to lower the graphics to mostly medium settings to get a good frame rate but I have been impressed with how the machine handles those titles.



This is one of the more quiet gaming laptops I've seen too. Acer includes their NitroSENSE control panel so you can adjust the fans and other settings which is very handy to monitor your machine. The built in speakers sound great with decent volume and stereo separation. Movies look and sound great!



The specs on this machine mean you're set for a couple of years of good use. Overall I am extremely pleased with this machine!
Workfromhome
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
I've always liked Acer laptops, and this laptop hasn't disappointed. It's got the build of a nice good ol' fashioned gaming laptop, without feeling to...More
I've always liked Acer laptops, and this laptop hasn't disappointed. It's got the build of a nice good ol' fashioned gaming laptop, without feeling too overly bulky.



First things first... I had troubles with wifi performance. I was downloading games from Steam and Uplay at around 1mbps which I knew wasn't right. I ran a speedtests from both speedtest.net and fast.com and speeds were very very inconsistent during the test, generally ranging from 20-60mbps, with the test usually settling on rating the connection at about 15-20mbps. I tested right after on another laptop and both tests pegged at 200mbps. I started by disabling Acer Network Optimizer (which I now can't find where to reinstall), and disabling the preinstalled Norton protection, neither of which helped. Researching the chipset online (Intel 9560 160Mhz) turned up others having similar issues. I ended up going to the advanced adapter settings and changing the "Preferred Band" to "Prefer 5Ghz band" and BOOM, wifi performance improved dramatically. Ultimately, I don't know if it's just my environment, or the chipset, or some combination where it just does not work well on 2.4ghz. If you plan to use this primarily on 2.4ghz networks, maybe do some more research on this chipset first.



My other minor complaint is the keyboard, namely the spacebar. Maybe there's just a problem with my keyboard, or maybe it's a design flaw, but sometimes when I go to press the spacebar, it sticks like there is food stuck under it (but there's not). Not a huge deal, but worth mentioning for posterity.



I was able to play Final Fantasy XV for about one hour or so on battery. Obviously you're not going to be doing most of your gaming on battery anyway. The battery for everyday use is probably fine, but also probably nothing earth shattering.



Now, if you're into benchmarks, this laptop performed very well, and now stands as the best general performing computer in my arsenal (I used all freely available benchmark tests): PassMark PerformanceTest 9.0 CPU: 9306 2d: 820 3d: 6496 memory: 2090 disk: 7807



3DMark Time Spy Graphics: 3503 CPU: 3662 Overall: 3525



3DMark Night Raid Graphics: 22730 CPU: 6648 Overall: 22730



And then the benefit of gaming laptops also means upgrade-ability! The bottom comes off easily, and reveals 1 free RAM slot, 1 free M.2 slot, and of course the HDD, battery and everything else easily accessible. So you can easily upgrade the HDD to another SSD, or add another SSD to the 2nd M.2 slot, or bump the RAM to 16gb (or more?).



Cooling was never an issue and this laptop provides plenty of airflow to the components to keep at a reasonable temp.
Drew
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
Got this laptop a month ago and not regretting it, works well with great graphics and no lag.
Gamer0569
Rated 5 out of 5
2019
This laptop is a great price for mobile gaming. It has enough power to work on the go. When plugged into AC, enough power to play modern AAA games at ...More
This laptop is a great price for mobile gaming. It has enough power to work on the go. When plugged into AC, enough power to play modern AAA games at 1080p medium settings.
sprout133
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
it is our main computer but also used to play one online game and so far so good. it is a little annoying that the lighted keyboard is hard to see whe...More
it is our main computer but also used to play one online game and so far so good. it is a little annoying that the lighted keyboard is hard to see when the lights go off after so long.
Renae
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
The key board lights up when using the key, goes to sleep when not in use. I just touch any key, and the lighting comes back on. The red lighting does...More
The key board lights up when using the key, goes to sleep when not in use. I just touch any key, and the lighting comes back on. The red lighting does cause the whole room to glow light other colors like blue might. Blue is a very color. I've been pretty busy, so I haven't had a time to check out its other features. Looking forward to acculmated to A New laptop.
Lydia
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
I know gamers don't usually like to use a laptop, but my son has been very happy with the performance of this laptop.
HeloDoc
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
I bought this computer to replace a 10 year old Sony that crashed. I was looking more than a basic computer but didn’t want to break the bank on an Al...More
I bought this computer to replace a 10 year old Sony that crashed. I was looking more than a basic computer but didn’t want to break the bank on an Alianware. It boots fast with the SSD and there is plenty of storage (1T) in the main disk drive. The graphics are nice while I dabble in DCS until I get the money for a big gaming desk top computer. It does lag a little, but that could also be my internet WiFi which has always given me trouble in my house. The only complaint I have with this PC is that the internal speakers are weak. 30 plus years of turbine jet engines have made me a bit HOH, but my Sony could play videos and music much louder. Acer has reputation for making lower end computers, so time will tell how it holds up. But, 3 weeks into owning it and it seems to do everything I want without any issues.
Logan617
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
Great laptop for the money plays games better than I thought it would and plays games I didnt think it would
SecretaryTreasurer
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
When I purchased this item I asked if there was anything that the Geek Squad needed to do to set this laptop up. I was told no, it was ready to go, ju...More
When I purchased this item I asked if there was anything that the Geek Squad needed to do to set this laptop up. I was told no, it was ready to go, just do the updates. Everything seemed fine until I tried to load Office Home & Student. There was an error message and a phone number to call. Well, 5 hours later and unable to pay for the tech service through Microsoft the laptop was up to date. I don't know for how long though. This laptop is for my job with a postal union and I purchased it for it's 1T hard drive. I needed it for Quickbooks 2020.
Rommish
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
Just really needed a new computer to work from home. This is probably the nicest computer I've had.
GGTEX
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
Bought this laptop as business back up when I travel and a little bit of driving simulation gaming. Works as expected. Great value
Bookguypdx
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
Got this to replace a dying Dell. Nice look, runs great. So far no issues. Bottom comes off pretty ready to upgrade RAM if needed. That's a great thin...More
Got this to replace a dying Dell. Nice look, runs great. So far no issues. Bottom comes off pretty ready to upgrade RAM if needed. That's a great thing to know.
KyloRen
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
The laptop is great, but I ended up returning it. For this price you can probably find a laptop with a 1660ti
Phil
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
Great buy for the sale price! Runs smooth and most popular games will be great to play on low settings.
jiggy
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
I bought this PC plus a separate Crucial 8GB memory upgrade. Upgrade was very easily, I had my kid do it. It's perfect for basic 3D gaming like Minecr...More
I bought this PC plus a separate Crucial 8GB memory upgrade. Upgrade was very easily, I had my kid do it. It's perfect for basic 3D gaming like Minecraft, but it's also perfect for streaming and video conferencing. My MacBook Pro by comparison gets screaming hot about 15 minutes into a Zoom, but the Acer Nitro is barely warm even when running for long periods. Plus it's got real ports so I can output HDMI or use wired ethernet without an adapter.
MadSquabbles
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
When I get a gaming laptop I usually aim for the higher end versions because they cost so much that I want them to last a minimum of 2yrs.

The Acer...More
When I get a gaming laptop I usually aim for the higher end versions because they cost so much that I want them to last a minimum of 2yrs.



The Acer Nitro 5 comes in at a fraction of what I normally pay but doesn't' sacrifice much when it comes to performance. The screen on my unit is an AUO12ED, IPS, 60hz with a non-glare coating (I wish glossy never became a thing) and had excellent viewing angles and colors that pop with the default settings. Though, if you use it for gaming you'll surely be looking straight on instead of angles. I would have liked a 144hz screen, but there would have been an increase in price.



Also G-Sync would have been a plus, but again would have been a pretty hefty upgrade in the price. The Nitro 5 comes with both a mechanical SATA drive and a M.2 NVMe and has a spot to add another M.2 drive. Getting in is pretty easy. Unscrew the bottom and pop it off and you're ready to upgrade if you feel. The processor is quad core i5-9300H with hyperthreading. It has enough power do almost anything you'd do with a desktop. Stress testing showed no throttling for a 30 min test. Same with the video card. Speaking of the video card - the reason why you'd get this laptop - the brand new GTX 1650 is little budget powerhouse.



3DMarks clocked in at 3425 (Test1: 21.84 FPS, #2 19.5 FPS). Furmark pulled 42 FPS and had no throttle for 30 min combined with a CPU stress test. Acer did a wonder job on the thermals. The 1650 is powerful enough for High and possibly Ultra settings on most games at 1080p. I'm currently playing CoX so that old game didn't really push the 1650 to it's limits. This gaming laptop is well worth the cost and should last my 2yr minimum requirements - unless the upgrade bug bites me!
Beradon
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
I've owned many gaming laptops over the years from various manufacturers and each tends to do some things well and some things not so well.

Acer ha...More
I've owned many gaming laptops over the years from various manufacturers and each tends to do some things well and some things not so well.



Acer has managed to make a very decent midrange gaming laptop with a slim form factor, albeit with a few drawbacks.



To start, the packaging is fairly average for a laptop, there is no pomp and circumstance when you open the box, you have your laptop and some documentation and that's about it. Many times gaming laptops have somewhat of a premium feel to their packaging, but unfortunately there is none of that here, it is a very basic experience.



The laptop itself is plastic, no metal, although the construction is nice, it is still definitely not a premium build. This is ok at the price point, albeit it is still possible to find laptops with metal or higher quality builds in this range so it's a bit of a disappointment that Acer chose none of that here.



When booting the laptop you're met with the standard Windows 10 initial boot experience... for the most part, but unfortunately it doesn't remain that way. At the end of the Windows setup there is some Acer configuration options and information gathering. Once in to Windows, there's unfortunately a fair amount more bloat. There are numerous apps installed from the factory which is unfortunate cause while the laptop does indeed have a 1TB HD, the 128GB boot drive is fairly small, and a chunk of it is taken up by these bloat applications. Many companies have realized that consumers don't want nor need the bloat, but Acer is not one of them.



As far as performance is concerned, the Intel i5 and NVidia GTX 1650 lend to a very very enjoyable experience. The laptop is quick and the SSD helps to ensure that things remain snappy. The screen is rather good for a midlevel laptop and it lends to an enjoyable experience. I was able to play many games with High settings, though being that this is just a 1650, I imagine it will not take long for many games to outstrip it. That said, for years to come you should be more than capable of playing games at mid-to-high settings without any effort, just be sure to install them on the 1TB spinning drive.



Overall this is a fairly decent midrange gaming laptop, but the installed bloatware is unfortunate as is the all plastic construction.



 
buckbabes
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
After using this computer for a week I can say that it is pretty awesome but has two odd flaws. Starting with the things that I like, which is a big l...More
After using this computer for a week I can say that it is pretty awesome but has two odd flaws. Starting with the things that I like, which is a big list. It's a smaller, lighter, powerhouse with the the newest 9th gen quad core I5 processor, newest video card, an SSD and HDD along with enough ram to operate efficiently.



When it comes to gaming I've played a few popular titles with using Steam and I have to say that with the combination of monitor, processor, SSD and video card, had no problems running or storing games. While playing games it got a little warm but never hot, the fans were super quiet (and adjustable) and the keyboard was very satisfying.



The things I didn't like are not really deal breakers. One was the placement of the power connector. Its smack dam in the middle of the right side of the laptop. The other is the poor placement of the home key. It is right next to the delete and backspace keys. If you make a lot of typing errors, like me, it will drive you crazy.



With all that being said, I think this laptop is the perfect for gaming. It is the right balance of price, performance, looks and size, while still leaving room for upgrades.
Selva
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
I have been using Gaming Desktops until now and looking for decent mid-range gaming laptop without breaking the bank. Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop is an...More
I have been using Gaming Desktops until now and looking for decent mid-range gaming laptop without breaking the bank. Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop is an excellent option for mid-range gaming laptop. It has decent configuration to play games. It comes with 9th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-9300H mobile processor with smart quad-core, eight-way processing performance with Intel Turbo Boost Technology. The 15.6" Full HD display with Acer Comfy View technology reduces reflection. The 1920 x 1080 resolution boasts impressive color and clarity. The display has IPS technology and LED backlight.



It has 8GB system memory for advanced multitasking and substantial high-bandwidth RAM to smoothly run your games and photo- and video-editing applications, as well as multiple programs and browser tabs all at once. There are two drives in this laptop 128GB SSD and 1TB Hard drive. Due to SSD, boot up is very fast and data access is instant. It has NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics with 4GB GDDR5 dedicated video memory for a fast, advanced GPU to fuel your games.



It came with Windows 10 operating system and weighs only 5.5 lbs. and measures 1.1" thin. This laptop has many ports 1 full HDMI port, 3 USB ports, 1 USB-C port and Ethernet port. I am disappointed that there is no display port to connect with external monitor on high resolution. It comes with Built-in webcam with microphone for video calls and skype calls. The keyboard is with backlit. The sound quality of the speaker is not great and i don't have any issues as i will be using headphones most of the time. There are many games suffering as there is no Gsync capability. Battery is OK and it last around 4 hours with continuous usage.



Acer Nitro 5 is a mid-range gaming laptop. If you are a hardcore gamer and looking for all features, it may not be a good fit. However, this laptop is great for budget conscious users as it has decent configuration.
Mistabritt
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
Just received my Acre Nitro 5 gaming laptop a few days ago. I love the heft and size of this laptop. It comes with 3 USB ports, an HDMI port, an Ether...More
Just received my Acre Nitro 5 gaming laptop a few days ago. I love the heft and size of this laptop. It comes with 3 USB ports, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, and a USB-C port. Upon getting all of the current Windows updates installed I downloaded a couple of games to put the Nitro 5 though its paces. From my standpoint the games ran smoothly without any hiccups or lagging. The colors to me seem to pop more while playing games rather than when I'm not playing games. During gameplay the laptop stayed cool thanks to the settings in NitroSense. One thing I would have liked to see is the ability to change the LED colors of the keyboard instead of it always being red. Also I would have liked to see a setting that allows the user to change the time-frame as to how long the back-light keys stay lit. Currently its only 30 seconds or "always on," if you toggle the settings.



The chassis of the laptop does have a plasticy feel, however I love the touch and feel of the keys. A couple areas that I think Acer could have spent a little more time on is the display and the sound quality. As I stated before, while playing games, the colors seem to pop, however, when I'm using it as a regular laptop, the display looks a little washed out. And when it comes to sound, it doesn't sound as loud as I'd like it. Like it could be turned up just a tad more. Unless I've not found the correct audio/volume settings in MaxxAudio.



Great mid range gaming laptop with a few features that are not necessarily a deal-breaker, however, would be great to have. Overall its a good device and would recommend it to anyone looking for a mid level device within this price range.
doop22
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
Everything looks absolutely amazing on it. Downloaded and played Osu with no issues but when I downloaded the Sims 4 with all the expansion and DLC pa...More
Everything looks absolutely amazing on it. Downloaded and played Osu with no issues but when I downloaded the Sims 4 with all the expansion and DLC packs and started to play the game I got the blue screen so that's why I gave it 4/5 stars. Attached is a picture of the blue screen error



+1
Zaid
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
So we are dealing with a budget gaming laptop. Acer made it possible by putting fast hardware parts with decent display to make it affordable. Laptops...More
So we are dealing with a budget gaming laptop. Acer made it possible by putting fast hardware parts with decent display to make it affordable. Laptops works smooth and boots up fast “flash”. Design is stunning with red backlit keys are amazing, and kind of heavy and fan makes noise when system needs to cool down. My only observation is the quality of its body.Frame around the screen is separated from one side, not sure if I’m getting this by chance? However, I liked it so much and been working on since 3 days and so far no issues and system seems fast and smooth.
NyVetteGuy
Rated 4 out of 5
2019
The Acer Nitro 5 has an Intel Core i5-9300H processor with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX1650 Graphics card, 8 GB of Ram on board and 128GB Solid State Drive wi...More
The Acer Nitro 5 has an Intel Core i5-9300H processor with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX1650 Graphics card, 8 GB of Ram on board and 128GB Solid State Drive with an additional 1TB HD which make this a pretty capable little machine. It has a 15.5 inch Full HD IPS Panel that looks fantastic and has in my experience no noticeable lag and has great contrast and viewing from an angle.



A typical plastic laptop body that doesn’t feel cheap in any way, it feels quite sturdy actually and a fantastic red back-lit keyboard. Sound is adequate from the on-board speakers, I wouldn’t say its fantastic but overall it sounds good with good bass. As far as battery operation time, I get an average of almost 6 hours, your mileage may vary (up or down) depending upon what you are using the Nitro 5 for.



There are a couple of issues. It does get pretty hot when using for graphics intensive games in particular and it is also lacking an SD card slot so if you want to use this for things other than gaming and web-surfing such as photography then you will need an external card reader in order to use for photo / video processing etc. but given the other pluses these are minor annoyances.



Overall a very capable gaming machine at an affordable price with most of what you look for in a gaming machine...processing and graphics prowess.