Acer Ignites Nitro 5 Notebook For Cost-Conscious Gamers

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Acer’s introduction of the Nitro 5 is its attempt to target budget gamers with a low-end gaming laptop.

Gamers with tight budgets will soon have a new option from Acer. The company announced its new 15.6-inch Acer Nitro 5, which it said is targeted at "casual gamers." With configurations starting at $800, the price is certainly right.

The Nitro 5 will feature a wide variety of configurations for fans of both Intel and AMD. There will be options with Intel Core i5 or Core i7 (Kaby Lake) CPUs paired with up to Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics, as well as 7th-gen AMD A-series FX, A12 or A10 APUs paired with AMD Radeon RX550 GPUs.

This laptop will offer up to 32GB of DDR4 2400MHz memory. Some models will include PCIe SSDs (up to 512GB) with up to 2TB of optional HDD storage. Ports include gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.1 Type-C, USB 3.0, a pair of USB 2.0 ports, and an HDMI output. For wireless connectivity, the laptop supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi with a 2x2 MIMO antenna.

Every configuration will include a 15.6-inch FHD IPS display and the same matte black chassis with red accents we've seen on other Acer gaming rigs, as well as dual fans with Acer’s Coolboost technology, which allows users to manually control the fans.

You can get your hands on the Acer Nitro 5 in North America starting July 1. It’s also coming to China some time in July (starting at ¥5,499) and to the EMEA in August (starting at €1,139).

Acer did not release detailed pricing, so we’re left to ponder what that $800 will get you, exactly, and what the highest-end configurations will cost.

Andrew E. Freedman and Seth Colaner contributed to this report.