Acer Nitro 7: Thin 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptops with 144 Hz Monitors
by Anton Shilov on April 12, 2019 9:00 AM EST
Acer has introduced its brand-new series of gaming laptops aimed at casual gamers. The Nitro 7 notebooks combine performance, a 15.6-inch display with 144 Hz maximum refresh rate, a metallic chassis, and a sub-2 cm z-height (0.78 inches). Just like other Nitro-series products, the new laptops will be relatively cost effective.
Having grown quite significantly in the recent years, the market of gaming laptops is actively segmentizing as consumers these days want not only enough compute horsepower for their games, but rather a particular combination of features tailored for their unique needs. The new Acer Nitro 7 is a good example how PC makers try to address demands of their customers. The Nitro 7 sits between mainstream and high-end gaming PCs, offering style and affordability of today’s mainstream laptops yet providing higher performance when equipped with premium components.
The new Acer Nitro 7 comes in a sleek black brushed aluminum chassis. Being 19.9 mm (0.78 inches) thick, the laptop should be easy to transport. Meanwhile, the laptop has red backlighting for its keyboard and trackpad that emphasizes its gaming pedigree.
The elegant chassis packs rather serious performance. The Nitro 7 is based on an Intel 9th Gen Core processor, a discrete NVIDIA GeForce GPU, and up to 32 GB of DDR4 memory. To ensure smooth operation of the CPU and the GPU, the Nitro 7 uses a cooling system with two fans and two exhaust ports along with the company’s CoolBoost technology that increases fan speed by 10% during extended gaming sessions. Besides, the system has two M.2 slots for PCIe 3.0 x4 SSDs running in RAID 0 for performance, and a 2.5-inch bay for a hard drive of up to 2 TB capacity.
To provide maximum gaming comfort, the Nitro 7 can be outfitted with a 15.6-inch IPS display featuring a 1920x1080 resolution, a 144 Hz refresh rate (with overdrive), and a 3 ms response time.
When it comes to connectivity, the Acer Nitro 7 has everything one comes to expect from a modern gaming laptop: a 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5 controller, a GbE port (controlled by the Killer Ethernet E2500 in some SKUs and equipped with Acer’s Network Optimizer software in other cases), one USB Type-C connector, three USB Type-A port, an HDMI output, as well as a 3.5-mm jack for headsets. In addition, the machine has stereo speakers and a microphone array featuring MaxxBass and MaxxDialog software enhancements as well as a webcam with IR sensors for Windows Hello.
| Acer Nitro 7 Laptops at a Glance | |||
| General Specifications | |||
| Display | Diagonal | 15.6" | |
| Resolution | Full-HD | ||
| Response Time | 3 ms | ||
| Refresh Rate | 144 Hz | ||
| Type | IPS | ||
| CPU | Intel's 9th or 8th Gen Core processors | ||
| Graphics | Integrated | Intel UHD Graphics | |
| Discrete | NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPUs (select SKUs only) | ||
| RAM | Capacity | up to 32 GB DDR4 | |
| Type | DDR4 (frequency unknown) | ||
| Storage | Up to 2 × 256/512/1024 GB M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSDs 1 × 2.5-inch HDD (1 or 2 TB) |
||
| Wi-Fi | Intel 802.11ac Wi-Fi module | ||
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5 | ||
| USB | 3 × USB Type-A 1 × USB Type-A |
||
| Other I/O | HDMI 2.0a, GbE, webcam, TRRS connector for audio, speakers, microphone, etc | ||
| Battery Life | Up to 7 hours | ||
| Dimensions | Width | 363.4 mm | |
| Depth | 259.52 mm | ||
| Thickness | 19.9 ~ 23.14 mm | ||
| Weight | 2.5 kilograms | ||
| Price | Starting from $999 in the U.S., €1199 in EMEA | ||
The Acer Nitro 7 notebooks will be available in the coming weeks or months. Additional details about specifications of the mobile PCs will be disclosed when they hit the market. North America will be the first to see the new laptops starting at $999.99. In May, the Nitro 7 mobile PCs will hit the Chinese market starting at 6,499 RMB. Sometimes in June, Acer will kick off sales of its Nitro 7 notebooks in Europe where they will cost starting at €1,199.
Related Reading
- Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop: 15.6-inch, Up to Core i7, GTX 1050 Ti, From $749
- Acer Announces Nitro 5 Spin 15.6" Gaming Convertible: 8th Gen Core i7, GeForce GTX 1050
- Acer Unveils Nitro 5: 15.6-inch Gaming Laptop with AMD Ryzen Mobile & Radeon RX560
- Acer Announces Aspire VX 15 And V Nitro Gaming Notebooks, And Predator 17 X Updates
Source: Acer
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NICOXIS - Friday, April 12, 2019 - link
I owned Acer laptops in the past and they were very unreliable, almost all died after a couple years or had serious issues. They seem to be producing very interesting designs but their reliability history keeps me from even considering them, is this still the case or have they improved?Retycint - Friday, April 12, 2019 - link
Your experience seems like more of an extreme fluke though. I have only owned one Acer laptop in the past, but I don't think a major PC manufacturer will have widespread issues consistently across multiple products, else we'll be hearing about it in the news, or at least on online forums. Perhaps you just got super unlucky or somethingValantar - Friday, April 12, 2019 - link
I used to sell PCs back in the day (around 2010, for several years) and among the brands we sold (HP, Asus, Acer, some Lenovo), Acer was _by far_ the most problematic and failure-prone. Then again, I've seen some _very_ buggy designs from Asus (>50% failure rates with the same fault every time on a couple of models), and HP's consumer line back in the day was notorious for terrible build quality.This is why I went with a ThinkPad back then, and would have to think long and hard about going for anything else even now (I have a Dell Latitude from work, and it's fine).
Consumer laptops used to be built for a ~2-year lifespan (ideally with enough niggles to trigger annual upgrades), but that's no longer a feasible business model, so most OEMs seem to have been stepping up the quality of their consumer lineups in recent years. I still wouldn't necessarily trust Acer, though.
Opencg - Friday, April 12, 2019 - link
alot of the mainstream gaming brands are incredibly problematic. some specific models were basically impossible to use if your power draw / heat went over a certain level restricting you to games that stressed cpu or gpu exclusively. the issues are rather crazy if you actually study them it make you think what the fuck. its not 100% but its high. wouldnt be surprised at >50% issues at all. and many are delt with as if they are normal. users cpu randomly throttles to 800mhz durring gaming. dell support is trained to say this is normal. not to mention the little shorts. providing a power supply that cant keep up wih components. restricing components to half their normal laptop tdp. drawing on the battery while plugged in. screens that have lines that the company explains as "wattermarks". all sold as normal working products. not to mention the short lifespan. the things barely work when you get them what do you expect 2-3 years later?jabber - Saturday, April 13, 2019 - link
I get a lot of high end laptops like these in from students. They are a nightmare to repair or fix. Low volume and mostly untested. Parts are nearly impossible to get hold of and support next to non existent. Avoid.Dragonstongue - Friday, April 12, 2019 - link
I noticed that as well actually, and love Acer overall.I had a few of their stuff that were still perfectly "fine" that just up and decided "ok, I die now" for no apparent reason.. had friends and family mention such over the years as well. not everyday often, but an odd occurrence pattern nonetheless
Rookierookie - Friday, April 12, 2019 - link
My last laptop was an Aspire VX. The plastic was really cheap and the screen hinge exploded shortly after a year.This does look like a more solid hinge design and overall build, and much more interesting than the previous generation Nitros.
Spunjji - Monday, April 15, 2019 - link
I've personally owned one Acer laptop and it died precisely 1 month after the 12-month warranty ended.The flip side is that of the 2 other Acer laptops I've come into contact with (owned by close friends), both hugely exceeded their design lives - one was retired without failing after 5 years and the other went on for 12 years before finally being retired, also without failing. That second one went through a RAM upgrade, an HDD upgrade and a fan replacement - not bad going for 12 years.
not_anton - Friday, April 12, 2019 - link
Discrete graphics - “select SKUs only”Does it mean we gonna see a 144Hz Intel graphics gaming monster?
BPB - Friday, April 12, 2019 - link
GTX only graphics?