Acer Nitro 5 AN515 Series

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.

Solid gaming speeds ; Versatile AMD processor ; Decent physical design ; Reasonable keyboard

Underwhelming screen quality ; Poor battery life ; Won’t play some top-tier games

Inevitable compromises can be found in most areas of the Acer Nitro 5, but it remains a capable and affordable laptop with enough power to handle mainstream gaming and esports titles

User controllable fans ; Good battery life ; Decent gaming performance for price

Too much travel on trackpad ; Thick display bezel ; Speakers produce painful highs

We could forgive the cheap plastic back cover, the basic keyboard, and the heavy weight. But for a gaming laptop, there’s hardly any excuse for the tacky trackpad and the average screen. Budget gamers will rejoice on the price, but hardcore ones will...

A cheap gaming laptop

Slower than slow ; Unreliable touchpad ; Poor build quality

You have to be careful when shopping for a budget gaming laptop. If you spend half as much as a top-end notebook you might expect half the performance, but the Acer Nitro 5 doesn’t provide anything close. Not only does this budget gaming laptop fail to...

Consistent, versatile performance ; Reasonable keyboard ; Extremely affordable

Underwhelming screen ; Poor battery life ; Immature design

AMD's hardware delivers enough computing ability to handle most mainstream work tasks, and the Nitro 5 has good versatility elsewhere – but its low price means that compromises are made.

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.

There are many notable gaming notebooks in the market right now, but few are as affordable and competent as the Acer Nitro 5. Serious gamers will likely look elsewhere, but anyone who wants to dip their toes into next generation VR and PC gaming...

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.