Acer Nitro 5 AN515-57-79TD Review | Killing It On All Fronts!

If you're the type of person who prefers to experience the best of both worlds when it comes to high-end laptops, maybe Acer's Nitro 5 lineup could be the best solution for you since it combines a solid design with powerful hardware for both gaming and productivity.

A perfect example of that is the highly regarded 15-inch Acer laptop under the name of Acer Nitro 5 AN515-57-79TD. And in this review of the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-57-79TD, we will cover everything from its 144 Hz screen, impressive multitasking performance, upgrade options, respectable connectivity ports, and many more exciting features of this extremely competitively priced laptop.

Overall, it's an unbeatable laptop for users looking to play games smoothly at 1080p and work with CPU and GPU-intensive programs. The ideal buyer for this laptop would be a gamer, programmer, graphic designer, video editor, or photographer looking to level up their games - pun intended -.

Without significant changes compared to its predecessor, the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-57-79TD sports a low-profile design whose black all-plastic-build chassis with a slight red accent on the back edge makes it look minimalist and sober at the same time.

This isn't a lightweight gaming laptop that's meant for portability. Specifically, this model has a thickness of 0.94 inches while it weighs 5.07 pounds. As you can see, it's not very light, unlike the recently reviewed MSI Stealth 15M A11UEK-009, which does feature a lightweight design and excellent battery life to further accentuate its portability.

Coming back to the AN515-57-79TD, it features a thin-bezel IPS Full HD 15.6-inch display that allows you to work on productivity tasks with excellent viewing angles (178º) and enjoy streaming content in your free time with super bright, colorful, and sharp images, as stated by several of its buyers.

When it comes to gaming, its high refresh rate of 144 Hz and anti-glare coating will be your main allies, especially when playing your favorite fast-paced Triple-A titles, as well as its red backlit keyboard with full-sized arrow keys and WASD keys highlighted, so you can dominate the battleground when playing even in dimly lit environments.

And, unlike many other gaming laptops, the number pad has an easy-to-access key that allows you to turn on the fans quickly when needed through the NitroSense app.

In addition, it has a multi-gesture touchpad that works well during everyday use thanks to its responsive design and large gliding surface in which you can easily slide your fingers.

Tackling the performance, the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-57-79TD is equipped with an 11th-Gen Intel Core i7-11800H processor powered by eight cores, 16 threads, a SmartCache memory of an impressive 24 MB, and a TDP of 45W. Its clock speed goes from 2.30 GHz to a maximum of 4.60 GHz when working on CPU-intensive tasks.

Although it packs just 8 GB of DDR4 RAM, it's important to mention that you'll be able to upgrade it up to a maximum of 64 GB to get the benefits of better multitasking performance when working on tasks such as photo and video editing, virtualization, 3D rendering, web development, and the basic day-to-day tasks as well.

To do so, you're going to need a get yourself a couple of DDR4 PC4-25600 3200MHz Non-ECC SODIMM modules of RAM. 

We would recommend power users upgrade to at least 16 GB by including another 8 GB module of compatible RAM on the available slot. Still, if you are also planning to use this laptop with a heavy focus on photo and video editing, we would recommend splurging on two 16 GB units for a total of 32 GB to get the most out of the laptop.

As far as the graphics department is concerned, it packs the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 4 GB graphics card that is capable enough to run most AAA games in Full HD resolution smoothly with Ultra presets, including the highly anticipated F1 22 at 113 fps, Ghostwire: Tokyo at 88 fps, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands at 51 fps, and GRID Legends at 62 fps.

However, if you need a gaming laptop with better performance at gaming, you can take a look at the MSI Pulse GL66 11UGK-001, packed with an even more powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB graphics card so you can play many modern titles with Ray Tracing technology, and even in 4K through the use of an external monitor.

 

Last but not least, there's a 512 GB NVMe M.2 SSD drive with faster reading/writing speed (up to 3200 MB/s) that will allow you to dramatically reduce those annoying loading times, especially when booting Windows, opening heavy apps, and rendering your 3D projects. 

At the same time, it offers an extra PCIs M.2 slot and a 2.5'' storage bay in case you want to add more storage through either an additional NVMe unit or a traditional SATA SSD. 

Moving onto the connectivity aspect of this review, we've got a full-sized USB-A 3.2 port, a single USB-C 3.2 port, and an HDMI output on the right side. On the left side, we can find two USB-A 3.2 ports, an Ethernet port, and a 3.5 mm audio jack for headphones. There's also an HD webcam on the top bezel.

Moreover, it comes with Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6 wireless protocol, allowing you to get faster download speeds and steadier multimedia streaming. Let's not forget that Wi-Fi 6 is considerably faster than its predecessor, reaching download speeds that can double the Wi-Fi 5 protocol.

And if you're still confused about the new names of Wi-Fi standards, you should know that the Wi-Fi Alliance updated its names to make them easier to remember. In that sense, the previously known 802.11ax technology is now marketed as simply Wi-Fi 6, while its predecessor (802.11ac) is now called Wi-Fi 5.

Although Acer claims that the battery life of the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-57-79TD can reach the 8-hour mark, the truth is that you can expect up to 5 hours of mixed and non-gaming usage with the screen's brightness set at 70% and Wi-Fi turned on. That's not terrible for a gaming laptop since these laptops tend to have a far lower battery life than average. 

The Acer Nitro 5 AN515-57-79TD is a very competitive gaming solution for its price point, whose outstanding performance will allow you to finish your tasks and projects at lightning speed, while its upgradable capabilities will extend its lifespan substantially.

As expected for this kind of laptop, its chassis is sturdy and well-built. The display is big and immersive enough to enjoy your favorite Triple-A titles, especially during those long gaming sessions, thanks to its flicker-free technology as well as the excellent feedback provided by its backlit keyboard.

Couple that with a powerful processor, a screen with a high refresh rate, and multiple connectivity options, and you've got yourself a killer gaming laptop that could very well be a desktop replacement both due to its stellar performance as well as its weight. An excellent option that should not be dismissed.

Buy Now!