The $670 Ryzen Gaming Laptop

**Acer Nitro 5 Review: A Great Machine with Some Quirks**

Before making any purchasing decisions, it's essential to take a closer look at the Acer Nitro 5. One of the things that stood out to me was the keyboard and screen. As you can see in the videos I've been watching, the position of my hands and the overall layout of the keys seemed a bit off. Additionally, the screen didn't seem to be the most efficient design, which could be a concern for gamers.

However, once I started digging deeper into the performance of this machine, I was pleasantly surprised. The six-core CPU and GTX 1650 graphics card proved to be excellent performers, especially at this price point. The thermal performance was also impressive, with plenty of room to cool the system even when running demanding games or applications.

One feature that impressed me was the fan control software, which allowed for precise temperature management. Even in its default settings, the machine was able to keep temperatures under control, making it a great option for those who want to avoid overheating issues. Another notable feature is the access to NVMe drive slots, SATA ports, and PCIe ramps – a welcome upgrade from previous generations.

Unfortunately, the battery life on this machine left something to be desired. I only managed to squeeze out around three hours of usage before needing to recharge. However, at this price point, it's not unreasonable to expect a bit less battery life. The thermal system is definitely one of the highlights of this machine, though – it's a significant improvement over previous models and will keep temperatures in check even during intense gaming sessions.

Moving on to ports, the Acer Nitro 5 has a good selection of connectors. There's an Ethernet jack, three USB-A ports (two of which support PC docking), and an AC adapter socket located in the back – which keeps cables tidy and organized. The only downside is that Thunderbolt 3 is not supported.

The design of this machine is also worth mentioning. While the red accents on the plastic casing might be a bit too flashy for some, it's undeniable that they add a touch of personality to the device. However, I do wish the overall design was more understated – after all, you want your gaming laptop to look sleek and professional, not like a giant warning sign saying "Gamer Inside!"

**Should You Buy It?**

So, should you spend $670 on this machine? While it's certainly an excellent performer at its base model, I would caution against upgrading to higher configurations. At that point, there are other devices available in the market that offer more competitive price-to-performance ratios.

The main advantage of the Acer Nitro 5 is indeed its incredible value proposition. It's one of the few machines on the market that can deliver top-notch performance at this price point. However, when you start to upgrade it with higher-end components, it loses its edge compared to other options like the Dell G5 SE or older Legion devices.

**Acer's Mid-Tier Gaming Laptop Lineup**

It's worth noting that Acer has a diverse lineup of gaming laptops across various price points. The Nitro 5 sits at the lower end of the mid-tier market, which means it competes with other popular models like the Triton 300 or Helios 300. While it's essential to take into account that these machines are all around $700-$1000, it's crucial to recognize that Acer is constantly iterating and refining its designs.

In some cases, this results in imperfections like the red accents on the Nitro 5, but also means that there's always something new to look forward to. Whether you're a seasoned gamer or just starting out, Acer has a machine that suits your needs – even if it doesn't have all the bells and whistles.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, the Acer Nitro 5 is an excellent machine with some notable quirks. While its performance is top-notch at its base model, I would caution against upgrading to higher configurations. The value proposition is indeed a major selling point, but you should be aware of its limitations. If you're considering this machine, take the time to read reviews and watch videos to get a better understanding of what it's capable of – and whether it meets your specific needs.

Ultimately, the Nitro 5 is an excellent choice for those looking for a great gaming laptop at a competitive price point. Just be aware of its potential drawbacks and don't expect perfection from this machine.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enall right so this is a video on what I think is going to be the cheapest proper gaming laptop that's going to come out this year it is a six hundred and seventy dollar machine it's the Acer nitro five this is a device that has traditionally been very inexpensive over the years and people have been very interested in this device because of its price tag but this year they made some very significant improvements and let's dig in now I know a lot of you guys are interested in this device so I'm gonna do this video a little bit differently I want to talk about issues that I think they may not be deal-breakers but they're definitely issues you should be aware of going to this machine the first thing well there's two things just so you know the screen we're going to talk about that first that's kind of like the lesser important one but then we're gonna talk about the keyboard and I feel like the keyboard is where it'll make or break your purchase decision so the screen is a 60 Hertz 1080p panel it's kind of like your standard screen you would expect at this kind of price point the color accuracy isn't great and it's a 60 Hertz panel so you don't get to take full advantage of this kind of performance in the hardware but I'm okay with that right because it's a six hundred seven dollar machine my issue is the brightness of the display so I'm someone that's spent most of my gaming hours on laptops over the past three or four years like I'd say 80 to 90 percent of the games I play are on laptops and I've noticed that when you're playing shooters and this is it pertains mostly to shooters but if you have a dim screen it's actually hard to track people I don't know what it is but I feel like I need a certain amount of brightness and contrast about to see enemies as clearly as possible I feel like with this screen because it's a little bit dimmer it's not ideal now I can forgive it because of its price tag but it is something you should be aware of and the second thing is the keyboard and this is where I feel like a big part of this conversation needs to happen this keyboard is the same as last year's keyboard the 2019 model and just like that one I find it uncomfortable for gaming I don't think everyone will but I'll try to explain why I don't like it I find that the WASD keys are so close to the left side of this laptop that your hand is forced into this weird position to be able to use them now I don't have giant hands right I have what I would think our average size hands but even I found it quite difficult to use those keys and also hit shift and whatever buttons you would normally press when you're playing any kind of WASD based game like I've seen a lot of tight keyboard layouts on this channel right the g5 se comes to mind the légion v they're all keyboards that have numerical pets so everything's shifted over but this is the tightest one like this is shorter by like half a centimeter which doesn't seem like a lot right five millimeters how is that you know why we've been talking about five millimeters but when you place your wrist on this thing it feels tight it doesn't feel like a normal keyboard just putting that there in case you're interested in this device and here's the thing if you're buying this this is probably going to be your input device right not a lot of people plug up external keyboards when it comes to this kind of price point so just so you're aware the other thing is the trackpad it is really shifted over to the left not just because of the ten keys like often times laptop companies will shift stuff over because of numerical pads but this isn't even centered to the actual typing area it is very far over to the left so you might need to disable it for games but the actual trackpad experience is fine it's a plastic surface but it feels accurate and responsive enough at this point you might think that this is you know I hate this laptop I really don't I like it but those two things the keyboard on the screen you just before you buy it look at this review look at you know the position of my hands and the videos and just see is this gonna affect to you is this something that will bother you because it bothered me okay the performance on this machine is excellent like weirdly good the six core rise in CPU and the GTX 1650 push out really nice numbers for this kind of price point and the thermal performance is good these chips aren't super hot but there's a ton of thermal Headroom this thing can definitely cool the higher configurations effectively now whether or not you want to get those is another conversation but at the base model like the $670 unit it handles the heat like no problem there is really nice fan control in the software but even the default settings will be able to cool the system properly now inside you have access here to nvme drive slots your one SATA base you have three in total and you also have access to your to ramp slots and only one is populated so you're running in a single channel depending on what you do it can make a pretty big difference to have the second slot populated so you're running in dual channel but you can upgrade that over time and your battery down here is small it's a 48 watt hour battery I got three hours slightly less than three hours of battery life but at this price point it's again to be expected but you can see at the top the thermal system this year is on point it's just so much better than the previous generations speakers let's not talk about them all right let's move on to ports this machine has a good selection of ports Ethernet jack three USB as1 use PC doesn't support Thunderbolt 3 but the AC adapter socket is in the back of the device so it kind of keeps those cables away from you which is nice it is in this piece of red plastic I wish they just made this black right it just would have looked a little bit cleaner but at least you can tell the world just how gamer you really are with that red piece of plastic now I like this machine there's so much that is done right on this machine but the screen and keyboard efficiencies shouldn't be ignored I don't think they're deal breakers but I think you should be aware of them if you're interested in this machine particularly we have big hands or if you play competitive shooters for the screen now I want to close off this conversation with you know should you buy it should you actually spend six hundred and seventy dollars to pick up this machine because it's not like this is the only machine in the world that's inexpensive so here's my take on it based on the stuff that I've seen in terms of what's available in whatever viewed this machine is best at its base model the moment you upgrade this thing to higher configurations I feel like there's other devices out there that are more competitive in terms of price to performance ratio the advantage of this thing is really its price point six hundred and seventy bucks you can't beat this in terms of like anything you can't get a cheaper machine with this kind of performance but the moment you upgrade it and get higher configurations I would start looking at like the Dell g5 se or some Legion devices some older ones because at that price point this starts to lose its advantage right that you're stuck with that keyboard and you're gonna be stuck with kind of inferior screens so yeah that's the Acer nitro 5 now here's another thing I want to mention this is from company that makes a ton of gaming laptops Acer has like the Nitro 5 nitro 7 that Triton 300 Titan 500 maybe not the 500 that's expensive but they also have the Helios line the helos 300 these are all like super similar in price point like from like you know seven hundred to a thousand dollars and that's a pretty big spread now that I mention it but the point I'm trying to make is that Acer has a ton of like mid tier mid price gaming laptops and so when you have a machine like this that sits in that kind of lineup you have to make sure that your cheapest model isn't too good right or else no one's gonna buy the more expensive machines everyone's just gonna buy that perfect $700 gaming laptop but I don't want that it can't have that so you have to put stuff like you know red accents in here so it doesn't look too good and you have to have imperfections in the device because that's just that's just the nature of business you would do the same thing okay so that's the Acer nitro 5 I think it's a great machine just be aware of its quirks when you're going into it ok hope you guys enjoyed this video thumbs have elected subs have you loved it I'll see you guys next timeall right so this is a video on what I think is going to be the cheapest proper gaming laptop that's going to come out this year it is a six hundred and seventy dollar machine it's the Acer nitro five this is a device that has traditionally been very inexpensive over the years and people have been very interested in this device because of its price tag but this year they made some very significant improvements and let's dig in now I know a lot of you guys are interested in this device so I'm gonna do this video a little bit differently I want to talk about issues that I think they may not be deal-breakers but they're definitely issues you should be aware of going to this machine the first thing well there's two things just so you know the screen we're going to talk about that first that's kind of like the lesser important one but then we're gonna talk about the keyboard and I feel like the keyboard is where it'll make or break your purchase decision so the screen is a 60 Hertz 1080p panel it's kind of like your standard screen you would expect at this kind of price point the color accuracy isn't great and it's a 60 Hertz panel so you don't get to take full advantage of this kind of performance in the hardware but I'm okay with that right because it's a six hundred seven dollar machine my issue is the brightness of the display so I'm someone that's spent most of my gaming hours on laptops over the past three or four years like I'd say 80 to 90 percent of the games I play are on laptops and I've noticed that when you're playing shooters and this is it pertains mostly to shooters but if you have a dim screen it's actually hard to track people I don't know what it is but I feel like I need a certain amount of brightness and contrast about to see enemies as clearly as possible I feel like with this screen because it's a little bit dimmer it's not ideal now I can forgive it because of its price tag but it is something you should be aware of and the second thing is the keyboard and this is where I feel like a big part of this conversation needs to happen this keyboard is the same as last year's keyboard the 2019 model and just like that one I find it uncomfortable for gaming I don't think everyone will but I'll try to explain why I don't like it I find that the WASD keys are so close to the left side of this laptop that your hand is forced into this weird position to be able to use them now I don't have giant hands right I have what I would think our average size hands but even I found it quite difficult to use those keys and also hit shift and whatever buttons you would normally press when you're playing any kind of WASD based game like I've seen a lot of tight keyboard layouts on this channel right the g5 se comes to mind the légion v they're all keyboards that have numerical pets so everything's shifted over but this is the tightest one like this is shorter by like half a centimeter which doesn't seem like a lot right five millimeters how is that you know why we've been talking about five millimeters but when you place your wrist on this thing it feels tight it doesn't feel like a normal keyboard just putting that there in case you're interested in this device and here's the thing if you're buying this this is probably going to be your input device right not a lot of people plug up external keyboards when it comes to this kind of price point so just so you're aware the other thing is the trackpad it is really shifted over to the left not just because of the ten keys like often times laptop companies will shift stuff over because of numerical pads but this isn't even centered to the actual typing area it is very far over to the left so you might need to disable it for games but the actual trackpad experience is fine it's a plastic surface but it feels accurate and responsive enough at this point you might think that this is you know I hate this laptop I really don't I like it but those two things the keyboard on the screen you just before you buy it look at this review look at you know the position of my hands and the videos and just see is this gonna affect to you is this something that will bother you because it bothered me okay the performance on this machine is excellent like weirdly good the six core rise in CPU and the GTX 1650 push out really nice numbers for this kind of price point and the thermal performance is good these chips aren't super hot but there's a ton of thermal Headroom this thing can definitely cool the higher configurations effectively now whether or not you want to get those is another conversation but at the base model like the $670 unit it handles the heat like no problem there is really nice fan control in the software but even the default settings will be able to cool the system properly now inside you have access here to nvme drive slots your one SATA base you have three in total and you also have access to your to ramp slots and only one is populated so you're running in a single channel depending on what you do it can make a pretty big difference to have the second slot populated so you're running in dual channel but you can upgrade that over time and your battery down here is small it's a 48 watt hour battery I got three hours slightly less than three hours of battery life but at this price point it's again to be expected but you can see at the top the thermal system this year is on point it's just so much better than the previous generations speakers let's not talk about them all right let's move on to ports this machine has a good selection of ports Ethernet jack three USB as1 use PC doesn't support Thunderbolt 3 but the AC adapter socket is in the back of the device so it kind of keeps those cables away from you which is nice it is in this piece of red plastic I wish they just made this black right it just would have looked a little bit cleaner but at least you can tell the world just how gamer you really are with that red piece of plastic now I like this machine there's so much that is done right on this machine but the screen and keyboard efficiencies shouldn't be ignored I don't think they're deal breakers but I think you should be aware of them if you're interested in this machine particularly we have big hands or if you play competitive shooters for the screen now I want to close off this conversation with you know should you buy it should you actually spend six hundred and seventy dollars to pick up this machine because it's not like this is the only machine in the world that's inexpensive so here's my take on it based on the stuff that I've seen in terms of what's available in whatever viewed this machine is best at its base model the moment you upgrade this thing to higher configurations I feel like there's other devices out there that are more competitive in terms of price to performance ratio the advantage of this thing is really its price point six hundred and seventy bucks you can't beat this in terms of like anything you can't get a cheaper machine with this kind of performance but the moment you upgrade it and get higher configurations I would start looking at like the Dell g5 se or some Legion devices some older ones because at that price point this starts to lose its advantage right that you're stuck with that keyboard and you're gonna be stuck with kind of inferior screens so yeah that's the Acer nitro 5 now here's another thing I want to mention this is from company that makes a ton of gaming laptops Acer has like the Nitro 5 nitro 7 that Triton 300 Titan 500 maybe not the 500 that's expensive but they also have the Helios line the helos 300 these are all like super similar in price point like from like you know seven hundred to a thousand dollars and that's a pretty big spread now that I mention it but the point I'm trying to make is that Acer has a ton of like mid tier mid price gaming laptops and so when you have a machine like this that sits in that kind of lineup you have to make sure that your cheapest model isn't too good right or else no one's gonna buy the more expensive machines everyone's just gonna buy that perfect $700 gaming laptop but I don't want that it can't have that so you have to put stuff like you know red accents in here so it doesn't look too good and you have to have imperfections in the device because that's just that's just the nature of business you would do the same thing okay so that's the Acer nitro 5 I think it's a great machine just be aware of its quirks when you're going into it ok hope you guys enjoyed this video thumbs have elected subs have you loved it I'll see you guys next time\n"