lcd panel acer nitro 5 an515-53 color accuracy for sale

One of the weak spots on Acer’s Nitro lineup has been the display in the past, so we will see how the new model fares. The base offering is a 15.6-inch 1920x1080 IPS display, offering a 60 Hz refresh rate, and on higher-tire models there is a 144 Hz offering available, although with the limited GPU offerings, that is likely overkill for this machine. There is no G-SYNC available either, so although 144 Hz displays are fantastic, the Acer Nitro 5 likely won’t be able to achieve that kind of framerate at its native resolution anyway.

To see how the Acer Nitro 5’s display performs, we test it using Portrail Display’s Calman software suite with a custom workflow. Brightness and contrast measurements are done with the X-Rite i1Display Pro colorimeter, and color accuracy testing is done with the X-Rite i1 Pro 2 spectrophotometer.

To hit a price target, one of the first areas generally cut is the display backlighting, and that is certainly the case here. At just 260 nits of peak brightness, the Acer Nitro 5 is one of the least-bright displays we have tested recently. That being said, it does offer relatively good black levels, so the overall contrast ratio is very solid at 1300:1.

At 200 nits brightness, the grayscale was very impressive on the Nitro 5, with very even red, green, and blue coloring to the white levels. The overall result did not go over the 3.0 level at any point, and the average was just 2.4 dE2000, which is quite good.

Unfortunately for the Acer Nitro 5, the good grayscale is not backed up by good color accuracy. The Nitro 5 backlighting is not only dim, it can not even get close to covering the entire sRGB color gamut. The blue values are very undersaturated at 100% levels, but red and green are both unable to hit the correct target either, so the secondary colors are quite far off the mark as well.

Gamut tests the color accuracy at 100% levels for the primary and secondary colors, and the saturation test does the same thing but at 4-bit steps from 0% to 100%. The blue levels are some of the worst results we have seen in years, with a peak error level of almost 17. For reference, error levels of 3.0 are considered accurate, and under 1.0 is considered impossible for the eye to distinguish.

The Gretag Macbeth swatch tests not just the primary and secondary colors, but many others as well, including the important skin tones. With the display unable to achieve the full sRGB gamut, the GMB results are unsurprisingly poor. The average error level is helped by reasonable grayscale, but most of the other colors are quite far off.

The colorchecker tests a sample of colors, and displays the target color on the bottom with the measured color on the top, to give a visual indication of the inaccuracy of the display. This is a relative result, as any errors in your own display will change the output, but it is still a handy way to more easily interpret the error levels shown above. It is not very pretty for the Acer Nitro 5.

Going into this review, there were not high hopes for the display. It is an area where Acer has found room to keep costs down in the past, and if we are being honest, it is an area where you expect less than ideal results in a budget-focused design. That being said, $300 iPads and $500 Surface tablets ship with full sRGB displays that are calibrated per-device. This display is fine for what it is. It is an IPS display, with good viewing angles, and at least on the review unit, good white values, but although some slack must be given Acer due to the tight budget on this device, it is still a bad display.

With a lightning-quick 165Hz refresh rate and 3ms2 response time, your game sessions will be fluid, unbroken, and unmatched. Now you can land those reflexive shots with pinpoint accuracy and minimal ghosting.

The newly refined chassis comes with a few extra tricks up its sleeve in the form of dual- fan cooling, dual-intakes (top and bottom), and a quad-exhaust port design. For extra control, pop open the NitroSense utility app for extra control and take command over fan speeds, lighting, and more.

Spice things up with the 4-zone RGB keyboard1 and take command of the inner workings of the laptop via the dedicated NitroSense Key. The WASD and arrow keys are also highlighted for easy visibility for those clutch moments.

With the Intel® Killer E2600 Ethernet Controller, Intel® Killer™ Wi-Fi 6 AX1650i, and Control Center 2.0, you have all the tools you need to clear out the online competition. You deserve the low latency and reliable connection that only Killer networks can provide.

The Nitro 5 has been Acer’s go-to budget laptop since the line first debuted in 2017, where it made use of Intel’s 7th gen chips. But thanks to the AMD Ryzen 5 4600U processor, 2020’s AMD refresh of the Nitro 5 makes the laptop more affordable than ever. Its specs are definitely entry-level, but at $669, it’s among the most affordable gaming laptops you can get right now, and one of the best gaming laptops on a budget. That does mean you’ll have to make some sacrifices, though, especially when it comes to the display.

This year’s Acer Nitro 5 sports a slightly new look when compared to previous models, with the key difference being a slightly thinner quarter-inch side bezel around the screen. Otherwise, the design changes are largely aesthetic, though they give the laptop a modern feel compared to previous iterations. The main look here is “angles.” The laptop case itself is cut into angles at the corner and angular vents adorn the back and side. The lid also has decorative angular indents on its otherwise flat surface. One big change here over previous versions of this laptop is that the lid is now largely flat, which looks a bit more modern.

Opening the lid reveals that the Nitro brand’s black and red motif now spreads across the whole keyboard. Compared to previous Nitro 5 models, which had all-black keycaps with red lettering, all the keycaps on this model have red outlines on their sides to help keys stand out. It really makes it pop. To maintain extra contrast on the WASD keys, though, this model also adds red outlines to the very edges of the top of their keycaps, as well as gives them a slightly different font. This is also the case for the arrow keys and the “Nitro” key. The touchpad also has a red outline. The exterior of the laptop is all-black, then, except for a red Nitro logo printed across the hinge and a hard red plastic grill that surrounds the back vents.

The Acer Nitro 5 charges through a port on its back, leaving both sides open for accessories and other connections. The laptop’s left side has two USB Type-A ports, one RJ-45 ethernet port and a 3.5mm combination headphone and microphone jack. The right side, then, has an HDMI 2.0 port, another USB Type-A connection and a Thunderbolt 3 port.

The Acer Nitro 5 is roughly on par with mainstream gaming laptops when it comes to size, though it is slightly thicker than some competitors. For instance, it comes in at 14.3 x 10 x 0.9 inches when stacked up against the Dell G3 15’s 14.4 x 10 x 0.9 inches and the HP Omen 15’s 14.1 x 9.4 x 0.9 inches. It is also roughly about as heavy as these competitors as well, weighing 5.3 pounds against the G3 15’s 5.4 pounds and the Omen 15’s 5.4 pounds.

The Nitro 5 works to cut costs while keeping performance playable on most modern games, though you might have to drop below high settings to hit over 60 fps on certain titles. Unlike similar mainstream laptops like the Dell G3 15, which uses an Intel Core i5-9300H, the Nitro 5 opts for an AMD Ryzen 5 4600U. It might not be as advanced as the Omen 15’s Ryzen 7 4800H, but it works well assuming you’re either fine with 30 fps or don’t mind not always using the highest graphics presets.

Of course, the Nitro 5 is also big enough to pack a GPU, and uses an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650. That’s the same card as the G3 15, though the Omen 15 uses a more powerful GTX 1660 Ti (and is more expensive because of it).

When I played Control on Nitro 5 for a half hour, I typically landed between 28 - 35 fps on low settings and 28 - 35 fps on high settings. Because the Nitro 5 uses a GTX GPU, ray tracing wasn’t an option, but aside from a few rare dips below 30 fps during heavy action, the game was plenty playable.

High preset graphics performance improved slightly when we benchmarked Grand Theft Auto V at 1920 x 1080 on very high. Here, the game scored an average 40 fps, which was slightly higher than the G3 15’s 38 fps but much lower than the Omen 15’s 61 fps (which isn’t surprising - that’s a step up spec-wise).

Shadow of the Tomb Raider was barely above 30 fps results when we ran its 1920 x 1080 benchmark on its highest preset. The game ran at a 32 fps average on the Nitro 5 and a 48 fps on the Omen 15. Shadow of the Tomb Raider wasn’t in our testing rotation when we reviewed the Dell G3 15.

Performance was at its highest in Far Cry: New Dawn’s benchmark (1920 x 1080, ultra). Both the Nitro 5 and the G3 15 scored an average 53 fps here, while the Omen 15 earned 75 fps.

We also returned to Metro: Exodus to stress test the Nitro 5, running its 1080p high settings benchmark on a loop 15 times. Here, the Nitro 5 had an average 34.3 fps. The average CPU clock speed was 3.4 GHz while the average GPU clock speed was 1.6 GHz. The laptop was plenty cool throughout, with an average CPU temperature of 59.2 degrees Celsius (138.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and an average GPU temperature of 53.4 degrees Celsius (128.1 degrees Fahrenheit).

The Nitro 5, uses a Ryzen 5 4600U processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB M.2 PCIe SSD. To test it, we put it up against the Dell G3 15, which uses an Intel Core i5-9300H CPU, and the HP Omen 15, which uses a more powerful Ryzen 7 4800H CPU.

The Nitro 5 scored 5,262 on our Geekbench 5.0 benchmark, which measures general productivity. That puts it over 1,000 points above the G3 15’s 4,119, though the Omen 15 heavily outperformed both with a score of 7,978, thanks to the high-end processor.

We got similar results on our Handbrake benchmark, which tracks how long it takes a computer to transcode a video down from 4K to FHD. The Nitro 5 completed the task in 9:11, while the G3 15 trailed behind with a time of 14:01. The Omen 15 was the fastest, finishing the transcode in 6:01.

Results were closer in our file transfer test, where we track how quickly a computer transfers 4.97GB of files. The Acer Nitro 5 moved the files at a rate of 273.6 MBps, while the G3 15 was slightly faster at 299.4 MBps.

I tested the Nitro 5’s display by watching the trailer for The New Mutantson the screen. Because The New Mutants makes such heavy use of blacks, this let me immediately identify the display’s strongest quality- its black are effectively deep and do not bleed. This makes it easy to follow action and distinguish character silhouettes. Unfortunately, in more colorful scenes, the colors were largely dull, which was also the case when I watched the more colorful Sonic the Hedgehog movie on the display. They weren’t inaccurate, but they also failed to pop, which wasn’t aided by what felt to me like a dim screen with poor viewing angles where the picture washed out whenever I got more than about 35 degrees away from the display.

The Nitro 5 was the most dim among its competitors, though, only hitting 255 nits of average brightness while the G3 15 hit 272 nits and the Omen 15 scored 311 nits.

The Acer Nitro 5’s keyboard has comfortable raised chiclet-style buttons and a full numeric keypad, though its keypad has a unique layout that takes a little getting used to and includes a superfluous button.

Pressing buttons on this keyboard feels good. The keys are slightly raised above the surface, enough that you can see their switches underneath, which means they feel like the sink down into the keyboard when you press on them. They also feel soft and cushiony when pressing down, though not so soft that they don’t give you tactile feedback. For instance, I was able to score an average 85 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test using the Nitro 5 keyboard, which is 10 wpm higher than my usual score.

All the numbers are there, as well as key functions like PgUp and End, but the right arrow key juts into its bottom row. This is probably so that the arrow keys can be full-size, but it does mean the numeric keypad loses out on a possible button. The Acer Nitro key further exacerbates this issue, as it takes up a button slot next to Numlock and only functions to open the Acer NitroSense app. This means the + and - keys had to move off to the side, which could mess with muscle memory.

The Acer Nitro 5 has one bottom-firing speaker on either side, which I tested using Dynamite by BTS. The song was understandable, though I did lose some information.

At full volume, the Nitro 5’s speakers were able to carry across my entire 2-bedroom apartment, so volume wasn’t the issue. Instead, the problem was mostly in the bass, as the speakers cut most of the bass track from the song. It was a completely different experience than listening to the song on either my headphones or desktop speakers, and made the line “Can’t you hear the bass boom?” pretty funny.

Opening the Acer Nitro 5 is painless, and gives you access to plenty of parts to play around with. Just use a Phillip’s head screwdriver to unscrew the 11 identical screws along the laptop’s bottom, then lift off the case. Inside, you’ll see the M.2 SSD, network card, and RAM.

The Acer Nitro 5 excels on battery life and should keep you going for more than a full workday for non-gaming tasks. On our benchmark, which continuously streams video, browses the web and runs OpenGL over Wi-Fi tests at 150 nits of brightness, the Nitro 5 kept working for 11 hours and 9 minutes. That far exceeds the Dell G3 15’s 6:41 battery life and the Omen 15’s 6:13 battery life on the same test.

The Acer Nitro 5 remains cool during non-gaming use. After streaming 15 minutes of Youtube videos, the hottest part of the laptop- the underside- only registered 88.3 degrees Fahrenheit (31.3 degrees Celsius). Even better, the coolest part- the touchpad- was just 74.5 degrees Fahrenheit (23.6 degrees Celsius). The center of the keyboard (between the G and H keys) was between the two, hitting 81.5 degrees Fahrenheit (27.5 degrees Celsius).

The Acer Nitro 5’s built-in 720p webcam is surprisingly high quality, which is impressive for such an inexpensive laptop, and appreciated given that the best webcams are hard to come by right now.

I tested the webcam in both high and low light, though didn’t find much of a difference between either. Regardless of lighting levels, every picture I took with the Nitro 5 came out with accurate colors and texture and only minor grain. They weren’t as good as what I might get on my iPhone, but given that I’ve reviewed several multi-thousand dollar laptops that make me look like a zombie, they were plenty detailed and true-to-life for my purposes.

Buying an Acer laptop means making peace with bloatware being pre-installed on your machine, and the Nitro 5 is the best example of this I’ve seen yet. I found about 20 programs pre-installed on the Nitro 5 that many users will probably find themselves wanting to remove, including gems like the “User Experience Improve Program.” And the best part is that there’s even bloatware that encourages you to install more bloatware.

Standard Windows pre-installs like Spotify are on the Nitro 5, but so are promotional inclusions like Netflix, ExpressVPN, GoTrustID (a password manager app) and the creatively named “Dropbox Promotion.” Firefox also comes pre-installed on the Nitro 5, and while some of these programs might be useful for some people, I doubt everyone who buys a Nitro 5 will want to use all of them.

The most egregious but simultaneously generous Nitro 5 bloatware is Norton Security, which came with 2 years of time on our laptop. The Nitro 5 also has a photo editor named PhotoDirector for Acer and a movie editor named PowerDirector for Acer.

Finally, the Nitro 5 also has Acer Collection S on it, which is a storefront that sells free apps like Facebook and The Weather Channel, but also sells more niche paid apps like “Yoga Studio.” So, if you didn’t have enough installed on your computer already, you can add to it here.

2020’s Acer Nitro balances budget pricing with entry-level performance. It’s not going to match the performance of the best gaming laptops, but compared to similarly powerful Intel laptops, it’s much cheaper.

For instance, the Nitro 5 was mostly on par in gaming with the Intel Core i5-9300H powered Dell G3 15 from last year, despite costing $669 against that machine’s $849. It also outperformed it on productivity and had the same display color spectrum and almost the same display brightness. The G3 15 is slightly thinner, but aside from that, the Nitro 5 offers almost identical performance at a much lower cost.

That said, it does still make compromises, and its angular black-and-red design isn’t for everybody. The Nitro 5 wasn’t able to keep up with the also AMD-powered HP Omen 15 in our tests. That’s understandable, as the Omen 15 uses more powerful components like the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H processor and GTX 1660 Ti GPU, plus has a brighter and more colorful screen. All of that comes at a price- the Omen 15 costs $1299.99, but if you want a more premium 15-inch laptop with a sleeker design that still uses AMD, it’s a great bet.

For its niche, though, the Acer Nitro 5 delivers great value. While it can’t always play games on high settings at over 30 fps, it’s a perfect entry-level gaming laptop for people who don’t need the best of the best.

Optimised for gaming. While laptops with an RTX 3080 offer a whole lot of performance, they are often chunky and can get really hot, which is not something that everybody wants. The Acer Nitro 5, on the other hand, is for those who are looking for a low-priced portable gaming laptop.

The Acer Nitro 5 AN515-55 is the latest laptop in Acer’s Nitro 5 series, which consists of low-priced notebooks that aim to cover the basics. Our review device comes with the GeForce RTX 3060, which is one of Nvidia’s latest GPUs. The Nitro 5 is supposed to offer a relatively high level of performance at a reasonable power draw. Our review device is very similar to the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-44, which is why we did not provide a detailed description of the case and the ports. You can find all the relevant information in our review of the predecessor model.

The design of the 15.6-inch Nitro 5 AN515-55 has not changed much when compared to the predecessor model. The laptop is still made of matte black plastic. The colour accents are also still here. Because the keys now have a white accent instead of a red one, the Nitro 5 looks less flashy. The angular design, the red colour accent around the touchpad and the red plastic "inserts" are all vestiges of what used to be considered cool in the gaming laptop world. The build quality is on a good level. The chassis is quite stiff. However, the display lid and the keyboard deck exhibit a small amount of flex.

The Nitro 5 AN515-55 takes up slightly more space than most other laptops with similar hardware. Weighing in at 2.3 kg (5 lbs), the Nitro 5 is the heaviest device in our comparison chart. The MSI GF65 Thin 10UE is the lightest notebook that we included in our review. It only weighs 1.9 kg (4.27 lbs).

Acer Aspire Nitro 5 AN515-55-57GF Acer Nitro 5 AN515-44-R5FT Schenker XMG Core 15 Ampere HP Omen 15-en0375ng MSI GF65 Thin 10UE Asus TUF Dash F15 FX516PR DIN A4 ❌

363.4 mm / 14.3 inch255 mm / 10 inch23.9 mm / 0.941 inch2.3 kg5 lbs363 mm / 14.3 inch255 mm / 10 inch24 mm / 0.945 inch2.2 kg4.8 lbs359.8 mm / 14.2 inch243 mm / 9.57 inch22.9 mm / 0.902 inch2 kg4.45 lbs358 mm / 14.1 inch240 mm / 9.45 inch23 mm / 0.906 inch2.2 kg4.76 lbs359 mm / 14.1 inch254 mm / 10 inch21.7 mm / 0.854 inch1.9 kg4.27 lbs360 mm / 14.2 inch252 mm / 9.92 inch20 mm / 0.787 inch2 kg4.51 lbs297 mm / 11.7 inch210 mm / 8.27 inch1 mm / 0.03937 inch5.7 g0.01257 lbs

The Nitro 5 supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0, thanks to an Intel communications module (AX201). The Nitro 5 does not achieve spectacular speeds in our Wi-Fi test, but it is still fast enough for all usage scenarios. However, some competing laptops are almost twice as fast as the Acer notebook when it comes to Wi-Fi speeds.

To get to the internal components, users will have to undo 11 screws on the bottom. Once the device is open, users will get access to the two M.2 slots, the replaceable Wi-Fi module, the battery and the fans. As you can see from the image below, there is a bay for a 2.5-inch drive, but there is no SATA connector.

The keyboard features an RBG backlight with four brightness levels, which can be cycled through in the Nitrosense utility. The keys offer a short travel distance and very little resistance. The keyboard does not produce a lot of noise when typing, which is why it can be used in quiet environments. The keyboard is not suited for long typing sessions. Moreover, the keys of the numeric pad are too small.

The Acer Nitro 5 has a 15.6-inch display with a native resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and a refresh rate of 144 Hz. The display is fit for competitive titles. Those who want a 165-Hz 1440p screen or a 240-Hz 1080p display will have to pay a significant premium.

The brightness is on a very good level when compared to the rest of the competition. The brightness distribution is also quite decent. Our panel does not exhibit an excessive amount of backlight bleeding. The Schenker XMG Core 15 Ampere is the only device in our comparison chart that offers a higher screen brightness. The panel in the Schenker notebook also has a higher resolution (2560x1440).

Both the contrast ratio (1371:1) and the black value (0.21 cd/m²) are very good. Only the MSI GF65 Thin 10UE does better here. The Nitro 5 still manages to beat the MSI GF65 in terms of colour reproduction, though. Nevertheless, the screen of the Nitro 5 is not suitable for professional applications, because it only manages to cover 62% of sRGB and 44% of AdobeRGB. Both the Schenker XMG Core 15 and the Asus TUF Dash F15 have significantly more colour-accurate screens, but they cost more money.

The display of the Nitro 5 is hard to read outside on sunny days because it has a brightness of only 260 cd/m². However, in all other situations, the screen should be legible, thanks to a matte surface.

ℹDisplay response times show how fast the screen is able to change from one color to the next. Slow response times can lead to afterimages and can cause moving objects to appear blurry (ghosting). Gamers of fast-paced 3D titles should pay special attention to fast response times.↔ Response Time Black to White

In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 19272 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured.

Our review device comes with the Intel Core i5-10300H, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 and 16 GB of DDR4 dual-channel RAM. Our configuration of the Nitro 5 features a 512 GB NVMe SSD. In Europe, there is also an alternative configuration with the hexa-core Intel Core i7-10750H and the RTX 3050/RTX 3050 Ti. Our review device is primarily intended for gaming because it comes with a mid-range CPU and a high-end GPU. Buyers should also be aware of the fact that not all configurations come with Windows 10 preinstalled. For instance, Windows 10 was not preinstalled on our review device.

The Core i5-10300H is a hexa-core Comet Lake-based processor, which was manufactured on the 14-nm node. However, nowadays buyers can get Intel’s 10-nm CPUs, which offer a big boost in performance. Howbeit, the Core i5-10300H is still a very capable gaming processor.

In our Cinebench R15 loop, the CPU was able to achieve very stable, albeit rather low, clock rates. The predecessor model with the AMD Ryzen 5 4600H exhibited similar behaviour in this test. Nevertheless, the Ryzen 5 4600H in the Nitro 5 AN515-44 is 57% faster than the Core i5-10300H in our current review device in the CR15 loop. When running on battery power, the CPU performance of the Nitro 5 AN515-55 drops significantly. When plugged in, the Nitro 5 AN515-55 achieved a multi-core score of 777 points in Cinebench R15. However, when running on battery power, it only got a multi-core score of 504 points.

In the productivity benchmarks, the Core i5-10300H was trounced by the competing laptops with better CPUs. In all of our benchmarks, the Core i5-10300H performed as expected.

Because it does not have a very powerful CPU, the Nitro 5 achieves mediocre results in our system benchmarks. Nevertheless, in day-to-day use, the system feels very responsive and applications start very quickly.

Our review device features a 512 GB NVMe SSD from Western Digital. However, other models come with a 1 TB SSD. In the storage benchmarks, the 512 GB SSD performs worse than the competition in almost all areas. The 4K read speed is the only exception. All in all, the SSD is fast enough to provide a very good user experience.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 (Mobile) is a high-end GPU, which is based on Nvidia’s new Ampere architecture. It offers a significant boost in performance when compared to last generation GPUs. It has 6 GB of GDDR6 video memory and an 85-W TGP.

The Schenker XMG Core 15 is outperforming the rest of the competition in the 3DMark benchmarks because it features an RTX 3060 with a 120-W TGP. The Nitro 5 beats its predecessor by more than 50% and can keep up with the 85-W RTX 3070 in the Asus TUF Dash F15 in certain benchmarks.

Acer’s gaming laptop can handle all modern titles at 1080p on high settings. It can run some esports titles at 144 FPS. However, the RTX 3060 cannot achieve playable frame rates in Cyberpunk 2077with RT effects enabled. Without DLSS, it can hit only 23 FPS on average. All in all, the RTX 3060 in the Nitro 5 is a capable gaming GPU.

dB(A)0102030405060708090Deep BassMiddle BassHigh BassLower RangeMidsHigher MidsLower HighsMid HighsUpper HighsSuper Highs204136.842.642.946.539.82535.834.338.436.536.243.5314441.148.945.444.746.54029.62632.732.23234.35027.323.83041.641.541.26331.62728.929.927.936.98023.919.2222418.327.81002320.51918.317.825.412526.721.323.119.317.630.716029.824.528.92121.930.520029.224.326.12321.429.225029.422.321.121.717.430.731530.12018.616.415.131.340030.427.621.213.41531.950031.123.119.112.312.533.663033.621.62012.511.435.480034.221.819.212.311.236.8100034.621.619.612.211.337.2125037.324.721.512.411.340.1160038.324.322.511.711.440.920003621.618.112.212.339250035.117.114.813.11337.6315035.615.314.31412.739.2400031.415.414.714.713.935.7500030.214.213.813.713.534.2630028.313.613.713.513.732.8800022.713.513.513.413.5271000020.613.113.31313251250018.51312.812.712.720160001812.312.512.41216.7SPL46.332.830.52625.449.2N5.21.61.40.80.76.5median 30.2median 21.3median 19median 13.4median 13median 32.8Delta4.24.13.52.61.84.8hearing rangehide medianshow medianFan NoiseAcer Aspire Nitro 5 AN515-55-57GF

Under load, the underside of the device gets hottest (49-51 °C; 120.2-123.8 °F), especially in the area near the screen. We saw these surface temperatures during both our gaming stress test with The Witcher 3 and our stress test with Prime95 and FurMark. The right side and the middle of the wrist rest area reach up to 37 °C (98.6 °F), which is quite warm. However, the left side does not get as warm, peaking at only 28 °C (82.4 °F).

At the beginning of our stress test (Prime95 and FurMark running continuously for at least one hour), the processor operated at 4.2 GHz and the GPU ran at 1425 MHz. After a short while, the CPU hit 90 °C (194 °F) and started to throttle down to keep itself within the conservative operating range set by Acer. In the meantime, the GPU temperatures slowly climbed to 79 °C (174.2 °F). Eventually, the GPU clocks settled at around 800 MHz, occasionally spiking to 1400 MHz. Over the course of our stress test, the average CPU clock rate amounted to 3.4 GHz and the average GPU clock rate was 1040 MHz.

(-) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 40.3 °C / 105 F, compared to the average of 33.8 °C / 93 F for the devices in the class Gaming.

(-) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 49 °C / 120 F, compared to the average of 40.4 °C / 105 F, ranging from 21.2 to 68.8 °C for the class Gaming.

The Acer Nitro 5 AN515-55 comes with two 2-W speakers. They do not produce a lot of bass but still sound acceptable. The maximum volume is on a good level. Users can connect external audio devices via a USB port, the included 3.5-mm audio jack or Bluetooth.

dB(A)0102030405060708090Deep BassMiddle BassHigh BassLower RangeMidsHigher MidsLower HighsMid HighsUpper HighsSuper Highs2046.543.62536.235.53144.745.3403231.25041.541.86327.934.58018.32610017.82812517.635.616021.938.520021.440.225017.445.931515.148.94001553.450012.559.963011.467.880011.271.1100011.370.1125011.366.9160011.465200012.362.725001360.5315012.759.9400013.954.7500013.555.4630013.756.4800013.557100001354.11250012.752.8160001245.6SPL25.476.3N0.734.3median 13median 55.4Delta1.88.13734.53729.328.429.33326.7332522.32527.825.527.834.724.434.729.429.629.424.223.724.230.128.430.143.321.243.356.219.656.263.218.863.262.920.762.963.52063.566.520.366.572.921.972.975.422.875.468.72568.766.224.266.269.524.669.566.72266.759.119.459.160.218.860.267.61867.663.915.463.965.213.365.267.514.967.57214.47273.512.973.567.413.467.480.733.180.750.41.750.4median 66.2median 20median 66.25.52.85.5hearing rangehide medianshow medianPink NoiseAcer Aspire Nitro 5 AN515-55-57GFMSI GF65 Thin 10UE

The 57.5-Wh battery of the Nitro 5 lasted 5h and 43m in our Wi-Fi test and 1h 28m under load. In our video test (playing back an H.264 video on a loop), the Acer laptop lasted 6h and 9m. In our battery tests, the Nitro 5 achieved slightly above-average battery runtimes for a device with such a battery capacity.

The matte black plastic surfaces make the Nitro 5 appear quite subdued. However, thanks to its angular design, it does not look boring at all. The build quality is on a good level, and the input devices are usable. The selection of ports is not outstanding but it is good enough for a laptop in this price bracket. The Nitro 5 does not offer any premium features.

The main draw of the Nitro 5 is, undoubtedly, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 (Mobile), which Acer put in its low-priced gaming laptop. The last-generation CPU is powerful enough to allow the RTX 3060 to reach its full potential when gaming. However, we would not recommend the Core i5-10300H to anyone who needs to use a lot of productivity applications. The subpar keyboard and the small battery capacity are our main points of criticism.With the Nitro 5, Acer wanted to achieve a good price-to-performance ratio by using an RTX 3060. At the right price, the Nitro 5 is a great gaming laptop with no major weaknesses.

In most titles, the CPU does not play a very significant role. The Nitro 5 can easily handle the latest games. The 144-Hz screen is good enough for gaming. However, it is not suitable for professional applications because of the poor colour space coverage. Even though there is a whole lot of competition in the lower mid-range segment, Acer managed to deliver an impressive gaming laptop, which covers the basics very well.

However, Acer does offer the Nitro 5s in a multitude of configurations. This article is about the updated 2020 15-inch Nitro 5, code-name Nitro 5 AN515-55, in its higher-tier version with the 10th gen Intel i7 processor, RTX 2060 graphics and a FHD 144 Hz display with 100% sRGB color coverage.

I’ve gathered all my thoughts and impressions on this product down below, however, keep in mind that most of our findings apply to the other 2020 Nitro 5 variants as well, with some differences in the performance, thermals, and noise for the lower tier configurations. That means that you will find most of this article useful no matter the Nitro 5 model you’re specifically looking at, and we’ll update with links towards our other reviews once we get to test those as well.

Much like the previous generations, this 2020 Nitro 5 is entirely made out of plastic. It doesn’t feel cheap, but it’s also not as nice as the metallic Acer Predator options, starting with the Nitro 7.

I appreciate that Acer ditched the faux carbon-fiber patterns and red accents on the lid used on some of their previous Nitros, as well as the fact that they implement muted Acer branding elements on this generation. However, those black smooth surfaces are incredibly prone to showing fingerprints and smudges, both on the lid and on the arm-rest, and you’ll constantly have to rub this laptop clean if you care about these aspects.

Despite the all-plastic build, this Nitro 5 feels sturdy, with a strong screen and little flex in the lid or keyboard deck. It’s also fairly compact and lightweight, at a little over 5 lbs in this variant.

As far as the practical aspects go, I will complain about a few details, such as the fact that the status LEDs are annoyingly placed just beneath the screen and the front lip and corners are too sharp for my liking. For the most part, though, this is a fine laptop. Acer put grippy feet on the bottom, implemented a hinge that allows one-hand operation and can get the screen to about 160 degrees on the back, and placed a fair selection of ports on the sides.

Acer offers this Nitro 5 series with either a red or an RGB keyboard, and we have this latter variant here, normally reserved for the higher-tier configurations.

It’s also a good typer that should appeal to most of you. The feedback is a bit stiffer than I’m used to and not as mushy as I remembered from the previous Nitros, and that’s a good thing.

Acer offers a couple of different screen options for the Nitro 5 series. Once more, our sample gets the higher-tier variant, which is a fine IPS FHD panel with 144 Hz refresh rate and fairly good response times.

This is a solid choice for gaming and daily use, with 100% sRGB color coverage, wide viewing angles and almost 400-nits of brightness at its highest setting. Blacks are fairly washed out, though, and that also impacts the overall contrast.

Our test model is a top-specced configuration of the Acer Nitro 5 in the 2020 AN515-55 model, with an Intel Core i7-10750H processor, 32 GB of DDR4 3200 MHz RAM, 1 TB of storage and dual graphics: the Nvidia RTX 2060 dGPU and the Intel UHD within the Intel platforms, with Optimus.

Before we proceed, keep in mind that our review unit is an early-production model with the software available as of late-July 2020 (BIOS v0.14, Nitro Sense 3.00.3138, GeForce Game Ready 451.67 drivers). While certain aspects might change with future software updates, our results should be mostly what you’ll get with the retail models as well.

Spec-wise, the 2020 Nitro 5 tops at a 6Core Intel Comet Lake i7-10750H processor available on this sample, with i5 models offered on the lower-end models. AMD Ryzen configurations are also available in some markets, but we’ll cover those in a separate article.

The updated Intel platform supports up to 3200 MHz DDR4 memory. Our configuration gets 16 GB of RAM in dual-channel, and there are two DIMMs available inside. As for the storage, our unit gets a single WDC PC SN530 drive. There are two M.2 slots on this laptop, as well as a 2.5″ bay.

For the GPU, what we have here is the standard Nvidia RTX 2060 non-Super graphics chip from 2019, in the 80W variant. I would have expected some power variation between the performance modes available in the Nitro Sense control app, but switching between Balance or High Performance doesn’t seem to change anything on our sample. In both cases, the CPU stabilizes at 45W in demanding loads, and the GPU runs at its stock 80W settings.

Both the CPU and GPU are soldered on the motherboard, but the memory, storage units, and wireless chip are accessible inside for upgrades. For that, you’ll need to take out the bottom panel, hold in place by a couple of Philips screws. I have to add that the 2.5″ bay lacks the required connector on our unit, and there’s a good possibility that Acer will not include it if you opt for a configuration without an installed HDD. Looks like a standard connector that you can easily find online, though.

Before we talk about real performance in demanding loads, I do have to mention that this Nitro 5 is a fine everyday laptop for multitasking, browsing, and video.

On to more demanding loads, we start by testing the CPU’s performance by running the Cinebench R15 test for 15+ times in a loop, with 2-3 seconds delay between each run.

The i7 processor quickly stabilizes at around 45+W on the High Performance setting, which translates in frequencies of 3.5+ GHz and temperatures of 95+ C, with scores of 1070+ points, and quiet fans at only 40-41 dB at head-level. There’s plenty of headroom on this implementation, and Acer could decide to allow it to run at higher power on this profile, the same way they allow it on their Helios and Triton lineups that we’ve tested.

Undervolting is disabled on this sample, and I couldn’t figure out how to enable it in BIOS. That’s unfortunate, as undervolting would have surely helped here, based on our experience with other Acer 10th gen notebooks.

Switching over to the Balance profile power doesn’t have any impact on the performance and thermals on this sample, which is one more reason why I’d expect the retail units to perform a little bit differently. The CPU is however power limited at 25+W on battery, with matching scores. Details below.

To put these findings in perspective, this Nitro 5 performed poorer than the other 15-inch implementations of the i7-10750H platform that we’ve tested, and that’s due to the stock 45W power-limit and lack of undervolting support. I’ve also added two competing AMD Ryzen 4800H models in the chart below, options available in this Nitro’s price range, just for a ballpark comparison of the kind of CPU performance gap you can get with the AMD platform these days at around $1000.

With that out of the way, we then went ahead and further verified our findings with the longer Cinebench R20 loop test and the gruesome Prime 95, on the High Performance profile. The CPU runs at 45+ W on both tests, with fairly quiet fans and solid temperatures of around 75-80 degrees C.

We also ran our combined CPU+GPU stress tests on this notebook. 3DMark stress runs the same test for 20 times in a loop and looks for performance variation and degradation over time, and this unit passed it fine. Luxmark 3.1 fully loads both the CPU and GPU at the same time. The CPU stabilizes at around 45W and 90+ degrees C, with the GPU running at around 80W and 82+ C.

The HWinfo logs below show the CPU and GPU speeds and temperatures in Witcher 3 and Far Cry 5 on the High Performance power profile, with the laptop sitting on the desk.

You can also manually adjust the fan’s speed in the Nitro Sense app, if you’re looking to better balance thermals and noise. However, without undervolting support or the possibility to cap the CPU in Throttlestop, I don’t think you will get it to run at lower than high-80s based on our experience with this sample, at least not in the latest generation AAA titles. Repasting might help, though, but that’s not for everyone

Acer didn’t skimp on the thermal design of this 2020 Nitro 5 configuration, implementing a cooling solution with two fans, four radiators, three heatpipes, and sufficient thermal plates spread on top of the components and secondary electronics. That’s a step-up from the design on the previous 2019 Nitro 5 lineups, and much closer to the kind of cooling normally implemented on higher-tier products, such as their Predator Helios 300 lineup.

With this sort of thermal design, I’m somewhat surprised by those high CPU temperatures in this chassis. Make sure to look into a few other reviews, maybe there’s something wrong with our sample. I’ll update this section once we get to review a few more Nitro 5 configurations.

With games, the fans ramp up to 43-44 dB on Auto, or 49-50 dB on their Max setting available in the Nitro Sense control app. Here’s a quick summary, at head-level.

As far as outer shell temperatures go, this Nitro runs cooly with daily use, but heats up a fair bit with gaming. With the fans on Auto, we measured temperatures in the high 40s around the arrow keys, and mid 50s in the right side of the keyboard, but the WASD region stays cool at mid to high 30s. Switching over to the Max fan profile shaves a few degrees of the hottest regions, but doesn’t drastically change things.

*Daily Use – streaming Netflix in EDGE for 30 minutes, Balance Profile, fans at 33-37 dB*Gaming  – High Performance – Auto fans – playing Far Cry 5 for 30 minutes, fans at 43-44 dB

The speakers fire through cuts on the underbelly and don’t expect much from them. We measured volumes of around 73-75 dB at head-level, and experienced average to poor sound quality, with little at the lower end (on the Music profile in Nitro Sense). You’ll most likely want to hook up some headphones with this.

For some reason the CPU didn’t clock down the way it should on our sample, thus I’d expect the retail versions to run more efficiently and offer around 3-4 hours of daily multitasking, 4-5 hours of light use and 5-6 hours of video on a charge.

This Nitro 5 configuration comes with a compact 180W power-brick, and that’s what you’ll also get with the GTX 1660Ti models. The battery fills up in about 2 hours and USB-C charging is not supported.

This top-end configuration with the 144 Hz screen, the i7 processor and the RTX 2060 graphics chip goes for around 1350 EUR in Germany and 1150 GBP in the UK, but I couldn’t find it in the US just yet.

However, Acer offers this in a multitude of other versions, starting from 899 EUR/799 GBP for the i5 model with GTX 1650Ti graphics, while the i7 model with 1660Ti graphics is available for 1199 EUR/999 GBP. Careful about those screen options, though. If possible, I’d definitely pay extra for the 144 Hz 100% sRGB panel on this sample.

The RTX 2060 variant tested here might not be the most popular version of this laptop, as it’s nearly as expensive as the 2060 variant of the higher tier Predator Helios 300, but the 1660Ti and 1650Ti models are worth more than a look. Acer cleaned-up the design, upgraded the thermal module, keyboard and screen options, and also updated the hardware specs with these Nitros.

On the other hand, the high CPU temperatures with games, paired with only limited performance in CPU-heavy loads, plus the poor speakers and smudge-prone black plastic build are some of the aspects that could lead you towards something else. But even so, the 2020 Nitro 5 lineup is competitive in its segment, where some compromises have to be made to hit the lower price tag.

Midrange through and through. While OEMs currently reserve Nvidia RTX 20-series GPUs for their more expensive gaming laptops, Acer has chosen to equip its attractively priced Nitro series with GeForce GTX 1600-series chips. Read on to find out how the entry-level model performs in our detailed review.

If you want to spend a maximum of 1,500 Euros (~$1,685) on a gaming laptop, then the Acer Aspire Nitro range could be a perfect fit for you. Acer has recently refreshed the series too with an upgraded case and a choice between the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 and GeForce GTX 1660 Ti.

Moreover, Acer has eschewed 8th generation Intel Core processors on which many OEMs still rely for newer 9th generation chips. You can choose between the quad-core Core i5-9300H that powers our review unit or the more powerful, and hexacore, Core i7-9750H. Likewise, you have the option of equipping the Nitro with 8 or 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, although Acer currently only sells the series with a 512 GB SSD. Our test device is the AN515-54-53Z2 for reference, which costs just under 1,100 Euros (~$1,236) on notebooksbilliger.de at the time of writing. Incidentally, our review unit is also the base model of the series.

We have chosen to compare the Nitro 5 against other comparably priced 15.6-inch gaming laptops. Our comparison devices will include the Dell G5 15 5587, the Lenovo Legion Y730-15ICH and the Medion Erazer X6805. We shall also compare the GeForce GTX 1650-powered Nitro 5 against its AMD-powered sibling. Please keep in mind that our review unit is the first that we have tested with the GeForce GTX 1650. Our Nvidia-powered comparison devices all have GTX 10-series GPUs for full disclosure.

Update 9.13.2019:Following multiple requests from readers, we have decided to put the Core i7-9750H SKU through our tests. Acer currently charges around €50 (~US$55) more than the Core i5-9300H model. We shall weave our new tests into our existing review, as the two models are identical save for their CPUs.

Acer has given the Nitro 5 a major design overhaul. While the old model had wide bezels, Acer has jumped on board with the slim side display bezels for this year’s model. The reduction in bezels has also allowed the company to make the new Nitro 5 noticeably more compact than its predecessor. Our review unit is also around 3 cm narrower and 1 cm shorter than its AMD sibling, while it is 200 g lighter too. Overall, the Nitro 5 is comparatively light for a 15.6-inch gaming laptop; only the Legion Y730-15ICH matches our review unit out of our comparison devices here.

Discounting the slimmer bezels, the Nitro 5 looks remarkably like its predecessor. The device retains the red styling of yesteryear, which Acer continues to apply to the keyboard, the edging around the touchpad and the display hinge cover, the latter of which also has the NITRO branding.

There are some subtle changes though. Acer has changed the shape of the Nitro 5’s ventilation slots and has ditched the textured finish that it previously applied to the top case. The design of the display lid is also more restrained, most of which is plain black plastic. Acer has applied a textured finish to the left and right sides of the lid, but this does not stop the Nitro 5 from looking more discreet and less playful than its predecessor.

The plastic case is sturdy enough too, although not impressively so. The base unit only gives way under intense pressure, but we can temporarily deform the display lid using two hands with relative ease. The display also bounces around a bit, although it has a comparatively large opening angle of approximately 150°.

385 mm / 15.2 inch265 mm / 10.4 inch33 mm / 1.299 inch2.5 kg5.62 lbs390 mm / 15.4 inch266 mm / 10.5 inch27 mm / 1.063 inch2.4 kg5.29 lbs389 mm / 15.3 inch274.7 mm / 10.8 inch24.95 mm / 0.982 inch2.9 kg6.29 lbs363 mm / 14.3 inch255 mm / 10 inch27 mm / 1.063 inch2.2 kg4.76 lbs362 mm / 14.3 inch267 mm / 10.5 inch19.95 mm / 0.785 inch2.2 kg4.85 lbs297 mm / 11.7 inch210 mm / 8.27 inch1 mm / 0.03937 inch5.7 g0.01257 lbs

Unfortunately, the selection of ports has gotten worse rather than better. Acer has replaced one of the two USB 2.0 ports with a USB 3.0 port and has stuck to four USB ports overall, but it has also inexplicably removed the card reader. Likewise, Acer has persisted with a combined 3.5 mm jack rather than having dedicated headphone and microphone inputs. Also, there is only an HDMI 2.0 port for image output, while there is no USB 3.1 Gen2 or Thunderbolt 3 ports. We welcome the inclusion of an RJ45 port though, but it does not stop us from marking the Nitro 5 down here.

The distribution of ports is lacklustre too. Acer has moved the ventilation grille to the right-hand side of the frame and has brought the headphone jack along with the USB Type-A port forward. The positioning of these three means that you are likely to feel warm air blowing against your hand if you use an external mouse with your right hand, while the mouse will likely catch against any cables you have connected. In short, we do not understand why Acer has made these design decisions because they only serve to reduce the Nitro 5’s functionality.

We have no cause for complaints with our review unit’s Wi-Fi performance though. Acer has equipped the device with an Intel Wireless-AC 9560 module, which achieved exceptional transfer speeds in our iperf3 Client Wi-Fi tests. We conducted these tests with the Nitro 5 approximately 1 m away from our Linksys EA8500 reference router, for reference.

Acer preinstalled a few pieces of software along with Windows 10 Home 64-bit, which should please people who like to fine-tune their systems. The company’s Nitro Sense program manages the Nitro 5’s power plans and fan control. The software also displays an overview of system information like fan speed along with CPU and GPU temperatures. Acer has bundled its Care Center program too, which provides support information and allows you to download updates or recover the device. Windows Update still downloads other updates regardless though.

Acer includes a quick-start guide, warranty booklet and an HDD adapter in the box. The latter allows you to retrofit a 2.5-inch drive should you wish to do so. There is a 135 W power supply too, although Acer bundles a higher capacity version with more-expensive and powerful models.

Maintenance is a bit more complicated than it was on the Nitro 5’s predecessor. Acer has not included any maintenance flaps this time around, so you must remove the bottom case to access any internal components. Fortunately, you only need a Phillips screwdriver and some brute force to pry the case from the chassis. You then have access to all main components including the battery, drive bays and RAM. You cannot swap the CPU or GPU, but this is common for most laptops, except for something like the Alienware Area-51m.

The Nitro 5 comes with 24 months limited manufacturer’s warranty. The coverage includes a pickup & returns service, although Acer only extends this internationally for the first 12 months of the warranty period.

Acer has made some minor changes to the keyboard between generations, but it still inherits the pros and cons of its predecessor. Typing on our review unit is an unspectacular yet pleasant enough experience, but we have mixed feelings about the keyboard layout. Some buttons are too close to each other for our liking despite the chiclet design, especially the # and Enter keys. The right arrow key also extends into the number pad, which could lead you to accidentally pressing the right arrow key initially instead of the 0 key. We still prefer full-size keys to half-size ones though. Acer has also outlined the arrow keys in red as it has with the WASD keys, a decision that will divide opinion. Aesthetically, they go against the Nitro 5’s relatively understated look, but they stand out nicely when gaming.

The positioning of the power button is an odd one too. Acer has decided to place it at the end of the function keys, which is not in itself a bad idea. However, it does not stand out from the other keys, so we sometimes found it hard to spot. The colour and lettering style of the keys is difficult to read in some lights too.

The trackpad is also a mixed bag. While it has a pleasantly smooth finish, its precision leaves something to be desired. Multi-touch gestures are easy to perform though, especially two-finger gestures such as scrolling or zooming. Acer has opted for an integrated rather than dedicated input device that allows the trackpad to be an enjoyably large 10.5 x 7.5 cm. Including dedicated mouse buttons would have made the trackpad feel a lot smaller, the effect of which would have been compounded by its imprecision.

Acer has equipped our review unit with a 60 Hz 15.6-inch display, specifically the LG Philips LP156WFC-SPD1. We suspect that the company opted for a 60 Hz panel to save on costs. A 144 Hz display would have been a nice addition though.

In short, our review unit has a disappointing display. According to X-Rite i1Pro 2, the panel only has an average maximum brightness of 226 cd/m², which is much darker than the displays in most of our comparison devices. Its 57% sRGB and 36% AdobeRGB colour-space coverages are underwhelming too, especially for a gaming laptop.

The contrast ratio, reaction times and viewing angles are also below par. Most of our comparison devices do not have great contrast ratios either, but that is no excuse for Acer equipping the Nitro 5 with what is, basically, a bargain basement display.

Worse still, our review unit suffers from backlight bleeding. The panel is only 83% evenly lit, which leads to bright spots appearing in the top corners of the display when using the Nitro 5 in poorly lit rooms or at night.

ℹDisplay response times show how fast the screen is able to change from one color to the next. Slow response times can lead to afterimages and can cause moving objects to appear blurry (ghosting). Gamers of fast-paced 3D titles should pay special attention to fast response times.↔ Response Time Black to White

In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 19277 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured.

Our review unit with its Core i5-9300H processor and GeForce GTX 1650 GPU sits firmly in the midrange of modern gaming laptops. Its 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD is comparatively large for a gaming laptop at this price, particularly as there is a second M.2 2280 drive bay and a 2.5-inch bay too. 8 GB of RAM is standard though, and at least Acer has included two SO-DIMM modules so that the system runs in dual-channel mode. The only downside is that you must replace both modules if you ever want to upgrade to 16 GB or beyond, but that is a minor gripe.

The Core i5-9300H succeeds the Core i5-8300H, a popular CPU that found itself in the entry levels of most multimedia and gaming laptops released in the last year. The new processor is more of an upgrade in name only though. Intel has increased the clock speed by 100 MHz, but both CPUs have 8 MB of L3 cache and can process up to eight threads simultaneously. They both have a 45 W thermal design power (TDP) too.

We should point out that the Nitro 5 supports Nvidia Optimus. This allows the system to switch from its Nvidia GPU to its more-efficient Intel UHD Graphics 630 for undemanding tasks like video-streaming and web-browsing, which reduces power consumption and should help lengthen battery life.

We checked the clock speed behaviour of the Core i5-9300H using Cinebench R15. The quad-core chip reaches its maximum potential in the single-core benchmark where it averages 4.1 GHz, but it disappoints in the multi-core version. Our review unit briefly reaches 4.0 GHz before dropping to around 3.3 GHz, a level that it can consistently maintain.

Update 9.13.2019: The Core i7-9750H model achieves scores about 10% more in single-core benchmarks than our first review unit, and 29% more in multicore work. The Core i5-9300H, for reference, which accounts for the uplift in single-core benchmark performance. The

As you can see from the benchmark tables, the Nitro 5 cannot distinguish itself from its Core i5-8300H-powered competitors. What’s more, the Legion Y730 gets around 8% more peak multicore performance with its nominally weaker CPU than our review unit does. The Nitro 5 also only scored approximately 5% higher in CB R15 Multi 64Bit than the G5 15 5587. The Core i7-8750H destroyed the Core i5-9300H too, with the Medion Erazer X6805 scoring 58% more than the Nitro 5 in the same benchmark.

Update: 9.13.2019: System performance benchmarks only split the two models by 2%, with the Core i5-9300H model even taking the lead in some tests. Benchmarks like PCMark measure more than just CPU performance though, so it is unsurprising to see two devices that share the same SSD, RAM and GPU score roughly the same here.

Acer has equipped our review unit with a 512 GB WDC PC SN520 SSD that delivered excellent transfer speeds in benchmarks like AS SSD. The drive is considerably faster overall than those in our comparison devices, with only the Erazer X6805 and its Samsung PM961 coming close to the transfer speeds that the WDC PC SN520 achieves.

One of the most exciting things about the Nitro 5 is its GPU. The device is the first that we have tested with the GeForce GTX 1650, which succeeds the popular GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. Nvidia has delivered a decent performance boost between generations, which it has achieved by increasing the shader count from 768 to 1,024 among other improvements. The GeForce GTX 1650 theoretically has around a 100 MHz lower base clock and a 60 MHz lower boost clock than the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. However, the speeds that individual cards can reach in practice depend largely on the cooling system with which they are paired.

In short, the Nitro 5 manages its GPU clock speeds well. The GeForce GTX 1650 averaged 1,710 MHz during Unigine Heaven 4.0 and 1,650 MHz in The Witcher 3 when set to Full HD and ultra-graphics, both of which are respectable. Our review unit also maintained peak frame rates throughout an hour-long play-through of

Update 9.13.2019: Most modern games are GPU heavy, so upgrading your CPU will only yield performance improvements if it is bottlenecking your system. Even CPU-intensive games like Core i7-9750H brings, with our new review unit averaging the same FPS on the High and Ultra presets as its Core i5-9300H sibling. Both CPUs maintain roughly the same clock speeds during our

The GPU performed well in synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark 11 too. The GeForce GTX 1650 scored over 30% more than the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti here, while the Nitro 5 almost reached the levels of the G5 15 5587 and its GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q. Our review unit loses ground in 3DMark Fire Strike though, but it still performs well considering its price.

The GeForce GTX 1650 is powerful enough to play most modern triple-A games in 1080p at high or maximum graphics. In short, you should have no issues with gaming in the Nitro 5"s native display resolution.

However, we would recommend stepping up to the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti for gaming in QHD and at least a GeForce RTX 2070 for UHD. Please see our gaming benchmarks page and our GeForce GTX 1650 review for more information about the GPU and how it performs in other games.

Acer has equipped the Nitro 5 with two fans, which are pleasantly quiet at idle. If you are not pushing the machine hard, then the fans will either stay quiet or whir at between 31 dB(A) and 33 dB(A). We also could not hear any annoying electrical interference like coil whine during our tests.

Some laptop fans exceed 50 dB(A), but we would still recommend using headphones when gaming with the Nitro 5. Its fans will drown out its speakers even if you max out the volume.

Some parts of the Nitro 5 get hot to the touch too under load too, but not dangerously so. Most of the case exceeds 40 °C under maximum load, while one area reaches 50 °C, but the palm rest remains a pleasantly cool sub-30 °C.

Likewise, case temperatures do not exceed 25 °C when the system is idling. Overall, the Nitro 5 should only ever feel hot to the touch when you are pushing it hard.

It is a different story under the hood though. GPU core temperatures only reached a maximum of 72 °C during our stress test, but the CPU peaked at 94 °C, which is only a few degrees short of its maximum operating temperature. However, we designed our combined FurMark and Prime95 stress test to push systems to their limits, so you should not experience these high internal temperatures even when enjoying prolonged gaming sessions.

(-) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 47 °C / 117 F, compared to the average of 40.4 °C / 105 F, ranging from 21.2 to 68.8 °C for the class Gaming.

The Nitro 5 has stereo speakers like many laptops. The speakers reproduce high-pitched tones comparatively accurately but at the expense of mid and low-end frequencies. Overall, the speakers are good enough for occasionally listening to music or watching videos. However, we would recommend using external speakers or headphones where possible for a better listening experience.

dB(A)0102030405060708090Deep BassMiddle BassHigh BassLower RangeMidsHigher MidsLower HighsMid HighsUpper HighsSuper Highs2043.346.72539.640.53132.4334034.442.35027.231.36329.327.48027.728.610026.830.912523.433.516022.745.120022.952.125023.554.631519.958.940019.76550019.269.963017.970.58001870.7100017.872.6125018.967.3160017.869.3200017.465.8250017.765.7315017.765.2400017.861.1500017.558.6630017.552.6800017.457.71000017.359.51250017.360.41600017.355.2SPL30.278.9N1.443.2median 17.8median 60.4Delta1.56.729.83427.431.527.729.928.429.826.726.725.525.325.631.424.943.321.545.221.646.621.354.920.861.319.363.818.464.118.364.917.566.917.571.517.870.418.368.418.367.917.168.417.466.117.758.717.863.21861.617.961.817.762.317.760.617.558.217.451.13078.41.343.8median 17.9median 62.31.35.1hearing rangehide medianshow medianPink NoiseAcer Aspire Nitro 5 AN515-54-53Z2Acer Nitro 5 AN515-42-R6V0

The Nitro 5 has surprisingly low power consumption at idle, during which it consumes between 5 W and 11 W. By contrast, only the G5 15 5587 of our comparison devices can better our review unit here, with the other candidates consuming considerably more than the Nitro 5.

Moreover, the system consumed a maximum of just 90 W while playing The Witcher 3, which underlines the extent to which Nvidia has optimised its Turing architecture compared to its older Pascal-based chips. The Nitro 5 even consumes less than its AMD-powered sibling too. Overall, it is an impressive showing for Acer and the GeForce GTX 1650 here.

After those impressive power consumption values, it should come as no surprise to see the Nitro 5 at the top of our battery life table too. Acer equips the device with a 57 Wh battery, a capacity that is on par with the batteries in our comparison devices, and which allows it to achieve excellent runtimes.

Our review unit lasted about 8 hours in our practical Wi-Fi battery life test, during which we reduce display brightness to around 150 cd/m² and turn all power-saving features off. Predictably, the device needs recharging much sooner if you are pushing it hard.

We should also point out that the Nitro 5 maintains approximately 80% of its peak CPU and GPU performance when running on battery. This 20% reduction should not affect frame rates significantly, for reference.

The Acer Aspire Nitro 5 is a balanced package at a fair price. The combination of a Coffee Lake CPU with a Turing GPU breezes through almost all applications, unless you overdo it with QHD or UHD resolutions and extremely high graphics settings. We also liked the inclusion of a fast PCIe SSD too.

By far the biggest highlight of the Nitro 5 is, however, its battery life. The device is perfect for those who want to game on the move. Likewise, it is even better for those who want to do more general tasks like responding to emails and browsing the web without being chained to a power outlet.

The more compact design and the quality of input devices are decent for th