Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop: Redefining Immersive Gaming – Unleash Your Power!
I was recently looking for a laptop to do this and my other websites and maybe a little gaming and YouTube work. I arrived in Australia in time for the EOFY or End of Financial Year sales. Perusing the local retailers, I spotted the Acer Nitro 5 with its impressive components! It looked a lot better than the original items I considered for just doing website work. So far, I’m super impressed with its performance editing this website as well as editing videos for LetsFlyVFR YouTube channel which it does with ease!
Specifications.
The specifications of the Razor Nitro 5 actually vary quite a bit with different combinations of CPUs from Intel and AMD so check the variant you’re considering. GPU Options range from GTX 1660M to RTX 2060M Super and The RTX 3050M model I purchased. There are likely more variations no doubt so check carefully what model you’re picking up from the store or ordering online. RAM is also another consideration and I’d suggest you want 16 GB at least of duel channel ram if you can buy it. My own model is 16Gb of 3200 MHz ram but it’s one stick and single channel. This could be 20% performance drop from having two 8GB sticks. I’ve option to upgrade I’ll talk about later and other possible paths to make the Acer Razor 5 Nitro the best it can be.
Build and Packaging.
Packaging was exceptional with a solid box with the actual laptop in a sleeve with formed foam packaging the laptop was slid into before being also safe into the box. The box only contained some minimal paperwork as well as the power brick which is quite substantial.
CPU .
The Intel Core i5-1200H is a 10th generation processor that was released in 2020. It has a base clock speed of 2.5 GHz and can boost up to 4.5 GHz1. The Acer Nitro 5 (2022) is equipped with the Intel Core i5-12500H processor which is an 12th generation processor that was released in 2021. It has a base clock speed of 2.4 GHz and can boost up to 4.6 GHz2. In terms of performance, the Intel Core i5-12500H is faster than the Intel Core i5-1200H due to its higher clock speeds and newer architecture.
GPU.
The RTX 2060M Super is a newer and more powerful graphics card than the GTX 1660M. The RTX 2060M Super has more CUDA cores (2176 vs 1408), higher clock speeds, and more memory bandwidth than the GTX 1660M. The RTX 2060M Super also supports ray tracing and DLSS, which are advanced rendering techniques that can improve image quality and performance in games that support them. The RTX 3050M is a newer graphics card than the RTX 2060M Super. It has fewer CUDA cores (2048 vs 2176) and lower clock speeds than the RTX 2060M Super. However, it does support ray tracing and DLSS like the RTX 2060M Super. The RTX 3050M is designed for entry-level gaming laptops and is expected to offer good performance at a lower price point. In terms of relative performance qualities, the RTX 2060M Super is faster than the GTX 1660M, while the RTX 3050M is slower than the RTX 2060M Super but still offers good performance for its price point.
RAM.
The Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop has two RAM slots that can support up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM12. The amount of RAM that comes with the laptop depends on the configuration you choose. Some models come with 8GB of RAM while others come with 16GB of RAM. This is where my 16GB version leaves some performance on the table with the 16GB i have installed on a single stick, so is in single channel leaving about 20% performance unavailable. Adding a second stick would take me to 32 GB and dual channel so as to have better performance.
Storage.
The Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop comes with a variety of storage options ranging from 256GB to 2TB of SSD storage. The laptop has two M.2 slots for storage expansion. You can add an additional M.2 SSD to increase your storage capacity. You can also replace the existing SSD with a larger one if you need more space. Mine only came with a 512GB M.2 drive so I purchased an external 1TB drive to assist with storage. I was reluctant to open the laptop and upgrade it myself.
RGB it’s Nice!
The red backlit keyboard which can have the RGB changed to different zones if required looks quite effective. The red and black accents work well together as well as the accented red Nitro labelling.
Upgradeability /Lacking Areas.
The Nitro is open to upgrade and in many instances requires it. The storage capacity at only 512 really isn’t enough if your focus is gaming on the move. Personally, I picked up a terrible external drive or additional storage but it’s relatively easy to add an internal SSD in the supplied bay as well as an included ribbon connector. The second upgrade would be ensuring the RAM is in dual channel by either finding a matching additional 16 GB 3200 MHz stick or buy a new laptop dual channel 16 or 32 Gb kit of ram.
Gaming Performance.
Gaming and Video editing experiences so far have been positive. Running X Plane 12 as well as DCS World proved to be amazingly good at default settings. Smooth stutter free gaming has been the experience. Playing FPS games like Call of Duty also have proven to be a good experience to date. The fps has proven smooth in all situations to date.
Video Editing.
The video editing experience has been good but there are instances where the Nitro 5 needs time to catch up loading scenes but overall it’s a good experience exiting 1080P 60 fps footage. Davinci Resolve has been mostly a pleasing experience on shorter videos and resorting to pre render to a lower file size has.not.proven to be nessisary. Compared to my,Ryzen 5 5600x and RTX 3070 desktop PC it’s been a comparable experience but if 1440 or 4k were to be edited I suspect it would prove to be a struggle, certainly at 4K.
Screen Specs.
The Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop has multiple display options including a 1080p 60Hz, a 1080p 120Hz, and a 1080p 144Hz panel. The 1080p 144Hz panel is a good option for gaming as it provides a smoother and more responsive gaming experience. The screen on the Acer Nitro 5 is brighter than most screens at this price, with good off-angle viewing and decent color performance. In addition, gaming performance is smooth at the display’s full 1080p resolution with quality set to high in the games I tried. I could actually set Fortnite beyond that at epic quality with no issues.
Specs.
ACER NITRO 5 (2022, 15.6-INCH, 12TH GEN CORE) SPECS.
| Laptop Class | Gaming |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-12500H |
| RAM (as Tested) | 16 GB |
| Boot Drive Type | SSD |
| Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested) | 512 GB |
| Screen Size | 15.6 inches |
| Native Display Resolution | 1920 by 1080 |
| Touch Screen | |
| Panel Technology | IPS |
| Variable Refresh Support | None |
| Screen Refresh Rate | 144 Hz |
| Graphics Processor | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU |
| Graphics Memory | 4 GB |
| Wireless Networking | 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6), Bluetooth, Ethernet |
| Dimensions (HWD) | 1.06 by 14.1 by 10.67 inches |
| Weight | 5.51 lbs |
| Operating System | Windows 11 |
| Tested Battery Life (Hours:Minutes) | 7:04 |
Conclusion.
In conclusion the Acer Nitro 5 is a pretty well-appointed but inexpensive gaming laptop with optional upgrades to bring it up to spec with other prebuilt laptops. This is a personal perspective as I write this blog on the Acer Nitro 5 I have been quite impressed that it can run the hardest games i.e. flight simulators like X-Plane 12 at good framerates be it at mid graphical settings. Certainly the 512 Gb SSD is a bit on the small side and probably should be a 1TB unit. If you’re looking for a quality gaming mid-tier laptop the Acer Nitro 5 is certainly one to consider.
Author.
Brendon McAliece is a multi lingual-expat who brings over three decades of flight simulator/PC building experience as well as over two decades of real world jet fighter experience as a weapons/egress technician. He holds a sport pilot certificate giving him real world flying experience. His travels have taken him from Europe to the Middle East, Asia and his home of Australia. He has a passion for travel, languages, Flight simulation as well as Guitaring and Coffee. You can read more in his blogs below.
Learn More @ DreamingGuitar.com – DreamingCoffee.com – LetsFlyVFR.com
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