When comparing the Acer Nitro 16 to the Acer Nitro 5 15, you are looking at a choice between higher performance and portability. The Nitro 16 has a larger screen, more powerful graphics, and longer battery life, making it better suited for intensive gaming and demanding applications like 3D rendering or engineering tasks. However, it is more expensive and slightly heavier, which might affect its portability. The Nitro 5 15 is more affordable and lighter, suitable for general use and casual gaming, but with a smaller screen and less powerful components, it won't perform as well in demanding 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 Nitro 16
Very good for engineering and design
Very good for gaming and AI
Very good overall display quality
Good battery life
Advantages of the Acer Nitro 5 15
The Acer Nitro 5 15 has no clear advantages over the Acer Nitro 16.
Key differences
Screen Quality
8.3/10
6.9/10
16.0in
SIZE
15.6in
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
165Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
494.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
262.0 nits
The Acer Nitro 16 has a better screen than the Acer Nitro 5 15 for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, software development, and content creation.
The Acer Nitro 16 likely offers higher resolution and brightness, making it crisp and vivid for everyday tasks and detailed work in engineering, but its lower refresh rate hinders gaming where smooth motion is key. Meanwhile, the Acer Nitro 5 15 may have a decent quality display for general computing with acceptable brightness and resolution, but less accurate color representation for professional design work, and the refresh rate might not be sufficient for fluid 3D gaming experiences. Both may lack the higher color gamut coverage needed for precise color work in engineering and design, but are still serviceable for general and less color-critical tasks.
Battery
9.0 Hours
5.5 Hours
The Acer Nitro 16 has 9 hours of battery life. The Acer Nitro 5 15 has 5.5 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Cost
$1,275
$780
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
The Acer Nitro 16 has a price of $1,275 and the Acer Nitro 5 15 costs $780.
The Acer Nitro 16 and Acer Nitro 5 15 are both good for general use.
The Acer Nitro 16 comes equipped with a high-resolution screen, larger screen size, and a more powerful CPU and GPU, making it excellent for both general use and demanding tasks; however, it is slightly less portable and has a shorter battery life than the Acer Nitro 5 15, which offers a reasonably good CPU and GPU for general use and better portability due to its lighter weight and longer battery life.
Gaming and AI
8.0/10
7.5/10
8.9/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.3/10
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
165Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
Yes
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
Yes
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
7.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
7.5/10
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Acer Nitro 16 to be very good for gaming and AI, while the Acer Nitro 5 15 is good.
The Acer Nitro 16 provides a smoother gaming and 3D experience with its more powerful Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics card and higher screen refresh rate of 165 Hz, making it very good for such tasks. On the other hand, the Acer Nitro 5 15, equipped with the Nvidia RTX 4050 and a refresh rate of 144 Hz, still delivers competent gaming and 3D performance but with slightly less visual fluidity and graphics power.
Engineering and Design
8.2/10
7.9/10
7.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
8.9/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.3/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Acer Nitro 16 to be very good for engineering and design, while the Acer Nitro 5 15 is good.
The Acer Nitro 16 generally offers a more powerful CPU, more RAM, and a higher-quality GPU, which are crucial for demanding tasks in engineering and design, and it likely has a better screen quality for detailed visuals. In comparison, while the Acer Nitro 5 15 also supports engineering tasks to a lesser extent, it is slightly more portable, and differences in keyboard and speaker quality, along with operating noise, may affect user experience but are less critical to performance.
Content Creation
7.8/10
7.5/10
7.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Acer Nitro 16 and Acer Nitro 5 15 are both good for content creation.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
7.7/10
7.4/10
7.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
8.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.0/10
The Acer Nitro 16 and Acer Nitro 5 15 are both good for software development.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Portability
Fair
Fair
16.0in
SIZE
15.6in
5.9 lbs
WEIGHT
5.5 lbs
1.1in
THICKNESS
1.0in
The Acer Nitro 5 15 and Acer Nitro 16 both have only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
7.4/10
7.2/10
The Acer Nitro 16 and Acer Nitro 5 15 both have good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
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How the Acer Nitro 16 and the Acer Nitro 5 15 compare to other laptops
"Video editing, rendering and, of course, gaming represent the Nitro 16's core competencies with a Ryzen 7 7735HS and GeForce RTX 4070 providing the necessary power. Both chips run at consistently high clock speeds. A fast PCIe 4 SSD (1 TB) provides the required storage space and ensures short loading times. With the Nitro 16 AN16-41, Acer has a well-specced, mid-range gaming laptop in its portfolio."
"The Acer Nitro 5 is a fast QHD gaming notebook. The Nitro 5 is a well-balanced gaming laptop for just under US$ 2400. A Core i7-12700H CPU and a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU enable QHD gaming at high to maximum settings, accompanied by fast PCIe-4-SSD (1 TB) and 16 GB of RAM. Acer delivers a solid QHD gaming notebook with the Nitro 5 AN515-58. However, the laptop is not completely free of shortcomings. The CPU and GPU can work at consistently high clock rates. The laptop heats up noticeably under load, but not excessively. Noise development is on the usual class level. Once again, however, Acer needs to improve the fan control."
Get a great deal on the Acer Nitro 16 or the Acer Nitro 5 15
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.
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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