What you need to know
- Acer announced the new Nitro 5 gaming laptop at CES 2021.
- The laptop runs on a Ryzen 9 5900 HX CPU or an 11th Gen Intel Core H-35 series processor.
- The Ryzen version will be available with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU
- The Nitro 5 will be available starting in February with a starting price of $750.
Acer's Nitro 5 gaming laptop was just announced at CES 2021. The powerful gaming laptop runs on either an AMD Ryzen 9 5900 HX mobile processor or an 11th Gen Intel Core H35 series processor. The Ryzen version comes with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, while the Intel variant comes with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU. The Nitro 5 is available in either 15.6-inch or 17-inch variants. The laptop brings together some of the best gaming specs on the market to create a formidable mobile powerhouse.
The AMD version of the Nitro 5 will be available in North America starting in February with a starting price of $750 for the 15.6-inch version and $850 for the 17-inch version. The Intel version doesn't have an availability date for North America. Instead, it will launch in the EMEA region in March, starting at €999.
The internals inside the Nitro 5 are a significant jump for the gaming laptop line. With its Ryzen 5900 HX processor and up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 laptop GPU, it should be one of the most powerful gaming laptops on the market. Alongside those impressive processors, the Nitro 5 has two slots for M.2 PCIe or SATA SSDs and up to 32GB of DDR4 3200 RAM.
| Category | Acer Nitro 5 (Intel) | Acer Nitro 5 (AMD) |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Up to 11th Gen Intel Core H35-series | Up to AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX |
| RAM | Up to 32GB DDR4 | Up to 32GB DDR4-3200MHz |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GTX | Up to NVIDIA RTX 3080 (Laptop) |
| Storage | Dual M.2 PCIe/SATA SSDs | Dual M.2 PCIe/SATA SSDs |
| Display | 15.6 inches 17.3 inches 144Hz, 3ms 300 nits | 15.6 inches 17.3 inches 2560x1440 (QHD) 165Hz refresh rate 1920x1080 (FHD) 360Hz, 3ms 300 nits, 100% sRGB |
| Ports | Thunderbolt 4 | TBD |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6 | Wi-Fi 6 Killer E2600 |
| Keyboard | Four-zone RGB | TBD |
The Nitro 5 has display options for either 15.6 inches or 17.3 inches. The exact refresh rates depend on whether you choose an Intel or AMD version of the laptop.
With all that power inside, Acer prioritized cooling for the Nitro 5. It has twin fans, Acer CoolBoost technology, and four exhaust ports to keep temperatures down. Acer CoolBoost can increase fan speeded when needed to optimize performance. People can also keep an eye on their system with NitroSense.
The previous Nitro 5 is on our list of the best gaming laptops, and this new model has quite the jump in specs.
This powerful gaming laptop has an option with a Ryzen 9 5900 HX CPU and up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU.
