This Acer budget gaming laptop is behind the times — but its price is just right

Acer is no stranger to the gaming laptop space, evolving with the times by bringing the latest from Intel and Nvidia in fresh, well-designed chassis. So, how can the 2024 Acer Nitro V 15 ($749 to start), sporting low-end specs from yesteryear, fit into an age of modern gaming machines? It’s all to do with its price.

Let’s be clear; on paper, Acer’s budget gaming laptop won’t impress. A 13th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, Nvidia RTX 3050 GPU, 8GB of RAM and 512GB SSD don’t exactly deserve a round of applause. However, a quick glance at the current best gaming laptops around will show you these portable rigs aren’t getting any cheaper, and not everyone needs the latest specs to play the PC games they want.

That’s where this $750 Nitro V 15 finds its place. With its compact design, sleek-but-subtle gaming aesthetic, impressive 144Hz display and array of ports, this gaming laptop brings plenty to the table. That being said, its performance is still limited, and this configuration can only take you so far before its specs show their age. Along with its lack of battery life and small storage space, expectations for what you will use the Nitro V 15 for need to be set. Oh, and its annoyingly loud fans — even when not gaming — don’t help its case.

Still, all this for well under $1,000? That’s not a bad deal, depending on the level of gaming performance you need. If you can find it for even less (as of writing, it’s currently discounted to $699), then Acer’s gaming laptop is a safe bet for anyone looking to play the very best games that don’t require a ridiculously pricey setup to run.

Acer Nitro V 15: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? The Acer Nitro V 15 is a budget gaming laptop.
• Who is it for? The Nitro V 15 aims to be a great fit for students or those looking to play (some of) the best PC games on the side without breaking bank accounts.
• What does it cost? The Acer Nitro V 15 starts at $749 and goes up to $1,349, depending on the configuration.
• What do we like? For a 15-inch gaming laptop, the Nitro V 15 is sleek, stylish and compact, offering subtle notes of a “cool” gaming aesthetic. It offers ample performance for less demanding games, and has a decent 1080p display to match. All of this goes a long way with its bargain price tag.
• What don’t we like? It’s nowhere near the level of performance seen in the best gaming laptops, and it isn’t geared towards much else other than gaming or web surfing. Its fans get far too noisy under any kind of pressure, while its battery won’t last much longer than an hour before needing juice when gaming.

Acer Nitro V 15: Specs

Acer Nitro V 15: The ups

As much as the Acer Nitro V 15 does an admirable job playing the latest games, this isn’t a $4,800 Razer Blade 18 (2024). That’s not to say it can’t boot up demanding PC titles and offer smooth gameplay, as it can, but don’t expect the pinnacle of ray tracing or jaw-dropping details. If that’s not what you’re after, and you like saving cash, you’ll be satisfied with what’s on display.

Making the most of its specs

Despite its limitations, the Nitro V 15 does an excellent job of surpassing minimum requirements in a wide selection of major games. An Nvidia RTX 3050 with 6GB of video memory is by no means lackluster, while an Intel Core i5-13420H with 8 cores and a 4.6GHz boost has enough processing power to juggle multiple tasks at once.

Acer offers a range of configurations, with the Nitro V 15 unit we received being one of the most affordable. You can upgrade to a model with an Intel Core i7 CPU, RTX 4060 GPU, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, but that puts its price over $1,000. At this point, you’re better off looking at the $999 MSI Cyborg 15 or $1,500 Asus TUF Gaming A14, with both offering far better value thanks to their specs and price.

As strange as it may seem, the Nitro V 15 works better as a sub-$800 gaming laptop (our review of the $1,000 Nitro V 15 model proves that). Now that’s budget, and even if its pricier competitors blaze past it on the Geekbench 6.3 test, its performance doesn’t disappoint at this price range. Playing Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p, the laptop maintains a 50 fps (frames per second) average. That’s with low ray tracing and high texture details, too. Of course, that plummets when in combat (around 21 fps), so it's not the best game to try out. However, you can expect over 60 fps on games like Borderlands 3 and Far Cry 6 (at 1080p).

While playing less-demanding titles such as Anger Foot and Selaco, this laptop could handle them with ease — blazing past 60 fps and offering over 120 fps. These aren’t the sharpest games on the block, but they look great on the Nitro V 15’s 144Hz display.

Of course, when playing a demanding PC game such as Black Myth: Wukong on Medium settings, frame rates averaged at around 49 fps. Less manageable, and not as ideal as what I saw on less demanding titles.

A well-designed budget build

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For a budget laptop, Acer’s Nitro V 15 is quite a looker. Gone are the bulk and cheap-looking red tinges from previous Nitro models, as it now offers a compact and lightweight chassis that looks more premium than ever. Blue and gray streaks on its aluminum lid amid an otherwise all-black build won’t distract others in public settings, but it does give the Nitro V a subtle artistic flair. Give me that over LED strips beaming from a laptop any day.

With its size and weight, it’s surprisingly easy to move around for a 15-inch laptop, and it doesn’t take up much real estate when placed on a desk or tabletop, either. Moreover, its lid (with rubber stoppers placed at the rear) acts as a hinge that slightly raises the laptop from the surface, leaving the bottom vents room to breathe along with the other vents located at the sides.

You can never have too many ports, but the Nitro V 15 has a substantial amount of the right ones in place. You get two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, one Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1 and an Ethernet jack on the left, along with another USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 and an audio jack on the left. All these will come in handy for PC peripherals, dual-screen access and a steady online connection.

It’s by no means the lightest or smallest gaming laptop out there, but the Nitro V 15 follows the Goldilocks rule: not too flashy, not too heavy, but just right.

Speedy visuals

The Nitro V 15’s standout perk is its 15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS display, but mainly because of its 144Hz refresh rate. The screen itself isn’t anything special, as display brightness is dim and colors aren’t too vibrant. However, it's big enough to take in small details in games and videos, as I had no problems checking out the pristine skyline of Night City in Cyberpunk 2077.

Bringing a 144Hz refresh rate is the real winner, as it means letting games the laptop can handle look their smoothest. It’s always a treat to get a steady 60Hz refresh rate, but even better if it can breeze past 120Hz. Sure, some displays can handle 165Hz and beyond, but 144Hz is the sweet spot for a large pool of titles, especially competitive games.

Acer Nitro V 15: The downs

This is a budget laptop we’re talking about, and aside from the lower-end specs it's equipped with, there are a few other glaring issues that keep it from being the go-to budget gaming laptop for all.

What’s all that racket?

While the Acer Nitro V 15 keeps relatively cool under pressure, with heat escaping from the bottom thanks to the lid raising the chassis, its fans do a lot of the heavy lifting. At least I hope they do, as they are way too noisy even when doing simple tasks such as browsing websites. Unfortunately, playing games only makes them louder.

It will barely launch the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 or even Far Cry 6 without sounding like a jet engine at full throttle. The noise drowns out any audio coming from the laptop, but the speakers hardly put up a fight with the hollow, tinny sounds they emit.

A good gaming headset is recommended to give your ears an escape, and the laptop's audio jack comes in handy. If you’re using it in a crowded space, however, be warned that you may get some noise complaints.

Battery that doesn’t last

Battery is never a gaming laptop’s strong suit, but the Acer Nitro V 15 still doesn’t fare very well. Even with lower-powered specs, the laptop wouldn’t be able to last a full workday without needing to be plugged in. And that’s just with it being turned on.

Lasting 5 hours and 40 minutes in the Tom's Guide battery test (web surfing and streaming video at 150 nits of screen brightness), the Nitro V 15 will need its charging brick if you plan on traveling around for the day. In real-world use, from watching videos to working on online documents, I found the laptop could barely get past 5 hours. At least it surpasses the MSI Cyborg 15’s runtime on paper.

As you can imagine, gaming on battery power isn’t ideal. According to the PC Mark 10 benchmark, it can last 1 hour and 39 minutes when gaming. This isn’t terrible compared to other gaming laptops, but Acer’s NitroSense software forces the laptop’s power plan into “Balanced” mode as opposed to the more game-ready “Performance” mode.

Suffice to say, the Nitro V 15 is best used when plugged in, but that’s par for the course with a majority of gaming laptops.

Gaming laptops need more storage

Unless you prefer playing games with small storage sizes, the Acer Nitro V 15’s 512GB SSD won’t get you far. Many of the latest PC games take up a monstrous amount of space, with examples including Metaphor: ReFantazio (97GB) and God of War Ragnarök (190GB).

A laptop’s performance will suffer when it doesn’t have enough free space, meaning you can only install less than a handful of biggames before the Nitro V 15 starts acting up. That’s fine if you don’t mind frequently uninstalling games, but it gets annoying having to wait what seems like lightyears when downloading extremely large files time and time again. While upgrading to a model with a 1TB SSD can solve that issue, prepare to spend over $1,000 to get it.

Acer Nitro V 15: Verdict

The Acer Nitro V 15 may be behind the times, especially when budget laptops like the MSI Cyborg 15 have modern specs like an RTX 4050 under the hood, but its price gives it an edge over those with beefier specs. It won’t turn heads with the visuals it pulls off, as its default graphics setting in most AAA games will be set to “low,” but if all you need is a decent system that offers good gameplay (along with a way watch shows, surf the web or work on documents), the Nitro V 15 offers great value.

Yes, in a world where PC gaming alternatives like the Steam Deck OLED and Asus ROG Ally X exist, it gets harder to recommend similarly priced budget laptops made for gaming. However, laptops have become a more natural way to engage with everyday online tasks. Ergo, the Acer Nitro V 15 can still earn its place on many people’s desks.

It’s a shame about its irritatingly loud fans and poor battery life, though. If you’re in need of more power and have the funds to do so, keep an eye on the MSI Cyborg 15 or Asus TUF Gaming A14.