Acer Nitro 5 review: An affordable gaming laptop with killer value

Best Prices Today: Acer Nitro 5 (2022)

Gamers looking for a value laptop will find many machines that bring entry-level discrete graphics at a reasonable price, but not every laptop with such hardware is ideal for gaming. Acer’s Nitro 5 proves that point with its outstanding game performance, though a few flaws will limit its appeal.

Don’t get it twisted, though. The Nitro 5 has a lot to offer. It delivers awesome graphics performance and there are plenty of port options. The audio is also punchy and the keyboard is spacious. However, as with most cheap gaming laptops, there are some compromises to be aware of. Battery life is shockingly short and the display is really nothing to write home about. That said, if you’re on a tight budget, the Nitro 5 is still a perfectly reasonable option.

Specs and features

The Acer Nitro I tested equips Intel’s Core i5-12500H processor, an entry-level variant in the H series that provides a total of 12 cores but only four performance cores. This will make for an intriguing comparison with prior gaming laptops, many of which have fewer cores in total but no efficient cores. 

• CPU: Intel Core i5-12500H
• Memory: 16GB
• Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060
• Display: 15.6-inch 1080p 144Hz IPS LCD
• Storage: 512GB SSD
• Webcam: 720p
• Connectivity: 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x USB-C 3.2, 1x USB-A 3.1, 2x USB-A 2.0, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 1x Ethernet
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
• Biometrics: None
• Battery capacity: 51 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 14.2 inches x 10.7 x 1.06
• Weight: 5.51 pounds
• Price: $1,299.99

Intel’s 12th-gen processor is paired with an Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics chip, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB, which brings the MSRP to $1,299.99. The laptop, which will not be released until May 22, 2022, is selling a hair above that price on Amazon at the time of publication. 

Design and build quality

The Acer Nitro 5 is a collection of plastic panels and metal facades forced into an angular and aggressive design. There’s a retro feel to the machine which, at over an inch thick, is far bulkier than the sleek high-end gaming laptops that often hog the spotlight. If you want a laptop that screams “hey, I’m new and cool!” – look elsewhere.

There is one touch I like: the lid. I get a 1980s vibe from its understated combo of matte black surfaces with pastel blue and red stripes that remind me of wire traces on a PCB.

How does it feel? Fine. The chassis and display lid are mostly plastic and allow noticeable flex when handled with modest force, but the design comes off as reasonably durable. This is thanks to its thick profile and bulky, firmly articulated display hinges.

Still, Dell’s gaming-oriented Inspiron line and Lenovo’s entry-level Legion laptops provide a more attractive look at similar pricing. Even Acer’s own Predator line is far more robust and there’s an overlap in pricing between Nitro 5 models and the Predator Helios 300 line.

Keyboard and trackpad

Acer stuffs a large keyboard with a numpad into the Nitro 5’s sizable frame. There’s plenty of room despite the numpad’s inclusion, so the arrow, Enter, and Backspace keys are similar in size to other laptops. The right-side Shift key is half-sized, however. I don’t like the numpad’s inclusion, as it offsets the keyboard from the touchpad, but those who need a numpad will of course welcome its inclusion. 

RGB keyboard backlighting is included but works on a per-zone, not per-key basis. This is an acceptable compromise for a laptop in the Nitro 5’s price range. Backlight brightness is very high at maximum and several brightness levels are available. 

Key feel is good. There’s plenty of room for long, luxurious key travel. The keys bottom out with a crisp, snappy action that provides decent feedback. The keycaps seem cheap and hollow, however, again reminding owners of the Nitro 5’s value pricing.

The touchpad is unremarkable. It’s not massive, measuring about 5 inches wide and 3.5 inches deep. It’s surrounded by pretty shallow palm rests for a machine of the Nitro 5’s size. The responsive surface but can seem cramped when using Windows’ multi-touch gestures. 

Display, audio

The Acer Nitro 5 model I reviewed had a 15.6-inch 1080p non-touch screen with a refresh rate of 144Hz. This display is found on the large majority of Nitro 5 systems, though a few top-tier models upgrade to 1440p 165Hz display.

1080p resolution isn’t exciting in 2022, of course, but it’s an ideal choice for any value-oriented laptop. Because of the display’s size, pixel density is still high enough to look extremely sharp in games, and sticking to 1080p means most games deliver strong performance at the laptop’s native resolution. 

Image quality is mixed. The edge-lit LCD display offers good color accuracy and a decent contrast ratio of up to 1230:1, but is limited by a narrow color gamut that displays only 66 percent of the sRGB gamut. This saps the vibrancy you’ll see in more premium gaming laptops and is most noticeable in colorful games like Overwatch or Rocket League. It’s also bad news for creators hoping the Acer Nitro 5 could be a budget-minded portable machine for both gaming and photo or video editing. 

Results like this aren’t unusual to see in value gaming laptops, but do show the problems of scaling up a machine that fundamentally targets a value buyer. The Acer Nitro 5 carries an MSRP that puts it close to the entry-level versions of more premium laptops like the Alienware m15, Lenovo Legion 7, and Acer Predator. These will offer a far better display.  

Audio quality is more favorable. The Nitro 5 uses a top-facing speaker system that delivers excellent volume and a clear, crisp presentation. There’s a little bass, but not much, so heavy action and thumping can muddy the sound. This is an area the Nitro 5 can match more premium gaming laptops that target a slimmer form factor, as its size provides ample space for the sound system.

Webcam, biometrics

The Acer Nitro 5 doesn’t try to offer an excellent video or audio recording experience. It has a basic 720p webcam with a dual-array microphone. Each works well enough for video conferencing in a well-lit, quiet room, but you’ll run into trouble in dark rooms or those with moderate background noise.

Biometric login is not available on this laptop. 

Connectivity

A girthy profile means the Nitro 5 has space to offer a wide range of connectivity. Video output is provided by an HDMI 2.0 port and a USB-C 3.2 port / Thunderbolt 4 port with DisplayPort Alternate Mode. 

The USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 port is stated to provide Power Delivery up to 65 watts, but the laptop’s battery discharged when I connected it to a monitor delivering 65 watts, so don’t expect to rely on it for charging. A 230-watt power adapter provides juice over a barrel plug connector. 

Additional USB connectivity includes one USB-A 3.1 port and two USB-A 2.0 ports. There’s also an Ethernet jack and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. I would’ve liked to see more USB-A 3.1 ports available.

Wireless connectivity comes over Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. The wireless adapter is Intel’s Killer Wi-Fi AX1650i. It provides near-Gigabit performance at short range but struggled in my detached shed, which is 50 feet and a couple walls away from the router. This location is often tough for laptops, but the Nitro 5 was especially unreliable and could only achieve download speeds of around one megabyte per second. 

Performance

The Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58-527S, like the rest of the newest Nitro 5 line, offers a 12th-gen Intel Core processor. My particular machine equipped the Intel Core i5-12500H, a 12-core processor with four performance cores and eight efficient cores. This was paired with 16GB of memory and a 512GB solid state drive. 

We start with PCMark 10, a synthetic test with an emphasis on day-to-day use rather than demanding workloads. The Intel Core i5-12500H doesn’t do well here, falling behind every comparison machine aside from the Acer Swift 3. It’s disappointing to see the Core i5-12500H fall so far behind the HP Victus with Core i7-11800H processor. The Core i5-12500H’s slim number of performance cores seems to hold it back in this test. 

Cinebench R15 is a heavily threaded and demanding test that better spreads the load across many cores. This is to the Core i5-12500H’s advantage. While it does not beat the Core i7-1800H, it comes close, and delivers a win over the Ryzen 7 5800H in the Asus Vivobook Pro 15 OLED. It’s a good, though not exceptional, result for the Acer Nitro 5.

Handbrake, another heavily multithreaded test, reports more good news. While the HP Victus is not available for comparison in this test due to differences in testing conditions, we can see the Acer Nitro 5 scores a win over the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 tested with Ryzen 9 6900HS processor. The Core i5-12500H also provides a major improvement over the Core i7-1260P, a processor that will be common in thin, premium laptops. 

Now we move on to the graphics benchmarks, starting with 3DMark’s Time Spy test. The Acer Nitro 5 scores a great victory here, defeating the similarly equipped HP Victus and easily outrunning the MSI GF76 with RTX 3050 Ti. In fact, the Acer Nitro outranks many recent RTX 3060 laptops and comes rather close to the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 with Radeon RX6800S.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider also produces a favorable result, averaging 98 frames per second at 1080p resolution and Highest detail settings (with ray tracing off). This is a bit higher than the HP Victus and, once again, rather close to some laptops that equip more powerful GPUs. 

Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition delivers no real surprise, as once again the Acer Nitro 5 slightly out performs the HP Victus and falls only a bit behind more expensive laptops with GTX 1080 graphics. The Nitro 5 also beats the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 with Radeon RX 6800S graphics in this test. 

In summary, it’s clear the Acer Nitro 5 benefits from its focus on gaming, and this leads to outstanding frames-per-dollar in games. Acer’s Nitro 5 manages to nip at the heels of significantly more expensive gaming laptops. 

Content and day-to-day performance is more mixed. The Core i5-12500H processor is strong in heavily multithreaded workloads but will be at a significant disadvantage to Intel Core i7 H-Series processors with more performance cores.  

Battery life

The Acer Nitro 5 is a strong performer in games, but this does come at a steep penalty in battery life. It’s not unusual to see disappointing battery life in this segment, but the Nitro 5 is significantly worse than usual. 

Yes, that’s right. The Acer Nitro 5 will barely last long enough to watch a movie on a flight from Seattle to San Francisco. Real-world performance in light use was better than that, coming in around three hours, but that’s nothing to brag about. It makes sense, however. The laptop has a meager 51 watt-hour battery. That’s smaller than what you’ll find in many thin-and-light machines. It’s simply overwhelmed by the power-hungry hardware. 

Software

Acer ships the Nitro 5 with a slim array of bloatware. This includes Norton Security Ultra plus a variety of pre-installed apps like ExpressVPN and Forge of Empires. Though slightly annoying, the bloatware is easy to ignore or uninstall as desired. A software command center called NitroSense is used to control fan speed, keyboard backlighting, and audio features. It looks inoffensive and worked well in my time with the laptop. 

Conclusion

The Acer Nitro 5 is a good value for gamers looking to maximum game performance on a slim budget. Nvidia’s RTX 3060 is given the space and power it needs to deliver strong results. For many, this alone will be enough to make the Nitro 5 a contender. However, a number of flaws hold the Nitro 5 back from its full potential.

The display isn’t great, the battery is too small, and the Core i5-12500H processor is only at its best in heavily multithreaded workloads. This narrows the Nitro 5’s focus. It’s excellent for gaming, but students and content creators seeking a versatile budget powerhouse will need to keep looking.

Best Prices Today: Acer Nitro 5 (2022)