We saw the smaller models of the Nitro 5 in its (inhuman) flesh and there is a lot to like, despite its role as an accessible machine. Certainly, Acer is boasting that the best cooling technology in the Nitro 5 will help it function more efficiently than its similarly priced rivals. It is more beautiful than previous generations of Max-Q laptops, which have always sacrificed some of their design flourishes in favor of better thermals. The keyboard is, in our experience, a little too flexible for fast twitch competition, but that’s what peripherals are for.
I am criticizing, but I think the only USB-C port on the chassis is a little stingy, given how quickly we are adopting the standard. There are many people who may not have the money to spend on upgrading their peripherals, to be sure, but it would have been nice to have one on both sides. That aside, the sacrifices and compromises here are well hidden enough (for now) that you may not realize that you are using a cheap (beautiful) gaming notebook. We won’t know for sure until we can put the final version to some real stress test, but for now, the Nitro 5 makes a good first impression.
At the same time, Acer is updating the Aspire 7 (and 5) with new AMD chip options, with the top model receiving a 5000 series Ryzen chip and even a GTX 1650 GPU. Of course, you can order up to 32 GB of RAM, a 1 TB SSD and WiFi 6 as options on this machine, as well as user-controlled fan speeds. The mid-level Aspire 5, in turn, receives a 5000 series chip (not yet specified) paired with AMD’s Radeon RX 640 GPU, up to 24 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD or 2 TB HDD.
The Acer Nitro 5 will be available in 15.6 and 17.3 inch versions in North America in February, with the base models priced at $ 750 and $ 850, respectively. Naturally, that price will skyrocket as soon as you start adding parts to the first-tier system mentioned above, which will cost $ 2,299. The Aspire 7 and 5, in turn, will arrive in March, with the basic models set at $ 750 for the 7 and $ 550 for the 5.