Acer’s new Nitro 5 is its next mobile PC gaming machine for the masses

Getting it in well ahead of Computex 2017 festivities in Taipei, Taiwan starting May 30, Acer has unveiled its next affordable gaming laptop, the Acer Nitro 5. If you’re confused by the string of words “affordable gaming laptop,” just look to winners like the Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming.

Likewise, Acer’s Nitro 5 is a 15-inch gaming laptop outfitted with your choice of either an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics chip paired with a 7th generation (Kaby Lake) Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, or an AMD Radeon RX550 GPU coupled with an AMD A-Series A10, A12 or FX APU (AMD’s marketing acronym for its processors).

Both of these graphics options are entry-level components that produce a surprising amount of visual fidelity.

Regardless of your choice between all-AMD versus Nvidia and Intel inside (sorry not sorry), both models will house a 15.6-inch, full HD (1,920 x 1,080) display with IPS technology for wider viewing angles.

Of course, all models come running Windows 10, and offer up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM as well as solid-state drives as capacious as 512GB, optionally paired with spinning hard drives up to 2TB.

On the connectivity front are 802.11ac Wi-Fi (2 x 2 MIMO) in addition to a USB 3.1 Type-C (Gen 1) port, a USB 3.0 port with power-off charging, two USB 2.0 ports and an HDMI 2.0 port. (Naturally, Acer isn't talking battery life just yet.)

A somewhat more subtle design

All of this comes wrapped in a package that, unlike GTX 1050 Ti laptops that have come before it, isn’t quite as mainstream in its design as you might expect. While it’s far more toned down than, say, the Acer Predator 21X, it’s definitely more “gamer-looking” than the aforementioned Dell.

You can tell not only from the red-backlit keyboard with its “WASD” keys outlined in red, but those sizable vents in the rear of the laptop’s base.

However, those flashy outtake vents have a purpose: Acer’s Coolboost technology is inside this laptop. This allows you to directly control fan speed through an included app, for when workloads , i.e. intense gaming, demand more cooling.

Unfortunately, Acer has yet to issue pricing and availability for the Nitro 5 but, with the hardware options on offer, it’s hard to see this gaming device coming in for more than $999 to start. We’ll update this story with this information once Acer provides it.

With Acer getting into this affordable gaming laptop, erm, game among so many others, we’re bound to see Nvidia invest in this end of its portfolio even further with future GPU releases. Could we one day see sub $699 gaming laptops? A man can dream, can’t he?