Acer Nitro V 15 review: Compromises in all the wrong places

Gaming on a budget can seem like a game of compromises, but you must be careful not to waste your money on a gaming laptop that compromises too much.

I know how difficult it can be to find a good gaming laptop under $1,500. You usually have to account for some trade-offs, but plenty of laptops successfully balance price and performance. At first glance, I was skeptical that the Acer Nitro V 15 could be one of them. The base configuration includes lower specs than expected on a modern gaming laptop, even a budget one.

I wanted to be wrong about the Nitro V 15, though. We put it through the paces in our rigorous lab tests, and I used it for several days for work, web browsing, and gaming. The results revealed where Acer compromised on the Nitro V 15, and you should know about those drawbacks before buying this gaming laptop.

Acer Nitro V 15: Specs and benchmarks

Acer Nitro V 15: Price and configurations

The 2024 Acer Nitro V 15 is available in several configurations starting at $1,049. Our review unit is the base configuration, which includes an Intel Core i7-13620H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 6GB GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage.

You can also configure the Nitro V 15 with an RTX 4060 starting at $1,099, which we highly recommend since the RTX 4060 offers much better performance and value for your money. Upgrades are also available for processor, RAM, and storage.

The maxed-out configuration costs $1,349 and includes an Intel Core i9-13900H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. Unfortunately, this is the only configuration with 1TB of storage, which is very disappointing to see, considering Laptop Mag recommends gamers avoid buying laptops with 512GB of storage, let alone 256GB. These days, 512GB of storage is simply not enough to accommodate more than 2 or 3 AAA games.

Acer Nitro V 15: Design

Gaming laptops tend to have a similar cyberpunk aesthetic, and the Acer Nitro V 15 is no exception. It features the blocky plastic chassis and sharp angles characteristic of a gaming laptop, but Acer added a bit of color to give it extra flare. The black lid has subtle blue and silver parallel lines and a metallic Nitro logo. It’s a nice touch without being over the top.

Inside, the Nitro V 15 features a full keyboard with a number pad, which many gamers will appreciate. The keyboard is fully backlit, although only in white (not customizable RGB).

Like most budget gaming laptops, the Nitro V 15 is a bit bulky. It measures 14.3 x 9.4 x 1.06 inches and weighs 4.66 pounds. That’s heavy compared to most mainstream laptops but not overly large for a gaming laptop, especially when compared to a few competitors:

• Dell G16 (7630): 14.05 x 11.37 x 1.01 inches, 6 pounds
• Asus TUF Gaming A14 (2024): 12.24 x 8.94 x 0.78 inches, 3.2 pounds
• Asus ProArt PX13: 11.74 x 8.26 x 0.62 inches, 3.04 pounds

Acer Nitro V 15: Ports

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The Acer Nitro V 15 offers all the ports most gamers will need, including:

• 3x USB Type-A port
• 1x HDMI 2.1 port
• 1x Ethernet port
• 1x USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4 port
• 1x 3.5mm headphone jack
• 1x AC charging port

That was plenty of ports for me, but if you find yourself needing more, you can always hook up the Nitro V 15 to one of the best laptop docking stations or a USB Type-C hub.

Acer Nitro V 15: Battery life

Battery life is crucial for any laptop, but unfortunately it’s a common weakness in gaming laptops. As a general rule, high performance leads to low battery life, which is why many gaming laptops struggle to hit even 6 hours on our battery life test. Expect even shorter battery life while running games – the typical gaming laptop lasts only 1 to 2 hours during gameplay.

The Acer Nitro V 15 is no exception to the rule. It lasted 5 hours and 41 minutes in our web browsing battery test and 1 hour and 39 minutes in our gaming battery test. That’s not bad compared to the average gaming laptop, especially the gaming battery life.

It’s worth noting that the Asus ProArt PX13 isn’t a direct comparison to the Acer Nitro V 15 in this category. The ProArt PX13 features RTX 4050 GPU like the Nitro V 15, but it isn’t a gaming laptop, so it lasted noticeably longer on our web browsing battery test.

Acer Nitro V 15: Display

Display quality is the biggest letdown with the Acer Nitro V 15. The 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080 IPS display features a speedy 144Hz refresh rate, so at first glance, I expected good performance from it. That’s not exactly how things played out.

The refresh rate looked good while playing Once Human. Quick panning with my mouse was smooth and stutter-free, I didn't have any trouble lining up precise shots, and special lighting effects didn't seem to have any rendering issues.

However, the display is noticeably duller than most others I’ve used, including my desktop monitor. Colors are distinguishable, but appear muted in many cases. For example, Once Human's saturated color palette was more washed out than it looks on other displays. While this doesn't make the game unplayable, it does diminish the gameplay experience.

Unfortunately, the display is one area where Acer made compromises. The Nitro V 15 reproduced only 44.9% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and averaged a measly 286 nits of brightness, which explains the lackluster colors I noticed. Those are some of the lowest display scores I’ve ever seen and far below the Nitro V 15’s competitors.

It will be harder to see content on the Nitro V 15’s display in bright lighting and games won’t appear as vibrant as they would on many other displays, including the Nitro V 15’s rivals:

Acer Nitro V 15: Keyboard and touchpad

The keyboard on the Acer Nitro V 15 is snappy, responsive, and very satisfying to type on. It features full-size main keys and a condensed number pad. The font is simple and minimalistic, which many people might prefer over the more flashy “gamer” fonts often seen on gaming laptops.

On the Monkeytype typing test, I scored 101 words per minute with 96% accuracy on the Nitro V 15. That’s not record-breaking for me, but still a good score overall. There’s some tactile feedback, but the keys are still light enough for rapid keystrokes, for typing and gaming alike.

I enjoyed using the touchpad, as well. It’s spacious, at 3.2 x 5.1 inches, but leaves plenty of room for resting your palms without accidentally moving your cursor. Movement is quick and responsive, although most gamers will prefer one of the best gaming mice for actual gameplay.

Acer Nitro V 15: Audio

The Acer Nitro V 15 has side-firing speakers in the front corners of the keyboard deck. They sounded good overall in my hands-on use. The cinematic soundtrack in the trailer for the live-action How to Train Your Dragon was punchy and crisp. Dialogue was plenty clear even without subtitles on. Once Human was well-balanced with rich background ambiance.

Music sounded nice, as well. Alt-J’s “Hunger of the Pine” was slick and clear with a good balance of bass, mids, and highs. The audio quality isn't as nuanced as you would get with a good pair of headphones, but it's still good enough for casual listening. The speakers are loud enough that I never had to crank up the volume past 40.

Acer Nitro V 15: Gaming and graphics

The Nitro V 15 pairs its Intel Core i7-13620H processor with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 6GB GPU. However, we highly recommend upgrading in exchange for an RTX 4060.

I put those specs to the test while playing Once Human and compared my hands-on gaming experience with our lab test results. The Nitro V 15 ran Once Human fine, but fell short of expectations. I got an average of 54 frames per second in Once Human at 1080p on the High graphics preset. That’s playable, but much lower than I was hoping to see.

While gaming laptops have their weaknesses, it’s reasonable to expect them to outpace mainstream laptops when it comes to gaming at the very least. So, I was surprised by how the Acer Nitro V 15 compared to not only rival gaming laptops but also the Asus ProArt PX13.

The average FPS I got in Once Human wasn’t a fluke. The Nitro V 15 scored similarly in Borderlands 3, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Total War: Warhammer III. The Asus ProArt PX13, which also has an RTX 4050 GPU, scored the same or slightly better in all three games, despite not being a gaming laptop.

The Dell G16 and Asus TUF Gaming A14 significantly outscored the Nitro V 15 across the board, all of them scoring well above 60 fps in all three games. Both laptops support an RTX 4060 GPU, so these results highlight the major performance gap between the two graphics cards. If you decide to buy the Acer Nitro V 15, the RTX 4060 model will offer much stronger performance than the base configuration.

Acer Nitro V 15: Performance and heat

In order to run the latest AAA titles, you need strong overall impressive performance for everyday tasks like web browsing or photo editing. These gaming laptops tend to run hot, though, and the Acer Nitro V 15 is no exception with its Intel Core i7-13620H processor and 16GB of RAM.

It earned a solid overall performance score of 13,373 on Geekbench 6, which is more than enough for all the apps I use in my day-to-day like Photoshop or Brave. Web pages and videos loaded fast and app and game downloads never took excessively long to complete.

While the Nitro V 15 never seemed overly taxed during my hands-on use, it did get a bit warm with more resource-intensive tasks, such as gaming. The highest temperature we recorded in the lab was 127 degrees, which is far above our 95-degree comfort threshold. When I was playing Once Human on the Nitro V 15, I noticed the warmest areas were the right and rear edges of the keyboard deck.

Acer Nitro V 15: Webcam

Laptop webcams usually fall short of professional video quality, but the Acer Nitro V 15’s 720p webcam is especially underwhelming. The video quality in my test video was visibly blurry, even in a well-lit space. Colors looked accurate but dull, with fuzzy shadows. That's not surprising considering the webcam's low resolution.

The microphone quality is decent, but you may want to pick up one of the best external webcams if you need to use your webcam often.

Acer Nitro V 15: Software and warranty

The Acer Nitro V 15 includes Windows 11 Home, complete with all the standard Microsoft apps like the Microsoft Store, Microsoft Edge, and the Xbox app. It also comes with Acer NitroSense, which acts as a hub for monitoring performance, adjusting settings, and customizing performance profiles for different scenarios like “daily use” or “gaming.” You can also use it to optimize battery performance and check for system updates.

The Nitro V 15 comes with Acer’s standard one-year limited warranty. You can extend it with Acer Care if you want additional coverage.

Bottom line

The Acer Nitro V 15 attempts to balance budget and performance but falls flat by compromising on display quality, gaming performance, and storage options, making it difficult to recommend this particular model.

While the Nitro V 15 offers solid battery life for a gaming laptop and decent overall performance, it’s not enough to outweigh the measly 512GB of storage in all but one configuration or the subpar graphics performance compared to similarly priced gaming laptops. Even if you are a gamer on a tight budget, you should not compromise in these critical areas, especially when there are affordable alternatives, like the Dell G16, that offer much better value for your money.

You can also visit our guides to the best gaming laptops and the best cheap gaming laptops to compare the Acer Nitro V 15 to even more alternatives, all of which will be a better buy for most gamers.