The Acer Aspire V17 Nitro VN7-791G-730V (Black Edition) is a spectacular gaming laptop with enough features to make it stand out from the crowd, as well as powerful specs to guarantee a smooth gaming experience.
The Acer features an Intel Core i7-4720 processor, and although it’s not the most recent iteration of the legendary i7 series, it’s still very potent, clocking a great CPU benchmark. It remains one of the top 20 fastest mobile processors to date. With 6MB of cache, even the most recent and most demanding games will run on this monster machine without any issues. However, having such a powerful CPU means compromising battery life: at 47W Thermal Design Power, this thing will heat fast and will require fans working overtime during game play or other intensive activities. Fortunately, the Acer V17 Nitro comes with dual fans, one for the CPU and one for the GPU to dissipate heat more efficiently at the cost of noise increase some users report. Also, Acer introduced DustDefender, a technology that reverses the fan rotation every three hours to avoid dust build up and vastly increase the time intervals between cleaning the air vents. Another helpful feature to address the issues we’ve mentioned above is the CoolBoost technology: it greatly increases both fan units rotational speeds during heavy use in order to avoid latencies due to thermal fatigue.
The laptop also comes with a good amount of system memory installed: 16GB of RAM. It isn’t user upgradeable, but you likely won’t need more of it. 16GB is enough to render advanced graphics and edit special effects without waiting an eternity, so while gaming you won’t have any issues with it being insufficient. Storage-wise, the Acer comes with great specs as well: a 1TB Hard Disk Drive for storage and a hefty 256 GB SATA III Solid State Drive for your operating sysyem and programs or games that require fast access times. This laptop will boot in seconds and run everything almost instantaneously thanks to this incredible CPU – RAM – SSD trifecta.
The graphics card, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M, although having 4GB of DDR5 GRAM, doesn’t perform so well in benchmark tests. See the benchmark results here, compared with other video cards. It’s a bit disappointing they’ve decided to fit this graphics card, considering all the other specs. However, the GTX 860M will play most games at good framerates, even while setting the details to high, though we expect to lose its edge in the coming months/year.The 17.3 inches LED screen is good, but nothing out of the ordinary: good viewing angles thanks to IPS, good brightness and full HD resolution. Four speakers with Dolby Sound complete the audio/video experience. One thing that we and most users liked is the quality of the materials Acer used for the chassis of this laptop: soft touch Nano Imprint Lithography gives a nice, soft and comfy feel to the cover when touched.
Technical Specifications
[table width =”100%” style =”table-simple table-hover” responsive =”true” class=”customtable”]
[table_head]
[th_column]Product[/th_column]
[th_column]Acer Aspire V17 Nitro VN7-791G-730V[/th_column]
[/table_head]
[table_body]
[table_row]
[row_column]Details[/row_column]
[row_column]Click to find out more on Amazon[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]PROCESSOR[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]CPU Name[/row_column]
[row_column]Intel Core i7-4720HQ[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]CPU Type[/row_column]
[row_column]Quad Core[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]CPU Speed[/row_column]
[row_column]2.6 GHz up to 3.6 GHz (turbo)[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Chipset[/row_column]
[row_column]Haswell[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]CPU Cache[/row_column]
[row_column]6MB L3 Cache[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]SYSTEM MEMORY[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Installed Memory[/row_column]
[row_column]16 GB[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Maximum Memory[/row_column]
[row_column]16 GB[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Memory Type[/row_column]
[row_column]DDR3L SDRAM[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Total Memory Slots[/row_column]
[row_column]2 slots[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]STORAGE[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Storage Capacity[/row_column]
[row_column]1 TB + 256 GB[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Storage Type[/row_column]
[row_column]HDD + SSD[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Storage Technology[/row_column]
[row_column]Serial ATA HDD + Seriarl ATA/600 SSD[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]DISPLAY[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Screen Size[/row_column]
[row_column]17.3″[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Screen Type[/row_column]
[row_column]Active Matrix TFT LCD[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Screen Technology[/row_column]
[row_column]ComfyView IPS[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Screen Resolution[/row_column]
[row_column]1920 x 1080[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Aspect Ratio[/row_column]
[row_column]16:9[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Touchscreen[/row_column]
[row_column]No[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]GRAPHICS[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Graphics Processing Unit[/row_column]
[row_column]NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Graphic Card Type[/row_column]
[row_column]Dedicated[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Graphics Memory[/row_column]
[row_column]4 GB GDDR5[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]AUDIO & VIDEO[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Audio Technology[/row_column]
[row_column]Dolby Digital Plus Home Theater[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Speakers[/row_column]
[row_column]4 speakers[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Webcam[/row_column]
[row_column]Yes[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]NETWORK AND COMMUNICATION[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Wireless LAN[/row_column]
[row_column]IEEE 802.11ac[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Ethernet[/row_column]
[row_column]Gigabit[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Bluetooth[/row_column]
[row_column]Bluetooth 4.0[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]INTERFACE[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]USB Ports[/row_column]
[row_column]2 x USB 3.0
2 x USB 2.0[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Sleep-and-Charge USB[/row_column]
[row_column]Unknown[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]HDMI[/row_column]
[row_column]Yes[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]VGA[/row_column]
[row_column]No[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Headphone/Mic[/row_column]
[row_column]Audio Combo[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Multi Card Slot[/row_column]
[row_column]SD Card Reader[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]LAN (RJ45)[/row_column]
[row_column]Yes[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]INPUT DEVICES[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Touch Pad / Track Pad[/row_column]
[row_column]TouchPad[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Number of Keys[/row_column]
[row_column]104 (Full Keyboard)[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Backlit Keyboard[/row_column]
[row_column]Yes[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]BATTERY[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Battery Type[/row_column]
[row_column]3 Cell Lithium Ion[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Battery Capacity[/row_column]
[row_column]4450 mAh[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Maximum Battery Life[/row_column]
[row_column]Up to 4 hours[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Other Features[/row_column]
[row_column]8x DVD Drive[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Operating System[/row_column]
[row_column]Windows 8.1[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Dimensions (W x D x H)[/row_column]
[row_column]16.7″ x 11.6″ x 1″[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Weight[/row_column]
[row_column]6.61 pounds[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Warranty[/row_column]
[row_column]1-Year Parts and Labor[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[/table_body]
[/table]
Scores
[row]
[column lg=”4″ md=”12″ sm=”12″ xs=”12″ ]
[progressbar value=”90″ bartype=”progress-bar-success” label=”Performance: 90″]
[/column]
[column lg=”4″ md=”12″ sm=”12″ xs=”12″ ]
[progressbar value=”65″ bartype=”progress-bar-warning” label=”Functionality: 65″]
[/column]
[column lg=”4″ md=”12″ sm=”12″ xs=”12″ ]
[progressbar value=”85″ bartype=”progress-bar-info” label=”Price: 85″]
[/column]
[/row]
Pros:
- Good CPU, RAM and HDD + SSD combo
- Dual fans, anti dust buildup technology
- Good build quality
- Backlit keyboard
Cons:
- GPU could have been better
- Heavy (6.6 pounds)
- Poor battery life
While there aren’t many cons, and two of those are understandable since we’re talking about a gaming laptop, the Acer Aspire V17 Nitro VN7-791G-730V remains a very good device with high quality hardware. It’s not that portable, the screen is big and it’s heavy, but if you want a reliable gaming machine, the Acer is a viable option to consider.