WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:07.600 You could point at almost any major category in tech these days, TVs, 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:11.599 phones, computers, and you could make the argument that the pace of 00:00:09.120 --> 00:00:17.680 technological advancement has slowed and they've gotten boring. But here's one 00:00:14.559 --> 00:00:19.920 that's really exciting. Sub $1,000 00:00:17.680 --> 00:00:24.240 gaming laptops these days, compared to even models from a couple of years ago, 00:00:22.080 --> 00:00:30.640 are amazing. And the new generation of NVIDIA graphics cards is a big part of 00:00:26.400 --> 00:00:32.719 the reason. So, the GTX 1650 mobile GPU 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:37.360 is actually priced the same as the outgoing 1050Ti, 00:00:35.040 --> 00:00:41.360 but it's got a fair bit more power under the hood. So, if you're a cheap gamer or 00:00:39.680 --> 00:00:45.680 even just someone who cares about getting good value for your dollar, we 00:00:43.360 --> 00:00:51.280 think you should give the Acer Nitro 7 and especially the Nitro 5 a really good 00:00:49.120 --> 00:00:57.520 look. So, let's talk about what they did right and what they left out to keep 00:00:54.399 --> 00:01:05.840 these budget beasts affordable. 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:11.920 The look of the Nitro 5 is a bit divisive. Although the overall feel of 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:16.240 the machine is pretty good, and I appreciate the much smaller bezels, the 00:01:14.320 --> 00:01:22.640 red accents on the keyboard and the trackpad along with loads of plastic 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:24.720 make the Nitro 5 look a bit toylike. Its 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:29.200 better endowed cousin, the Nitro 7, improves on this a bit with a slightly 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:33.439 more premium screen backing and less red, but it still falls into the trap of 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:38.240 looking like something that a high schooler might think looks pretty dope. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:42.320 On both models, you'll find heaps of I/IO. They've got four USB ports, 00:01:40.479 --> 00:01:46.799 including one type-C, along with headphones, full-size HDMI, and 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:53.200 Ethernet, which you thankfully won't need too often since unlike the Zephris 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:55.920 G502, the 2019 Nitro lineup includes 2x2 00:01:53.200 --> 00:02:00.399 Wi-Fi cards by default. Of course, those are minor details. And after that intro, 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:06.960 what everyone wants to know is what kind of performance we can squeeze out of an 00:02:02.880 --> 00:02:10.080 $800 laptop. Well, good news. The GTX 00:02:06.960 --> 00:02:13.760 1650 put on a really good show, easily 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:16.480 doing out 60 FPS at 1080p in every game 00:02:13.760 --> 00:02:21.920 we tried without sacrificing too much eye candy. Compared to the GTX 1050Ti, 00:02:19.760 --> 00:02:26.400 we're actually looking at about a 20% improvement across the board. Now, 00:02:24.640 --> 00:02:31.200 that's not enough to make for a completely different experience from 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:35.680 last gen, but it is definitely noticeable. So games that previously 00:02:33.440 --> 00:02:39.599 were best played on medium settings can now comfortably be set to high. Those 00:02:38.160 --> 00:02:44.160 frames don't matter though if there isn't a good display panel to show them 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:48.959 on. And at first it seemed like the Nitro 7 was going to come away with an 00:02:46.480 --> 00:02:53.599 easy win here. Its 8-bit panel is brighter, has richer colors, and maybe 00:02:51.519 --> 00:03:00.000 even higher contrast than the 6-bit panel found on the Nitro 5. But it turns 00:02:57.440 --> 00:03:04.879 out the Nitro 5 has an ace up its sleeve. When we tried overclocking the 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:10.239 display panels using custom resolution utility, the Nitro 7 tapped out where 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:12.400 most laptops do, slightly above 60 Hz. 00:03:10.239 --> 00:03:18.480 The Nitro 5, on the other hand, just kept going and going all the way up to a 00:03:14.959 --> 00:03:20.720 whopping 90 hertz. Now, I don't want to 00:03:18.480 --> 00:03:25.519 guarantee that your Nitro 5 will be able to display that many frames per second. 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:31.040 This is way beyond the official spec, and Acer could be sourcing panels from 00:03:28.239 --> 00:03:35.519 multiple vendors. But on ours, games like Overwatch or Rainbow Six Siege 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:40.159 appear noticeably smoother for a tangible competitive advantage. Now, if 00:03:38.640 --> 00:03:44.799 you've got a mixed workload that includes some hobbyist level photo or 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:49.840 video editing, the Nitro 7 would still be a better bet. But if you primarily 00:03:47.040 --> 00:03:53.599 plan on gaming, in our mind, the Nitro 5 is the clear choice here. Above the 00:03:51.840 --> 00:04:00.000 screens, you'll find a webcam, which Acer brands as super high dynamic range. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:05.120 It looks a little something like this. I wouldn't exactly describe it as super, 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:07.680 but hey, at least they've got one. Zing, 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:12.319 ASUS. Uh, what's more impressive though is the speakers, which got pretty loud 00:04:09.920 --> 00:04:16.400 and have a nice full sound. You know, that's another thing that has really 00:04:13.760 --> 00:04:19.919 improved a lot on budget gaming laptops, right? Actually, Dell had really good ones a 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:24.320 while ago, but they got worse. Okay, well, back to performance. If you 00:04:22.320 --> 00:04:29.120 do plan on using either of these for content creation or professional 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:32.240 purposes, the internal displays on either of them might not be perfect for 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:36.720 that, but there's always the option of hooking up to an external one for color 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:42.639 critical work. So, we checked it out. The i5 processor in our Nitro 5 was very 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:48.560 well behaved. It turboed up to about 4 GHz, settling in at 3 GHz on all four 00:04:45.840 --> 00:04:53.440 cores. That is well above base clock. But the i7 model was actually pretty 00:04:51.280 --> 00:04:58.240 disappointing. When we put it under an allcore load, the thermals were fine, 00:04:55.840 --> 00:05:03.520 but it immediately ran up against a power limit and settled in below its 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:09.600 base clock at 2.4 GHz when hit with a demanding load. Now, thanks to its two 00:05:06.320 --> 00:05:11.759 extra cores and its higher boost, it's 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:16.000 still the better processor out of the two. But if we're going to call out 00:05:13.919 --> 00:05:20.400 Apple for underbuilding their machines, then Acer needs to expect the same 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:23.680 treatment. Silver lining, um, at least this lack of adequate power delivery 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:27.120 means that neither laptop gets exceptionally loud under load. Both 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:32.880 laptops are equipped with the same keyboard, and it's fine, just like it 00:05:30.400 --> 00:05:36.800 was 2 years ago. But in light of recent competition, we think that Acer needs to 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:42.080 seriously think about upgrading their keyboards across the entire lineup. It's 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:46.800 still not terrible, but the keystrokes are a bit on the heavy side with very 00:05:44.400 --> 00:05:52.720 little in the way of tactility. So, if you're able to justify the price jump to 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:54.240 a Zephris G502 or an Alienware M15, your 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:57.520 fingers will thank you when you're writing long emails about why you 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:02.960 couldn't finish your assignment because you were busy gaming. As for the 00:05:59.840 --> 00:06:04.720 trackpad, it's also fine. Fortunately, 00:06:02.960 --> 00:06:09.120 Acer is using the Windows precision drivers, but the chassis flex around the 00:06:07.039 --> 00:06:13.680 trackpad makes the clicks feel a bit mushy. Again, an area where I'll accept 00:06:11.919 --> 00:06:18.560 it today, especially at this price point, but Acer needs to consider 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:20.639 improving it for next year. The 55watth 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:24.000 battery found in the Nitro 5 and 7 is about what you'd expect in this price 00:06:22.080 --> 00:06:27.840 range. And since the components aren't too power- hungry, and actually the 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:31.759 screens on both are a bit on the dim side, you can actually use the Nitro 5 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:36.479 away from the wall for close to eight hours if you're just surfing the web, 00:06:33.440 --> 00:06:38.880 with the Nitro 7 coming in closer to 7. 00:06:36.479 --> 00:06:44.000 Both laptops feature great upgradability with easy access to RAM, two M.2 drive 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:48.479 slots, and space for a 2 and 1/2 in drive. So, we love this because it means 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:52.880 you don't have to sweat it when you don't have a ton of money today. So, you 00:06:50.400 --> 00:06:56.960 select an 8 gig RAM 128 gig storage option hoping that you'll have more 00:06:54.800 --> 00:07:01.360 money when you finish your program and you can expand it later. So, then with 00:06:59.039 --> 00:07:07.120 that in mind, should you actually buy either of these laptops? Well, the $830 00:07:04.479 --> 00:07:10.880 price tag on the Nitro 5 is really hard to complain about. And if you want a 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:15.680 game on a budget, the 90 Hz display overclock will give you a surprisingly 00:07:13.039 --> 00:07:19.360 good experience if you get a golden unit like ours. So, that one is coming out of 00:07:17.919 --> 00:07:25.280 this review with a full-blown recommendation. As for the Nitro 7, 00:07:22.400 --> 00:07:29.440 although the panel is better, it's a tougher cell given that the i7 model 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:33.280 struggles with performance crippling power issues. Now, it's possible that 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:37.759 everything else at this price point will have the same problems. So, I'm going to 00:07:35.280 --> 00:07:41.039 end up saying, "Well, pick your poison." But, I kind of doubt it, and we're going 00:07:39.440 --> 00:07:45.520 to know for certain soon enough when Dell sends over their new G3. So, thanks 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:50.080 for watching, guys. If this video sucked, you know what to do. But if it was awesome, hit like, get subscribed, 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:53.599 or maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff we featured at the link 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:56.960 below. Also down there is our merch store, which finally has the stealth 00:07:55.280 --> 00:08:02.400 hoodie, this one that I'm wearing right now, and our community forum, which you 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:02.400 should totally join.