Acer Nitro 7 review: A good budget gaming laptop that made some hard choices

Acer’s Nitro 7 is a traditional instance of how each determination issues when constructing entry-level gaming laptops. Every part should be second-guessed, each trade-off weighed, as a result of a mere $50 may be the distinction between standing out and stalling out. Do you go for a greater display screen or extra space for storing? A higher GPU or extra RAM? High-end laptops get to have all of it, however budget-friendly machines haven’t got that luxurious.

Trouble is, typically you get a laptop that’s maybe good for one area of interest, however suboptimal in your common purchaser. Acer’s Nitro 7 opts for an above-average (for this value level no less than) show, a beneficiant quantity of SSD storage, and a top-tier CPU—but it surely skimps on the graphics card, a reasonably vital part for a gaming laptop.

It’s an odd alternative, and my first intuition is that most individuals shall be higher off with a distinct Acer laptop—particularly, the Predator Helios 300, which lists for a similar value however packs a greater graphics card. We’ll get into that later although. Let’s dig in.

Variants

The Acer Nitro 7 is mercifully one in every of Acer’s easier strains to navigate, no less than in the meanwhile. There are solely three variants, operating from $1,050 to $1,200.

We reviewed the top-end mannequin, with the catchy mannequin quantity AN715-51-752B. Try saying that 3 times quick, eh? In this case $1,200 will get you an Intel Core i7-9750H, an Nvidia GTX 1650, 16GB DDR4 RAM, and a 512GB SSD.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Below that is the $1,100 variant, which scales again to 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. At the underside, the $1,050 mannequin packs in one in every of Nvidia’s previous-gen GTX 1050 playing cards—which is extra of a lower than it might sound, because the GTX 1650 is on a par with a 1050 Ti, not a baseline 1050.

Our $1,200 evaluation mannequin might be the most suitable choice. You definitely might run a gaming PC with solely 8GB of RAM nonetheless, however I would not suggest it. That alone is sufficient to lower the 2 lower-end fashions from the operating, particularly given their $1,000-plus costs. As I mentioned up high, $50 may be some huge cash once you’re coping with entry-level laptops—however on this case, I believe the additional cash is a necessity. If you are seeking to go cheaper than $1,200, check out the Nitro 5 line as a substitute.

Design

Acer’s Nitro line is attention-grabbing to me. They’re like gaming laptops gone undercover. Not in a convincing approach, thoughts you. Pull out a Nitro 7 on the workplace and other people shall be like, “Hey, nice gaming laptop.” You’re not fooling anybody, particularly with the bizarre pentagonal form of the bottom and lid.

That mentioned, the Nitro 7 is a little more restrained (and refined) than Acer’s Predator line. The chassis is strong black, with out the Predator line’s showy pink vent covers and highlights. The lid is a selected excessive level, brushed metallic etched with the Acer logotype and never a lot else—no “Predator” and even “Nitro,” and definitely not that bizarre Transformers-looking brand that the Predator laptops use.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

It’s a good search for Acer. The Nitro 7’s nonetheless a bit aggressive…