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Aspire 3 15
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Nitro 5 17
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What we think

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The PerfectRec laptop team Learn more
Updated January 10, 2024·

The Acer Aspire 3 15 is more budget-friendly and offers longer battery life, making it suitable for general use such as web browsing, office work, and media consumption. It's also more portable due to its smaller size and weight. On the other hand, the Acer Nitro 5 17 has a more powerful processor, higher-end graphics card, and more RAM and storage, making it better suited for gaming, 3D modeling, and engineering tasks. However, it is heavier, likely has a lower battery life due to its higher performance hardware, and costs more. If portability and price are your main concerns, the Aspire 3 15 is the logical choice, while the Nitro 5 17 is better for performance-intensive tasks. Give Feedback

this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Acer Aspire 3 15
  • Good portability
Advantages of the Acer Nitro 5 17
  • Good for general use
  • Very good for engineering and design
  • Good for gaming and AI
  • Very good overall display quality
  • Good overall build quality
  • Good speakers
  • Good keyboard

Key differences

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General Use

6.6
Aspire 3 15
Nitro 5 17
7.8
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
244.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
307.0 nits
9.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
6.0 Hours
6.2/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
7.6/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
6.0/10
The Acer Nitro 5 17 is good for general use, while the Acer Aspire 3 15 is only fair.

Gaming and AI

5.8
Aspire 3 15
Nitro 5 17
7.7
3.5/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.9/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
360Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
10.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
7.5/10
The Acer Nitro 5 17 is good for gaming and AI, while the Acer Aspire 3 15 is poor.

Engineering and Design

5.9
Aspire 3 15
Nitro 5 17
8.0
4.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
3.5/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.9/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Acer Nitro 5 17 is very good for engineering and design, while the Acer Aspire 3 15 is poor.

Content Creation

7.0
Aspire 3 15
Nitro 5 17
7.8
4.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Acer Nitro 5 17 and Acer Aspire 3 15 are both good for content creation, though the Acer Nitro 5 17 is somewhat better.

Screen Quality

6.2
Aspire 3 15
Nitro 5 17
8.2
15.6in
SIZE
17.3in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
360Hz
244.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
307.0 nits
The Acer Nitro 5 17 has a better screen than the Acer Aspire 3 15 for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.

Battery

9.5 Hours
Aspire 3 15
Nitro 5 17
6.0 Hours
The Acer Aspire 3 15 has 9.5 hours of battery life. The Acer Nitro 5 17 has 6 hours of battery life.

Portability

Good
Aspire 3 15
Nitro 5 17
Fair
15.6in
SIZE
17.3in
3.9 lbs
WEIGHT
5.9 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
0.9in
The Acer Aspire 3 15 has good portability, while the Acer Nitro 5 17 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.

Build Quality

6.2
Aspire 3 15
Nitro 5 17
7.2
The Acer Nitro 5 17 has good build quality, while the Acer Aspire 3 15 has only fair build quality.

Cost

$330
Aspire 3 15
Nitro 5 17
$830
Product image
Product image

$0

$200

$400

$600

$800

$1,000

$1,200

$1,400

The Acer Aspire 3 15 has a price of $330 and the Acer Nitro 5 17 costs $830.
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Key similarities

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Software Development

7.0
Aspire 3 15
Nitro 5 17
7.4
4.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
6.2/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
The Acer Nitro 5 17 and Acer Aspire 3 15 are both good for software development.

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How the Acer Aspire 3 15 and the Acer Nitro 5 17 compare to other laptops

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Spec Comparison

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Acer Aspire 3 15Acer Nitro 5 17
Acer Aspire 3 15Acer Nitro 5 17

GENERAL

Price
$330
$830
Release Date
January 1, 2023February 1, 2023
Overall Dimensions
14.3'' x 9.4'' x 0.74''15.9'' x 11'' x 0.98''
Weight
3.97 lbs5.95 lbs
Width
14.29"15.89"
Depth
9.35"11.02"

INTERNAL

Processor
AMD Ryzen 3 7320UAMD Ryzen 7 5800H
RAM
8 GB16 GB
DDR Memory Version
54
RAM Slots
02
Storage
128 GB1024 GB

BATTERY

Battery Life
9.5 Hours6 Hours
Battery Capacity
40 Wh57.5 Wh

SCREEN

Diagonal Size
15.6"17.3"
Display Technology
IPSIPS
Resolution
1920 x 10801920 x 1080
Refresh Rate
60Hz360Hz
Display Brightness
244 nits307 nits

RELIABILITY, APPEARANCE & ACOUSTICS

Build Quality Score
6.3/107.2/10
Portability Score
7.7/106.1/10
Gaming Laptop Appearance
NoYes
Premium Business Laptop
NoNo
Fan Noise Score
10/107.5/10

HARDWARE FEATURES

Keyboard Quality Score
6.3/107/10
Speaker Quality Score
6/107.5/10
Webcam
720p720p
Fingerprint Reader
NoNo
Backlit Keyboard
NoYes
Number Pad
YesYes

CONNECTIVITY

USB Type-A
23
USB-C ports
11
USB-C Charging
YesNo
Display Outputs
21
Thunderbolt Ports
00

Shopping

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Acer Aspire 3 15

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Rtings

Alexander Tozzi, Ryan Lim, and Yannick Khong | March 2023
"The Acer Aspire 3 is okay for school use. It feels reasonably well-built, and it's easy to carry around. The display looks decently sharp and provides plenty of space for multitasking, but it doesn't get bright enough to combat glare. Its Intel Core i3-N305 CPU and integrated graphics can only handle simple tasks, like text processing, web browsing, and video playback, so it isn't ideal for students in more technical fields like 3D graphics. Unfortunately, the battery lasts only around six to seven hours of light use."

Acer Nitro 5 17

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NotebookCheck

Sascha Mölck | August 2021
"The Acer Nitro 5 17 is a solid mid-range gamer. The Nitro 5 does not belong to the top group of RTX 3070 notebooks: Compared with the RTX 3070 notebooks tested so far, the computer delivers below-average frame rates - this is due to the 100-watt TGP. The GPU performance can be increased a bit with a firmware update. The device scores with a high level of CPU performance. Throttling is not a concern. CPU and GPU can produce their performance constantly. The laptop heats up moderately under load. The noise development is on the usual class level."

Get a great deal on the Acer Aspire 3 15 or the Acer Nitro 5 17

About Acer

Acer is a prominent Taiwanese electronics brand which makes a wide range of laptops, with multiple product lines catering to personal use, gaming, and business use. They are renowned for having exceptional value for money, as they frequently offer good specifications at a lower price than other manufacturers.

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This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.

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About the laptop team

Joe Golden, Ph.D

CEO and Laptops Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Jason Lew

Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Jason is a staff expert and software engineer that has been making laptop recommendations for 7 years and moderates one of the largest laptop subreddits.

Chandradeep Chowdhury

Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.

Craig Russell

Laptops Expert
Craig is a UK-based laptops expert. Craig works in IT, where he recommends and supports laptops and PCs for clients and has been recommending laptops on Reddit for five years.

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