Acer Nitro 5 AN515 (15.6-inch, 2017)

Low price. Satisfactory screen. SSD boot drive in a budget gaming laptop. Easy to add a second SSD or hard drive. Right on the edge of playable 1080p performance at high detail settings.

256GB SSD won't hold many games. Hard-to-read keyboard legends. Balky touchpad. Marginal battery life.

Bottom Line: If you think making an under-$1,000 gaming laptop is tough, try an under-$700 one: The AMD-based Acer Nitro 5 grabs the bottom rung of the 1080p gaming ladder and delivers decent value.

Solid overall performance, decent graphics; Office-friendly design ; Runs cool ; Dull display; Muted, flat audio; Subpar battery life ; The Acer Nitro 5 combines good graphics and solid overall performance at an attractive price, but suffers from short...

Dull display; Muted, flat audio; Subpar battery life ; The Acer Nitro 5 combines good graphics and solid overall performance at an attractive price, but suffers from short battery life and weak speakers.

The Acer Nitro 5 combines good graphics and solid overall performance at an attractive price, but suffers from short battery life and weak speakers.

high-contrast display ; Full HD resolution ; fast NVMe SSD ; good battery runtimes ; AC Wi-Fi ; Type-C USB ; maintenance hatches

dark screen

"Powerful notebook for casual gaming" - this is how Acer describes the Nitro 5 - a very fitting description. The inserted Core i7 processor offers sufficient processing power for all important areas of use. Combined with the GeForce GTX1050 Ti graphics...

Excellent performance ; Lightweight ; Fullsize HDMI port ; Ethernet port ; FHD IPS display with decent viewing angles ; GeForce GTX 1050 Ti option ; Can easily add a second HDD or SSD ; Full size keyboard ; Includes soft laptop sleeve

Plastic shell components ; Typing and touchpad feel a bit soft ; No Thunderbolt ; 256GB SSD option bit small ; Squished number pad/keyboard layout ; Acer UEIP enabled by default sending data back to Acer

Type-C USB ; Fast ; SSD ; IPS display ; Fairly comfortable input devices ; Decent build

Dark screen ; GTX 1050 can be beaten by Radeon RX 550 ; Single color keyboard back light ; Computing task ; Heavy

The Acer Nitro 5 is a good deal when compared to the MSI GV62 7RC. It’s only a little more expensive, but it delivers a leap in gaming performance, a Core i7 processor and a better screen.

Decent build;A slightly more simplistic design approach with less flashy appearance;Fairly comfortable input devices;Full HD IPS display;The panel doesn’t use PWM for regulating screen brightness;Reliable cooling solution (at least for the AMD...

The display becomes really dim (just 104 cd/m2) when the notebook isn’t plugged in;The CPU is less powerful than its competitors and too old to be included in a 2017 build;The Radeon RX 550 can’t beat the GTX 1050 in the same price range

Good selection of ports ; Can run Fortnite, Apex, PUBG etc easily ; Great value for money

Keyboard layout is a little cramped ; Screen quality and brightness is sub-par

An ideal gaming laptop choice for casual gamers only wanting to play battle royale shooters and other less-demanding titles, but in no way a triple A powerhouse.

Excellent build quality ; Decent SSD speeds ; Outstanding battery life and cooling ; Good value

Polarizing aesthetics ; CPU bottlenecks synthetic performance ; GPU won't play games at max settings ; Better value alternatives available

The Acer Nitro 5 strikes a great balance between price and performance. However, it can be heavy and unwieldy, and its looks aren't for everyone.