Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 Decent Gaming Laptop. Are you looking for a modern gaming laptop at an affordable price, but don’t know what to choose? Then the new Acer Nitro 7 may be a good option at the moment.

Content

Specifications
What is interesting about Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51?
Options and first impressions
Design: almost all metal
Adequate number of ports and connectors
Convenient keyboard and touchpad
High-quality display with a refresh rate of 144 Hz
Two small but loudspeakers
Great performance
Temperature and fan noise
And what about autonomy?
And what about competitors?
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G
Lenovo Legion Y540
Instead of a thousand words…
Questions from Telegram

When we recall the gaming devices from the Taiwanese company Acer, we primarily recall the already legendary Predator series of “game industry monsters” or, at worst, the Helios series. But for some reason, we undeservedly forget that there are still quite interesting Nitro gaming laptops. They not only have excellent technical characteristics, but also an attractive price tag. In addition, such gaming laptops are very compact, have an attractive design and high-quality case materials.

The new Acer Nitro 7 (2019) has expanded its collection of affordable gaming laptops from a Taiwanese company. This is an elegant looking laptop that may not be so good if you like heavy games, but it has an excellent display combined with some of the latest hardware for a pleasant experience. We first learned about him after the presentation in New York. It was immediately clear that Acer continues to pamper us with high-quality and affordable Nitro gaming laptops. When the Ukrainian representative office of a Taiwanese company offered me a Nitro 7 for review, I was waiting for him with genuine interest. It was curious to see what new guys from Taiwan came up with there. And is Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 really as good as it was talked about at the presentation? But first, let’s start with the technical characteristics of the hero of our review.

Specifications Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51

What is interesting about Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51?

This is the new representative of the popular laptop series from the Taiwanese manufacturer. This time, the company prepared a laptop, visually substantially modified, based on the latest Intel processors and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 16 series cards.

The device has become primarily visually attractive, as well as better. The old version (with thicker frames around the matrix) was made of plastic, while the new Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 Gaming Laptop (2019) has a predominantly aluminum case, which makes a very good impression during use.

The laptop will also delight one of the latest six-core processors of the ninth generation Intel Core i7-9750H (2.6 – 4.5 GHz), a very interesting video card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti 6 GB, as well as a 15.6-inch Full HD screen with IPS matrix and 144 Hz refresh rate.

Despite being a thin laptop, the GPU is a standard version of the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti laptop, not the Max-Q version. This means that the clock frequency is 1455-1590 MHz, compared with the slower 1140-1335 MHz.

My sample received 16 GB of DDR4 RAM and a fairly fast 512 GB SSD. That is, we have a rather powerful gaming machine with graceful, attractive design, excellent technical characteristics at a very attractive price.

Options and first impressions Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 Gaming Laptop

Acer Nitro 7 Options and first impressions

If we talk about the complete set of Acer Nitro 7 (2019), then the retail option came to me, so the same thing expects you when buying a laptop.

Acer Nitro 7 150 W power supply, a 2.5-inch disk mount arrived

Together with a Gaming Laptop and a 150 W power supply, a 2.5-inch disk mount arrived, with which you can install a second drive. And, of course, all kinds of paper instructions, warranties and a CD-ROM with drivers for a laptop. However, how it can be used if there is no optical drive itself, it remains a mystery to me. Of course, a branded backpack or at least a gaming mouse in the kit would not hurt, but, apparently, the manufacturer considered such a luxury unnecessary. Well, he has the right to it.

Acer-Nitro-7 very elegant design

When you first take the Acer Nitro 7 Gaming Laptop out of the box, you immediately realize that you have a gaming device, albeit with a very elegant design. Especially, if you open it, then the red-painted keyboard immediately catches your eye, as if unambiguously hinting at the game orientation of the device.

Design: almost all metal

One of the main advantages of Nitro 7 is its thin profile, the thickness of which is only 19.9 mm. However, this applies only to the front, as the thickness increases to 23.14 mm to the rear.

Acer-Nitro-7 keyboard

Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 Gaming Laptop has undergone not so small changes regarding the appearance and workmanship. The case is completely black, and the accents of red apply only to the keyboard. It has a red backlight (no RGB here), and even the trackpad has red accents surrounding it. The equipment looks sleek, minimalistic and simply better than its predecessor.

On the outside of the cover, in addition to the Acer logo, there are only three distinctive stripes. Apparently, this is a new character for the updated series. Although this only applies to the higher hierarchy of the Nitro 7 model Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 Gaming Laptop. The cheaper Nitro 5 is a bit more like its predecessor.

Personally, I really like the look of the laptop as a whole: it still has a rather minimalistic design, despite the colour scheme inherent in gaming devices.

Acer-Nitro-7 rather minimalistic design

As for workmanship, I have no objection. The bottom (along with the sides adjacent to the ports) and a thin frame (although these frames are not the thinnest in comparison with other laptops) around the screen are made of matte plastic, and the rest of the body is made of aluminum. Fortunately, the entire area of ​​the palm rest does not bend under pressure. In general, the fit of the structural elements and their rigidity are at a satisfactory level. In this regard, the equipment was significantly changed compared to the old versions, where, however, plastic dominated. The lower part of the outer edge with the screen bends smoothly, which is associated with the selected central hinge.

Acer-Nitro-7 screen by about 150

This, in turn, allows you to tilt the screen by about 150 °, but at the same time very firmly holds the entire part of the screen. The hinge looks very durable, and I think its service life can be very good. However, some edges of the laptop are slightly sharp to the touch Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 Decent Gaming Laptop, especially the area of ​​the bottom cover.

Overall, the Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 is a well-designed, affordable gaming laptop with a relatively thin body. And even the aggressive fan grills on the back don’t make it massive and awkward. If you open it in the office, then your colleagues will notice its elegance and subtlety. As already mentioned, it also has good build quality, although I would like the case to be a little more polished to get rid of sharp edges.

Adequate number of ports and connectors

Despite the slim body, the developers of the Taiwanese company managed to place a fairly decent number of ports and connectors. Nevertheless, they understood that this was a gaming laptop, not a business-class ultrabook.

Acer-Nitro-7 Adequate number of ports and connectors

On the left side of the Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 there is a Kensington lock, a Gigabit Ethernet RJ-45 port, digital HDMI 2.0, one USB 3.1 Type-C Gen.1 and two full USB 3.1-A Gen.1.

Acer-Nitro-7 digital HDMI 2.0, one USB 3.1

On the right, the picture is supplemented by another USB 2.0 port, a standard 3.5 mm jack for connecting a headset and a connector for connecting a power supply.

Unfortunately, we see that the SD card slot is gradually disappearing on laptops, both gaming and non-gaming. This means that if you are a content creator, you will have to buy a card reader. Plus you won’t find the Digital Mini DisplayPort and Thunderbolt 3 port.

Convenient keyboard and touchpad

Acer-Nitro-7 Convenient keyboard and touchpad

Acer Nitro 7 is equipped with a full-size island keyboard. This means that it also has a separate numerical part. WSAD, the arrow keys, and the Nitro Sense app call button also have a dust cover (red), which sets them apart from the rest of the keys. The directional keys, in turn, were not specifically separated from the others, but I had no problems using them. In the sense that there were no situations in which I could press other keys by mistake.

Acer-Nitro-7 Turbo button above the keyboard

Unlike Helios, here we will not find the additional Turbo button above the keyboard, which causes the maximum fan speed. To do this, go to the Nitro Sense app and enable it manually. The keyboard used is quite loud, which is associated with a surprisingly long step and a clear answer. Although typing on it is still very convenient if you want to use Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 Gaming Laptop for typing. The backlight used is only red, which in the Nitro series is already a characteristic feature. The backlight intensity is single-stage, so you can only turn it on or off. If you like RBG backlighting, then a little out of luck.

Under the keyboard is a touchpad, which this time was deprived of separate buttons corresponding to the left and right mouse buttons. Instead, they were integrated into the rest of the touch panel. As for the touchpad, I have no serious objections. It has a slightly slippery surface, so moving your fingers over it is convenient and unproblematic. Both accuracy and usability are very good. Obviously, for example, it is not suitable for games, but it will be very useful during the performance of daily office work or during travel.

High-quality display with a refresh rate of 144 Hz Gaming Laptop

One of the highlights of the Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 is its display. You have a 15.6-inch IPS panel with a maximum resolution of FullHD (1920 × 1080 pixels) and a refresh rate of 144 Hz with a response frequency of 3 ms. The aspect ratio of the screen is 16: 9 with a pixel density of 142 PPI. Thanks to the high refresh rate, everything looks very smooth and clear on this screen. Even the simplest action, like moving the cursor or scrolling, causes only positive points.

Acer-Nitro-7 High-quality display with a refresh rate of 144 Hz

Viewing angles are quite comfortable. We also have a maximum brightness of 296 nits in the middle of the screen and 290 nits on average for the entire area with a maximum deviation of 10%. The correlated colour temperature on the white screen is 6930K – a little colder than optimal for the sRGB 6500K standard. The average colour temperature on a gray scale before profiling is even warmer – 6970K.

The screen is well-calibrated, has good viewing angles and fairly high-quality colour temperature, good contrast ratio and excellent colour gamut (90% of sRGB). On this screen, it’s convenient not only to play but also watch movies, TV shows or videos from YouTube. Even the processing of photo and video materials is quite possible.

The Acer Nitro 7 (AN715-51) display uses PWM to adjust the brightness to 75 nits. Nevertheless, flicker occurs with a sufficiently high frequency, which makes it relatively comfortable for long periods of use without excessive eye strain.

Two small but loudspeakers Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51

Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 has two very small speakers. They are located on the front of the laptop – one to the right and left of the device. Nevertheless, they are quite loud at the maximum level of settings. And the sound coming from them is clear, without audible distortion. In general, the sound quality is identical to the quality of the gaming devices of the Nitro series, which means that in the standard version there is also a lack of noticeable low frequencies due to the lack of a separate subwoofer. Of course, for the comfort of the gameplay it is still better to use a gaming headset. Although for watching movies and video content, the built-in speakers are quite enough.

To be honest, I don’t even want to write about the built-in webcam. Laptop manufacturers are stubbornly reluctant to equip their devices with high-quality, high-resolution sensors. And this applies to absolutely everyone, not just Acer. But this no longer stands up to criticism – to provide your camera with a resolution of 1 megapixel in 2019. Sometimes it seems that the developers are specifically trying to help you hide the features of the interior and face during video calls on Skype.

Great performance Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51

We are somehow used to the fact that the Nitro series is slightly inferior to the dominant Predator and Helios, since the latter looks more bulky devices, and their technical equipment is more modern. But Acer Nitro 7 in this regard was pleasantly surprised. To be honest, I did not expect such agility from him.

Acer-Nitro-7 a great performance

Models with a quad-core Intel Core i5-9300H or six-core Intel Core i7-9750H processors are available. Of course, these are not the processors of the last tenth generation, but also quite modern and powerful.

Acer-Nitro-7 quad-core Intel Core i5-9300H

The graphics are also answered by the interesting discrete graphics cards NVIDIA GeForce 1650 with 4 GB and 1660 Ti with 6 GB Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 Decent Gaming Laptop.

Acer-Nitro-7 NVIDIA GeForce 1650

You have 8 GB or 16 GB of RAM and an SSD drive of 256 GB or more. There is also a configuration where you can get a 256 GB SSD drive paired with a 1 TB HDD.

Acer-Nitro-7 256 GB SSD

Acer-Nitro-7 drive paired with a 1 TB HDD

My test instance had almost the highest configuration. That is, a six-core Intel Core i7-9750H processor with a clock frequency of 2.6 GHz, the ability to overclock in Turbo Boost mode to 4.5 GHz and an NVIDIA GeForce 1660 Ti graphics card with 6 GB of internal memory.

All this in combination with 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, 2667 MHz and a 512 GB SSD drive. This is a fairly powerful gaming machine that can easily cope with everyday office tasks and games at high settings.

Of course, someone will say that a discrete graphics card NVIDIA GeForce 1660 Ti with 6 GB of memory may not be enough for modern games. Like, they could use at least the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060. In part, they are somewhat right. The GTX 1660 Ti graphics card is not a powerful gaming center, but it is powerful enough to run most modern games with maximum graphics settings that exceed the desired 60 fps mark.

I tested a number of games with Nitro 7, and most of them – with the exception of Witcher 3, since the game is locked at 60 fps – work much higher than this mark. See for yourself by reading the results:

Pretty good results, isn’t it? In fact, as I have already mentioned more than once, this level of performance is very close to the performance of the RTX 2060. Although you do not get RTX-exclusive features such as ray tracing and Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), you will not overpay. Still, gaming devices on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 or 2070 are much more expensive.

Although these games do not actually make full use of the 144 Hz Nitro 7 display, you can easily achieve a higher frame rate by changing the graphics settings.

Temperature and fan noise Gaming Laptop

Acer Nitro 7 has a fairly simple thermal solution that we have previously seen on many Acer laptops. Two powerful Aeroblade fans are used, as well as three thin heat pipes that cover both the processor and the graphics chip. This feature helps control components well, allowing them to operate at temperatures around 70 ° under high loads.

Acer-Nitro-7 Temperature and fan noise

The most interesting thing is that the fans are constantly working, even if not under load. The noise from them, of course, is small, but you can still hear it if you strain your ears. But it is not annoying, not distracting. The fact is that the fans operate at a speed of 2100-2600 rpm.

Another thing is if you start playing on a laptop. Here the fans are heard at full power. And also, if you enable the Turbo mode of operation of rotating blades in the NitroSense application, you will definitely understand that the cooling system is working at full capacity. Power rises to 6100 rpm. Their rumble drowns out the sounds of the game and conversations with partners in the game, so it’s better to wear a gaming headset. You can protect yourself a little from fan noise, but what is it like for your friends, work colleagues, or household members? They will certainly not be delighted with this.

Acer-Nitro-7 fans operate at a speed of 2100-2600 rpm

Another thing is if you start playing on a laptop. Here the fans are heard at full power. And also, if you enable the Turbo mode of operation of rotating blades in the NitroSense application, you will definitely understand that the cooling system is working at full capacity. Power rises to 6100 rpm. Their rumble drowns out the sounds of the game and conversations with partners in the game, so it’s better to wear a gaming headset. You can protect yourself a little from fan noise, but what is it like for your friends, work colleagues, or household members? They will certainly not be delighted with this.

Acer-Nitro-7 Power rises to 6100 rpm

Although the cooling system does its job perfectly. When performing everyday tasks, the almost completely metal case practically does not heat up. You can easily type text or chat with friends on social networks while holding the laptop on your lap. But as soon as you start the game, the case heats up noticeably after a couple of minutes. No, this is not particularly critical, but tangible. In addition, it is hardly convenient to play with the Acer Nitro 7 on its lap.

Hot air escapes through the ventilation holes that you will definitely notice on the back of the laptop and feel as if you reach out. Sometimes the exhaust air was really hot. And this is good because it means that the cooling system works efficiently and removes hot air from the inside of the laptop. This will prevent the laptop, processor and video card from overheating. Naturally, in this case, it will work more smoothly in games.

I also note that the fans automatically turn off if you work on battery power. But we all perfectly understand that the autonomy of gaming laptops has never been their advantage.

And what about autonomy?

And let’s just talk about the autonomy of Acer Nitro 7 (2019). Laptops with a game pedigree usually do not work very long because of the hardware, and you really have to take a charge with you if you have a long day ahead. I got about 4 hours of autonomy, which is pretty good at first glance. I note that the hero of our review has a rechargeable battery with a capacity of 58 Wh * h. But I didn’t play games, I just typed and processed photos. That is, some autonomy records should not be expected, since to a large extent it fully corresponds to the standard battery life that you get from a gaming laptop. No need to harbor any special illusions.

The compact power supply, which can be comfortably placed in a backpack, saves the situation. It took me a little more than 1.5 hours to fully charge from 10% to 100%. Although, to be honest, I always played on the laptop only from the network, after literally 40 minutes later he notified me with a sound that it was time to connect the charging. It is distracting and annoying if you’re all in the gameplay.

And what about competitors Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 Gaming Laptop?

I already wrote that several configurations of Acer Nitro 7 are sold in Ukraine. But they are more distinguished by a discrete graphics card. Yes, there is an option with an Intel Core i5-9300H processor, but it is not much weaker than the Intel Core i7-9750H. But in terms of video cards there is a significant difference: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti looks much more attractive than the younger model GeForce GTX 1650. And the difference in price is several thousand, which is not critical if you really want a powerful gaming machine.

Of course, competitors are also not sleeping and are trying in every possible way to offer such solutions for gamers. Let’s look at a few of them.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G

Like the Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51 Gaming Laptop, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G is a pretty thin gaming laptop. It has a case with a thickness of 19.9 mm. All this is complemented by 8 GB of RAM and a bit slow, although not particularly noticeable, with a 15.6-inch 1080p FullHD display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz. Even with a slower display, the Zephyrus G is equipped with a much more generous 512 GB solid-state drive, a glossy, almost frameless display, and also at a lower price.

But, on the other hand, Nitro 7 has a faster Core i7-9750H than the Zephyrus G AMD Ryzen 7-3750H processor, not to mention the fact that Acer has a more powerful GPU. Zephyrus G comes with a version of the Max-Q GTX 1660 Ti, which is slower than the standard GTX 1660 Ti in the hero of our review.

Lenovo Legion Y540 Gaming Laptop

Although not as thin as the Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51, with a body thickness of 25.9 mm, it is a good alternative. It is more versatile when it comes to choosing hardware. And in terms of appearance, I would say that the Y540 is a more elegant option with an almost frameless design.

Again, you have to pay a little more for the Legion Y540 Gaming Laptop. The GTX 1660 Ti model with a Core i7-9750H processor, a 15.6-inch IPS display with 144 Hz refresh rate, 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB PCIe SSD with 1 TB 7200 rpm hard drive sells a little more expensive.

Instead of a thousand words…

Acer Nitro 7 is a great option for gamers who need a thin gaming laptop with a good level of performance. Even if there are more affordable options on the market, it will be difficult for you to find another gaming laptop in the same price range with such a combination of processor and graphics chip in a thin case.

If there is something that is missing in Nitro 7, then better thermal performance and a faster SSD. Even so, you can play efficiently with average cooling system performance, and storage capacity can be relatively easily updated.

Those who are looking for a thin gaming laptop should definitely consider the Nitro 7. It may not be perfect, but it offers the best value for money and good performance in a compact package.

You will definitely appreciate the use of aluminum housing. Add here a keyboard and touchpad, which are quite convenient to use, a really good screen, thanks to its refresh rate of 144 Hz. This is especially understood during the game.

Acer Nitro 7 is certainly the best representative of this series. It looks better, very well built and works great both in games and in programs. If you are looking for a compact but powerful gaming laptop at an affordable price, then quickly order it in the store. Believe me, you definitely won’t regret a single hryvnia spent.

Questions Answers Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51

How well is the Acer Nitro 7 thought out in terms of replacing/adding RAM, SSD, HDD for the user?

The laptop allows you to install up to three drives: two SSDs on the M.2 connector (with support for PCIe x4 Gen.3 NVMe) and the third in a 2.5 ″ slot. Here it can be either HDD or SSD. In the case of RAM, we have two SO-DIMM slots for DDR4-2666 modules. One of them is ultimately equipped with 16 GB of RAM, the other is empty. The conclusion is simple – the memory works here in single-channel mode. The processor and graphics card are sealed, and there is no standard replacement option.

Does a laptop cope with top-end modern games?

On Acer Nitro 7, you can play almost all modern games, and at the highest settings. The smoothness of the gameplay is impressive.

How about the temperature of the surfaces of the laptop during the game?

Of course, his fan is noisy, but the cooling system copes with its tasks. I do not recommend leaving a glass of cold Coca-Cola near the opening for the cooling system. After half an hour, it will make warm tea.

Orbit Brain

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