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Verdict
The Acer Nitro 5 is one other stable entry-level gaming laptop computer within the acclaimed sequence, with good efficiency and DLSS 3 making up for an underwhelming 1080p display screen.
Professionals
- Sturdy 1080p gaming efficiency
- DLSS 3 offers you extra scope for increased settings
- Strong construct high quality and connectivity
- Snug keyboard
Cons
- Display screen lacks brightness and color depth
- Boxy audio
- Poor battery life
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1080p gamingTwelfth Gen Intel CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU offers you 1080p gaming -
DLSS 3Bolsters body charges in increased settings or with ray tracing -
Gaming-focused showA Full HD 144Hz show permits increased body charges with extra superior graphics settings from entry-level {hardware}
Introduction
The Acer Nitro 5 (2023) is the most recent iteration of Acer’s finances gaming laptop computer, aiming to ship an honest entry-level spec for taking part in present PC video games, at a value most of us would consider as inexpensive.
As with the remainder of this 12 months’s Nitro vary, the massive information is the shift from Nvidia’s ageing RTX 30 sequence graphics chips to the brand new RTX 40 sequence GPUs, bringing not simply the most recent technology ray tracing and tensor tech, however entry to DLSS 3 with Body Technology too.
We normally get enthusiastic about these items relating to high-end gaming laptops, but when something it’s much more essential on the entry-level, enabling you to squeeze even increased body charges out of comparatively low-end {hardware}. And the place the RTX 4050 featured right here struggled to ship sufficient pixels at sufficient pace to fill the 16-inch QHD display screen on the Nitro 5’s higher-end sibling, the Acer Nitro 16, it’s a greater match for the 15.6-inch 1080p display screen of the finances mannequin. The truth is, the brand new Nitro 5 does an important job of balancing out its options and its spec.
This one ships in three variations: the Core i5/16GB model obtainable from Acer and reviewed right here, plus Core i5/8GB and Core i7/16GB variants obtainable from Argos for £1000 and £1300.
Design and Keyboard
- Slimmed-down Nitro design
- Spectacular connectivity with Thunderbolt 4 and HDMI 2.1
- Keyboard isn’t clicky however is quiet and comfy
The Nitro 5 follows the identical primary design because the Acer Nitro 16, with the identical sculpted, wedge-shaped profile, chunky vents and gloss-finish lid, although with out the chunky N brand within the centre of the colored traces.
It’s clearly a finances gaming laptop computer, however feels extra premium and strong than earlier fashions, although there’s somewhat extra flex within the lid than I’d like. The desktop footprint is almost the identical as on the Nitro 16 as nicely.
It’s additionally a lot the identical relating to connectivity, putting one USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port on the left-hand facet, together with the Ethernet port and the audio socket, then providing you with two extra USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports on the fitting. That leaves the one USB 3.2 Gen Sort C/THunderbolt 4 port on the rear, subsequent to an HDMI 2.1 out and the AC energy socket. This retains the Sort A sockets helpful for a wired gaming mouse or a headset however means trailing cables can run behind a desk, whereas a USB-C exterior SSD might lurk out of the best way behind the display screen.
Acer is normally one of the bullish producers relating to supporting new wi-fi requirements, however the Nitro 16 is certainly one of only some Acer laptops we’ve seen just lately that doesn’t help Wi-Fi 6E. Nonetheless, this isn’t a large deal until you might have a 6E community in your house.
The keyboard appears equivalent to what we noticed on the Nitro 16, with the flat, sq., chiclet keys we’ve seen earlier than on Nitro keyboards, although now with per-key RGB lighting. There aren’t any main points with the structure, although I’d prefer to see bigger and extra distinctive Shift and Ctrl keys on the left-hand facet and somewhat extra space across the cursors.
The keys themselves even have a barely comfortable typing motion, however this retains the noise stage good and low and I’ve received used to it with per week or so of gaming and typing. Not less than the motion stays constant throughout the keyboard and there’s no bounce beneath, whereas there’s sufficient spring once you launch the important thing for speedy key instructions or contact typing. And whereas I discovered the perimeters and flat typing angle barely irritating on the Nitro 16, I didn’t have any points right here.
You don’t count on an all-glass touchpad on a finances gaming laptop computer, however the plastic one right here feels very clean and completely correct, although at 105 x 78mm it’s smaller than the one on the Nitro 16, and felt somewhat cramped whereas Net shopping and navigating WIndows. Kicking off one other marathon session on Baldur’s Gate III? You’ll be reaching in your mouse in minutes.
Show and Sound
- 15.6-inch measurement and 1080p is okay for entry-level gaming
- Sturdy 144Hz refresh fee for eSports video games
- Lacks brightness and color depth
- Disappointingly boxy and tinny audio
After the massive QHD display screen of the Nitro 16, the 15.6in 1080p display screen of this mannequin can appear somewhat underwhelming. That stated, it’s nonetheless a sensible selection; even fashionable PC video games nonetheless look good at 1080p, and the decrease decision offers you extra scope to push up element settings or use ray tracing with out your body charges falling by the ground. The truth is, on older video games and fewer demanding eSports titles, you’ve received a combating likelihood of hitting the 144Hz max refresh fee.
All the identical, this can be a first rate 1080p display screen slightly than an important one. It solely covers 60.4% of the sRGB color gamut and a mere 43.2% of DCI-P3, whereas we measured the utmost brightness stage at 247 nits. That’s not brilliant sufficient to be used in direct daylight or too close to a window on a sunny day, however it additionally implies that you’re not getting as vivid or punchy a show as on some higher-end gaming laptops. Enjoying Baldur’s Gate III and Returnal at evening, this wasn’t an issue. It’s not precisely an HDR presentation, however there’s sufficient distinction and color to look good. But a few of that fades away if you happen to’re taking part in – or working – throughout daylight. You’ll be able to see what’s happening, however it’s not particularly vibrant.
Don’t get too excited in regards to the audio, both. It’s boxy, low on bass and barely tinny within the treble area, however wonderful for informal gaming and film watching at low volumes, however probably not all that immersive. You’ll have a a lot richer expertise if you happen to put some headphones on.
Efficiency
- RTX 4050 GPU for 1080p gaming at excessive settings
- DLSS 3 with body technology aids ray tracing results
The Nitro 5 combines a Twelfth-generation Intel Core i5-12500H CPU with 16GB of DDR5 RAM, a 512GB WD SN810 PCIe 4.0 SSD and the RTX 4050. The CPU isn’t certainly one of Intel’s newest, however its 4 efficiency cores and eight environment friendly cores can nonetheless deal with 16 threads at speeds of as much as 4.5GHz on the P cores and three.3GHz on the E cores, so that you’ve received greater than sufficient efficiency for many workplace or consumer-grade inventive apps.
Having solely simply moved to Geekbench 6.1 for testing, we are able to solely make restricted comparisons with comparable finances gaming laptops just like the Gigabyte G5 2023 or the MSI GF63 Skinny, however the Nitro 5 pulls forward of each on PCMark 10. It’s received the chops for work in addition to play.
In relation to gaming, you possibly can count on 60fps in additional demanding video games at Extremely settings so long as ray tracing is turned off or set to low or medium settings. Add extra demanding ray-traced results and people body charges will plummet. For example, with the RT Extremely preset engaged in Cyberpunk 2077, you’ll get simply 36fps at 1080p.
The simple means round that, in fact, is to modify DLSS 3 with Body Technology on. This was sufficient to spice up the body fee again as much as 58.65fps, at which level issues look fairly clean with no severe judders; not dangerous for one of the superior video games round working on what’s entry-level {hardware}. You received’t make a lot use of the display screen 144Hz refresh fee on that sort of title, however there’s sufficient energy right here to run Rainbow Six: Extraction on maxed-out settings at 117fps.
The Nitro 5 may be very comparable in spec to the MSI GF63 Skinny, whereas the Gigabyte G5 packs within the superior RTX 4060 GPU, with 8GB slightly than 6GB of RAM. Nevertheless, the RTX 4050 within the MSI and the RTX 4060 within the Gigabyte are power-constrained, working at 45W and 60W respectively with the potential for a 15W enhance. The RTX 4050 right here appears to be working on the most 140W, enabling it to match the G5 on Returnal and Cyberpunk 2077 and go away the MSI trailing in each titles.
You may get an extra enhance by switching from the Default clock speeds and cooling to Efficiency mode in Acer’s preinstalled NitroSense utility. Nevertheless, this didn’t appear to offer us greater than a few additional FPS in any title, at the price of a a lot, a lot noisier laptop computer and an alarming stage of vibration. Total, it’s in all probability not well worth the trouble until you’re in a scenario the place each final body counts.
Battery Life
- Restricted battery life
- Round 3 hours of streaming video
If efficiency is nice for the cash, the identical can’t be stated of the battery life. The Nitro 5 stored working for simply over 4 hours within the PC Mark 10 Trendy Workplace battery benchmark, which is dangerous even by the requirements of most big-screen gaming laptops.
Left to stream Netflix for an hour, it misplaced 36% of its cost, that means that you simply wouldn’t get by a few of right this moment’s longer blockbuster films with out plugging into the mains. Even spending time shopping and doing mild workplace work, I discovered the Nitro 5 would have to be recharged at lunchtime if it had been to get me by a working day. Right here each the Gigabyte G5 and MSI FG63 have a big benefit, lasting an hour or extra on prime.
Newest offers
Do you have to purchase it?
You need wonderful value-for-money efficiency and design
The Core i5 and RTX 4050 provide you with good efficiency for a gaming laptop computer costing round £1,000, and the Nitro 5 is one other nice instance of a well-built, well-specced finances mannequin.
In case you’re on the lookout for a punchy show
You’ll both want to boost your finances or take successful elsewhere to discover a gaming laptop computer with extra brightness, richer color and a better decision show. Equally, the poor battery life will make this a no-go if you happen to plan to spend longer than an hour or two away from the mains.
Remaining Ideas
As with earlier Nitro laptops, there’s a way that Acer has hit the nail proper on the top. Collectively, the Core i5 CPU and RTX 4050 do an important job of hitting good body charges on the most recent video games at 1080p, with DLSS 3 within the wings if you wish to allow ray tracing or if video games develop extra demanding in just a few 12 months’s time.
After all, Acer hasn’t received this market all to itself, and the Gigabyte G5 is a tempting different at the same value. Nevertheless, regardless of its RTX 4060 GPU the G5 isn’t truly a lot quicker in video games, and it may’t beat the Nitro the place its weakest – its display screen – as a result of its personal show isn’t considerably higher. The MSI GF63 Skinny is slimmer with barely higher battery life, however it has comparable display screen points and the efficiency isn’t in the identical class.
For my cash, that makes the Nitro 5 an actual contender, supplied you possibly can stay with the underwhelming brightness ranges of the display screen.
How we check
Each laptop computer we evaluation goes by a sequence of uniform checks designed to gauge key issues together with construct high quality, efficiency, display screen high quality and battery life.
These embody formal artificial benchmarks and scripted exams, plus a sequence of actual world checks.
We used as our principal laptop computer for at the very least per week.
Examined the efficiency by way of each benchmark exams and real-world use.
We examined the display screen with a colorimeter and real-world use.
We examined the battery with a benchmark check and real-world use.
FAQs
The Acer Nitro 5 is just not a loud laptop computer, from the sound of the keys to the followers. The followers are typical of a gaming laptop computer however do develop into noisy when utilizing the Efficiency mode in Acer’s NitroSense software program.
When gaming, you’ll see much better efficiency if you happen to use the Acer Nitro 5 when plugged into energy.
Trusted Opinions check knowledge
PCMark 10
Cinebench R23 multi core
Cinebench R23 single core
Geekbench 6 single core
Geekbench 6 multi core
3DMark Time Spy
CrystalDiskMark Learn pace
CrystalDiskMark Write Velocity
Brightness (SDR)
Black stage
Distinction ratio
White Visible Color Temperature
sRGB
Adobe RGB
DCI-P3
PCMark Battery (workplace)
Battery discharge after 60 minutes of on-line Netflix playback
Cyberpunk 2077 (Full HD)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Full HD + RT)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Full HD + Supersampling)
Returnal (Full HD)
UK RRP
USA RRP
EU RRP
CPU
Producer
Quiet Mark Accredited
Display screen Dimension
Storage Capability
Entrance Digital camera
Battery
Battery Hours
Dimension (Dimensions)
Weight
Working System
Launch Date
First Reviewed Date
Mannequin Quantity
Decision
Refresh Fee
Ports
GPU
RAM
Connectivity
Colors
Show Expertise
Display screen Expertise
Contact Display screen
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