The all-new Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51-73BU model promises avid gamers a rather complete gaming experience tailored to those who are willing to sacrifice a bit of portability in favor of better performance on the go.
Review
This is a laptop which sports a not-so polarizing design, like so many other models, apart for the red back-lit keyboard. The all-metal chassis aids in making the Nitro 7 AN715-51-73BU lighter, although not as light as some ultrabooks we’ve come to get used to in the past years. However, let’s not forget that this is a gaming rig.
Aspect-wise, the Acer comes with a semi-matte gray finish, which doesn’t necessarily stand out in various places, making it a good choice if you prefer blending in.
Performance
One of the top reasons you should consider buying this Nitro 7 model is the 9th generation Intel Core i7-9750H it comes equipped with. This 6-Core processing unit is a beast, capable of handling basically everything you’ll throw at it. With a base frequency of 2.6 GHz that goes up to 4.5 GHz in turbo mode, and 12 megabytes of cache size, modern games will be playable without hiccups or stuttering. Even more so, the laptop will perform daily tasks effortlessly. One drawback is that its thermal design power of 45 Watts suggests a slightly shorter battery life, but this is a necessary compromise in order to give you maximum power.
The Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51-73BU comes with 8 gigabytes of DDR4 memory. Although this amount is sufficient for most tasks and even games, I would have liked to see 16 gigs installed. It’s possible that you’ll notice a bottleneck happening here, so if you decide going for this powerhouse I’d recommend installing another 8 gigabytes of RAM just to be on the safe side of things.
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Storage space is acceptable, although somewhat unsatisfactory if you’re into keeping large media libraries. On the plus side, the Acer Nitro 7 has a 256 GB PCIE NVMe SSD, which is amazingly fast, enabling you to use the whole system at its fullest. Furthermore, you get an extra free available slot, which means you can extend that initial storage with any amount you may want. For starters, the 256-gigabyte should prove enough for your wants and needs.
Graphics and display
When it comes to graphics, the Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51-73BU sure doesn’t disappoint, but it doesn’t shine either. It seems to strike a good balance between price and performance, especially because of the graphics department. More specifically, it comes with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card with 4 gigabytes of GDDR5 dedicated video ram. This CPU-RAM-GPU combo will run most modern games close to 60 frames per second, but will struggle with more demanding ones. As is tradition with gaming laptops, you’ll have to accept some degree of compromise. For instance, a game like GTA 5 will run close to 60fps, regardless of rendered quality. However, with Forza Horizon 4 you will notice a significant drop when playing on high quality settings (55fps for medium vs 40 fps for very high).
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Games and other applications will be shown quite vividly on its 15.6-inch screen. The LED-backlit display features IPS technology and Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels). This, coupled with more than decent viewing angles makes the Acer Nitro 7 a good companion to have on the road.
Interface options
Interface options are standard, in line with most other gaming laptops. You can easily connect an external monitor, a mouse, a pair of headphones, charge a phone and still have 2 remaining free USB ports remaining. Here are the available I/O options:
- 1 x USB 3.1 Type C Gen 1
- 1 x USB 2.0
- 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 1
- 1 x HDMI 2.0 with HDCP support
- 1 x Audio jack
Networking
The Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51-73BU won’t let you down when connecting to the Internet or your other devices. Late-gen technology has been built-in, and it shows. Improved transfer rates and signal strength will surely be an added bonus to your online gaming experience. Here they are:
- Dual-Band Intel Wireless-AC 9560 802.11ac Gigabit Wi-Fi
- RJ-45 port
- Bluetooth 5.0
Portability and battery life
Weighing 5.51 pounds, the Acer Nitro 7 shouldn’t be too difficult to carry around. It’s a bit heavier than an average consumer mid-range laptop (not ultrabook), so portability shouldn’t be such an issue. However, be warned! It’s not lightweight either. If you also throw into your bag the charger, it might become quite cumbersome to use as an everyday commuter.
A real surprise is its thickness. At just 0.8 inches, it rivals some ultrabooks, making it really nice to work on, especially when using a shoulder bag to carry it around.
One full battery charge will last around 7 hours when streaming music and video, editing documents, browsing the internet and such. Still, this metric will shapely decline if you’ll decide to play games or edit photos/videos while on battery.
Conclusion
All in all, the Acer Nitro 7 AN715-51-73BU is a great gaming laptop to have, especially if your budget revolves around $1000. The compromises I mentioned earlier in my review are understandable, especially from a price-oriented point of view. At this price, you’d be hard pressed to find a gaming laptop with similar specs, so if you don’t mind the average battery life and the red keyboard LED glow, this is a pretty great notebook.
