Tool Reviews

It is difficult for other manufacturers to compete with Acer in the gaming niche. It offers products with thoughtful design, powerful ingredients and adequate prices. Acer brand is trusted by users. It has long been known among buyers of computers, laptops, and various peripheral devices.

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Basic technical characteristics

The Nitro 5 series delights with a variety of irons. In this case, the equipment under review is 5 key characteristics:

Display	15 ”
Processor	i5
Operative	16 GB
Video adapter	GeForce GTX 1650
solid state	SSD 512 GB

With the numbers 515-54 in the name, there are also laptops with an i7 chip, models vary from GTX 1050 to the pathetic RTX 2060, the RAM may not be 16, but 8 or 12 GB. Solid-state drives: from 256 GB to 1 TB, and there is also a model with a 1 TB HDD. The following versions of operating systems are found in stores:

• “ten” home,
• professional,
• without OS.

Naturally, the systems are licensed. If you wish, you can upgrade to Windows 11 for free. The “no OS” option is good because this configuration is cheaper and you can install any Windows 10, 11 or other system.

In the presented review, the Acer Nitro 5 AN515 54 laptop is a model with a mid-level processor, video card and solid state, but under the case there is a maximum amount of RAM for such a modification. In terms of cost, the laptop looks quite attractive. Buyers who spent $1,000-1,100 on a laptop have a hard time finding a unit designed for gaming.

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Supply set

The virtue of buying a laptop is that you don’t need to carry several different boxes home: everything fits in one. After unpacking, in addition to the laptop, you will find:

• 180 W charger,
• cable for connecting it to the power grid,
• driver disk,
• paper instructions.

You can also put various little things in the black and red box: bolts, SATA adapter for connecting an additional solid-state drive. There are no free slots for RAM, but you can add an SSD or HDD if you want. Acer equipment often comes with unsealed cases, but you should not rush to upgrade it during the warranty period. It is better to clarify this point in the organization engaged in warranty repair.

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Design and dimensions

The body of the Nitro 5 is plastic, but it cannot be said that the laptop looks cheap. On the contrary, it gives the impression of premiumness. Due to the peculiarities of the texture and fashionable coating, the cover material can be mistaken for aluminum. The combination of the main black color of the case with red inserts makes the model similar to MSI laptops. Manufacturers of gaming laptops are gradually moving to a more restrained design of devices. Deliberate aggressiveness is not in fashion these days. The design of Nitro 5 is made in the spirit of this trend. You can see from the case that you have a game device in front of you, but it looks solid, does not scare off middle-aged buyers with excessive brightness and youthfulness.

The laptop is strong, the build quality is decent. There are no backlashes, creaks, the body elements fit tightly to each other. The limit on the opening angle is about 135 degrees. This is enough to clearly see what is happening on the screen while holding the laptop on your lap. Although you won’t be playing for a long time in this position, the air vents can be closed, creating a problem for the cooling system.

Following fashion trends in the field of digital technology, the manufacturer tried to reduce the width of the screen frames, leaving, however, the webcam. The model turned out to be compact. Dimensions: 363×255 mm, thickness — 26 mm. If you compare these characteristics with the dimensions of multimedia notebooks, the Nitro 5 loses. However, compared to gaming laptops from most other manufacturers, its mobility is impressive. It looks exactly like a laptop, and not some slapped system. The situation is similar with weight: 2.5 kg for a gaming laptop is quite a bit. Even a fragile girl can carry it in a bag without making too much effort.

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Display and graphics

Nitro 5 is equipped with an FHD IPS matrix with a matte finish. The screen has great viewing angles. The brightness is above average, but soft. You can play without fear of spoiling your vision, if, of course, you limit the time you spend at the computer. The color rendering is calm and correct. The refresh rate is 144 Hz. The high-frequency matrix allows you to evaluate the smooth change of the picture in dynamic games. Beveled corners of the cover emphasize the gaming purpose of the laptop.

The display is suitable for games, surfing the Internet, watching movies. The only downside is the lack of color coverage for professional work with graphics. But for this there are designer laptops that cost more.

The nitro display has an interesting feature — a slightly muted blue spectrum. It is not for nothing that a faint yellowish shade can be traced on the white sheet of the Word text editor. This can be attributed to the pluses, since the blue spectrum has a negative effect on vision. Stores even have special computer glasses that limit such radiation. This feature of the display does not affect the quality of the games.

The laptop has a GTX 1650 video card on board. Its manufacturers put it on laptops of the middle price segment. Of course, it is not as advanced as the RTX series adapters, but in terms of the ratio of cost and quality, it is a smart option. A laptop with an RTX 2060 graphics card is $300-400 more expensive.

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Keyboard and touchpad Acer Nitro 5 AN515 54

The manufacturer was able to integrate a full-size keyboard with a separate digital block into a compact 15-inch case. In addition to the standard set, there are two additional buttons: power on and Nitro to call the iron management utility. You can not be afraid of accidentally turning off the laptop with the key, because for this you need to hold it for a couple of seconds. The stroke of the buttons is 1.6 mm. Typing and gameplay do not cause difficulties, it does not take a long time to get used to other membrane input devices.

WASD and arrow keys are highlighted in red. There is a 4-level illumination of the same color, it can be adjusted using the keyboard:

• Fn + F9 — reduce the brightness until the backlight turns off;
• Fn + F10 – add brightness.

By default, the backlight dims after 30 seconds of inactivity. This is done to save battery power. However, the power-saving setting can be disabled using the NitroSense utility.

Using Fn in combination with other keys allows, for example, to adjust the sound volume during video/audio playback, change the brightness of the display, put the laptop into airplane mode or sleep. There are about 20 commands in total with Fn.

The touchpad is large, wider than the “space” key, edged in red. The surface of the touch panel is pleasant to the touch, there is no visible division into separate functional areas. The touchpad allows you to easily position the cursor with high precision. The laptop provides protection against accidental touches on the panel. But if you plan a long gaming session, it may make sense to disable the touchpad for a while, since it is shifted to the left, located almost below WASD. To disable it, you need to click on Notifications in the system tray, then select All options → Devices → Touchpad.

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Autonomy

The laptop has a 4-cell lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 55 Wh or 3500 mA. These indicators are of an average level, but autonomy is certainly not the main thing for a gaming laptop. After all, his target audience is not employees of companies who often go on business trips, but players who prefer to break away from reality at home. The hero of the review — Acer Nitro 5 AN515 54 — has a medium power iron, and therefore it will even be possible to play a little without an outlet — the session will last about an hour. With a mixed load, which means working with documents, browsing sites and videos on YouTube, the battery will last for 4 hours. To watch a movie on the road, the battery will definitely be enough.

If you want to achieve maximum autonomy, you will have to sacrifice performance, reduce the quality of the screen image. Disabling the discrete video card gives the greatest effect. This can be done using the task manager, BIOS or special programs. Battery charge is also saved due to:

• reducing the brightness of the display;
• choosing an economical power mode;
• turning off Wi-Fi and programs that needlessly take up RAM;
• using the Edge browser instead of Chrome or Opera.

If you work exclusively with documents, the laptop will last about 8 hours without an outlet in economy mode.

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Hardware part

The laptop has a harmonious set of components. On the one hand, there is no premium class iron, on the other hand, you will not find a detail that makes the Acer Nitro 5 laptop with the suffix AN515 54 not a gaming one. Everything you need on board. The only downside in terms of interfaces is the lack of a card reader. But needing it in a gaming laptop is a big question. Now let’s go through the components.

Processor

The manufacturer installed a 9th generation Intel i5 chip — Core 9300H with 4 cores. You will not find a fundamental difference with the 8th generation analogue. The operating frequency has increased by 100 MHz – the only significant improvement. The amount of cache memory, as in the previous generation, is 8 MB. The processor remained 8-threaded with a TDP of 45 W.

Core 9300H perfectly keeps the 4 GHz declared in the documentation in one current test. But the extreme load of multi-threaded calculations forces it to drop frequencies up to 3 GHz. Which, however, corresponds to the range prescribed by the manufacturer.

A quad-core processor is a good option for a gaming laptop. Its power is enough, and more productive chips often do not justify themselves, since 6 or 8 cores do not give the expected effect in games. With them, the laptop is a little more nimble, but the price is much higher.

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Accumulator

The laptop has two slots for SSD and one for HDD. One M.2 is occupied by Western Digital’s PC SN520 drive, designed for 512 GB. The solid-state drive in such a situation has a standard size of 2280. The PC SN520 line includes drives of 3 volumes, 512 GB is the maximum option. Its read and write speeds are higher: 1700 and 1400 Mb/s. The same can be said for the guaranteed resource, which is 300 TBW. This indicator means that 300 TB of information can be recorded on the disk during operation. That is, the disk can be completely overwritten at least 600 times.

WD drives are a proven option. The company’s drives are characterized by high speed and reliability. Some gaming Acers are not equipped with WD, but with SK Hynix solid-state drives, which negatively affects the read/write speed. If you choose an Acer laptop, pay attention to the SSD manufacturer.

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Video card

The GeForce GTX 1650 video card is a proven option that keeps frequencies stable in dynamic games. In many ways, this is achieved due to a well-thought-out laptop cooling system. Nitro 5 draws in air through the bottom grills and blows out heat through the right and rear faces. The notebook supports Nvidia Optimus technology: when there is no serious load, the unit uses only the built-in video adapter. This approach saves battery power.

GTX 1650 is a good option for FHD display. Putting a more powerful video card with a medium-budget screen is not the best solution, since the functionality of RTX adapters is more suitable for images in 2K or 4K.

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RAM

In the laptop, both slots are occupied by strips of 8 GB. Memory — DDR4 with a standard frequency of 2666 MHz. It was possible to use one 16 GB die within the same budget, leaving one slot free. However, the manufacturer decided to bet on the speed of the current configuration with dual-channel memory, relegating the convenience of a potential update to the background. Acer can be understood, because not all users upgrade their laptops over time.

Ports and webcam

The laptop has an adequate set of ports. On the one hand, there is everything necessary, and on the other hand, there are no excesses. Let’s walk along the end sides:

• On the left side: 2 Usb 3 ports, USB-C, Hdmi, a twisted pair connector and a Kensington lock.
• On the right side: a combined audio jack, Usb 2 for a mouse, a socket for charging.

Characteristics of the web: frequency – 30 Hz, resolution – 720p. This technique is not suitable for professional streams, but its capabilities are more than enough for Skype communication. The picture quality is normal.

Wireless interfaces cope with their tasks. There are no complaints from users regarding the operation of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

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Acer Nitro 5 AN515 54 performance

The laptop pulls most modern dynamic games at medium or even high settings. If you load the iron to the maximum, the device works quite noisily, over time it starts to heat up. However, the quality of games does not fall from this and the temperature can be reduced by increasing the speed of the fans. The NitroSense app has a spinner speed changer. There are automatic, maximum and user modes, as well as afterburner — CoolBoost. The presence of two colors contributes to the efficient operation of the laptop and the absence of unnecessary noise.

Nitro 5 is effective not only in games. Photoshop, AutoCAD and other resource-intensive programs work on it without problems, you can render videos. Surfing the Internet is going with a bang: 20 browser tabs open without brakes. The display is suitable for comfortable video viewing. The sound quality for movies is sufficient. The acoustics of the device, of course, cannot be called audiophile, but there are two speakers that can be seen on the competently raised edges of the case. For games, it is better to use headphones or speakers.

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Additional features, features and service

Pressing the Nitro key launches the NitroSense utility. In the upper part of the program window, there are 2 turntables that cool the processor and video card. The rotation speed of the coolers can be adjusted separately by selecting the appropriate mode or by adjusting the speed with the sliders. In the lower part of the window there are two temperature graphs: processor and video card. The utility saves readings taken from temperature sensors for 1 hour. Outputs the limit values ​​for this period.

At the top right is a settings icon. The user can:

1. Enable/disable key sticking.
2. Change degrees Celsius to Fahrenheit and vice versa in temperature monitoring.
3. Enable/disable backlight dimming after 30 seconds of idle time.
4. Turn on overclocking the display, reducing the response to 3 ms.

The last option is very useful, because the default display response time can be too long in some games.

Next to the settings mark is the sound mode selection. 6 presets are available, 3 of them are gaming: General, FPS and Sports. You can also tune in to listen to music or the sound of a movie.

As part of the software, there is another interesting feature — the setting of the blue radiation spectrum of the display. It is launched by the Quick Access command in Start. 4 degrees of blocking are available:
weak blocking removes 10-25% of the blue spectrum;

• average removes 26-45%;
• high — 46-65%;
• professional designed for long-term work on a laptop.

Now a few words about the maintenance of the laptop. After 2-3 years of operation, it makes sense to clean the laptop from dust. To do this, you can take the laptop to the service. And if you have the time, desire and ability to handle digital equipment, open the case yourself. To remove the bottom cover, you need to unscrew a dozen screws, then disconnect the latches, walking along the contour with a thin plastic ruler or a special metal tool.

The next step is to disconnect the battery from the board. It is important not to miss it to eliminate the risk of shorting. The cooling system is a single unit that can be easily removed completely by carefully unscrewing a few small screws. After that, having access to the coolers from two sides, it is easy to blow them with air. Also, removing the cover is the first step in modernization, which may become relevant in a couple of years.

In conclusion, it is worth emphasizing two main advantages of Nitro 5 over competitors. First, it is relatively affordable. In the same price range, it is difficult to find a laptop with similar technical characteristics in online stores. Unless HP Pavilion. A relatively affordable mid-budget MSI already costs about UAH 40,000. The second advantage is a balanced configuration, well-chosen components.

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