Acer Nitro 5 AN515-51 Hands-On, First Impressions

Acer released the Nitro 5 series last year and it comes with different variants but what we have in our hands is the Nitro 5 AN515-51-79N0. Check out our hands-on, first impressions for the company’s mid-tier gaming laptop.

The Nitro 5 has a gamer-esque design due to its bleeding red color and visible exhaust fans placed below the back panel. It has a premium look, thanks to its poly-carbonate material with a brushed aluminum finish at the back panel. However, this does not exempt the device from being a smudge and fingerprint magnet.

First off, the front has a 15.6″ screen size and an IPS wide-angle display with 1920 x 1080 resolution while sitting above is the lone 1280 x 720 webcam. Display quality is bright, clear, and color-accurate while viewing angles are good.

Looking to the left, the Kensington lock, RJ-45 port, USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C, HDMI port, USB 3.0, and SD card reader can be found. Having a Type-C port is advantageous because many devices use type-C connectors nowadays. There is also a speaker located at the bottom on this side that is powered by Dolby Audio Premium.

On the right, the charging port, LED lights, two USB 2.0 ports, and an earphone port can be located. We were somehow disappointed since there is only one USB 3.0 port on the laptop which means that faster transferring of files can only be executed one at a time. Just like on the left, there’s also a speaker located parallel to the first one.

The Nitro 5 uses a standard type of chiclet keyboard with backlit red-colored keys. We noticed the “W”, “A”,”S”,”D” keys are more highlighted for users who are fond of playing games that use it as a standard movement function. One thing to note is the “Enter” and “\”, as well as the up key and “Shift” keys, does not have much space between them which could be problematic for users who are using it frequently.

Just below it is the trackpad that serves as a clickpad as well. Users may find it confusing since it does not have a divider for the left click or the right click but it is there. It is smooth and did not pose any problems when our fingers slide across the whole pad.

The Acer Nitro 5 has a solid build because its hinge is sturdy, the keyboard flex is only little, and even if there’s an evident screen flex, it still reverts back to its original state without problems. The device can also be lifted with only one hand making it a viable companion on the road despite being a gaming laptop.

The Acer Nitro 5 AN515-51-79N0 has 1TB hard disk drive with a 128GB solid-state drive, Nvidia  GTX 1050 Ti video card, and 8GB RAM. It is priced at Php59,999USD 1,022INR 86,675EUR 974CNY 7,446 (see price listing here). Stay tuned for our full review in the coming days.

Acer Nitro 5 AN515-51 specs:

15.6″ IPS Full HD display with ComfyView @ 1920 x 1080px
2.8 GHz Intel HM175 Core i7-7700HQ Quad-core
8GB DDR4 RAM (up to 32GB max)
1TB HDD
128GB SSD
Intel HD Graphics 630 (4GB)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti w/ 4GB + 4GB dedicated GDDR5 VRAM
Backlit keyboard (Red only)
1280 x 720 webcam
2x speakers (Dolby Audio Premium)
1x USB 3.0
2x USB 2.0
Network (RJ-45)
HDMI Output
1x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C
WiFi 802.11ac, 2×2 MIMO
Windows 10 Home
4-cell 3220 mAh Li-Polymer battery
135 W adapter
390mm x 266mm x 26.75mm
2.7kg