Acer announced several new and refreshed gaming laptops earlier this month. Alongside many other brands it piggybacked its announcement on Intel's 10th Gen Core H-series chips for gaming laptops launch, which coincided with Nvidia's GeForce RTX Super GPUs for laptops launch. On that busy day (2nd April), as well as looking closely at the new CPUs, HEXUS reported upon new gaming and creator laptops from the likes of Asus, Gigabyte and Lenovo. Then, a week ago, we got our first Comet Lake/RTX Super laptop in the labs for a thorough test and review, the Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR (2020).
At the time Acer launched several new and refreshed laptops, including the 2020 Acer Nitro 5. This is an affordable but powerful choice that sports up to a "10th Gen Intel Core i7 processor delivering 5GHz and graphics options of a GeForce RTX 2060, or the latest GeForce GTX 1650Ti or 1650 GPUs". Now Acer (Germany) has announced that there will be an AMD powered Nitro 5 gaming laptop choice for customers. However, some will find it irksome that the Intel version of the Nitro 5 provides better graphics and larger screen options to customers, compared to what it is offering to those who would prefer to choose the AMD CPU.
AMD fans may appreciate the choice of an AMD Ryzen Renoir CPUs up to the 8C/16T Ryzen 7 4800H in the Nitro 5. Acer says this model comes with a matte 15.6-inch 300nits Full HD IPS panel, with refresh rate of up to 144Hz. When one looks at the Intel equipped choices though, users get to pick between the latest Intel Core i5-10300H (4C/8T) and i7-10750H (6C/12T) CPUs, and an identical sounding 15.6-inch panel, as well as a 17.3-inch screen equipped version. Furthermore, while the AMD packing Acer Nitro 5 can be configured with "up to GeForce GTX 1650 Ti," the Intel version can be specced up to an RTX 2060.
I spotted the above AMD/Intel 2020 Acer Nitro 5 model discrepancy in a report by NotebookCheck, a portal which covers laptop releases extensively. The site asserted that it is increasingly common to see AMD options paired with "lesser" complementary hardware. If true, this isn't an optimal thing for consumers.
Pricing & Availability
- The Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-55) with Intel processors and 15.6-inch display is expected to be available from mid-June at recommended retail prices starting at EUR 899.
- The Acer Nitro 5 (AN517-52) with Intel processors and 17.3-inch display is expected to be available from mid-June at recommended retail prices starting at 999 EUR.
- The Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-44) with AMD processors and 15.6-inch display is expected to be available from mid-June at recommended retail prices starting at EUR 899.