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What we think
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Updated January 10, 2024·
The Acer Nitro 17 has a larger screen and a midrange price, making it significantly less expensive than the MSI Stealth GS66. It's good for general use and gaming, has a decent battery life, and includes a backlit keyboard with number pad. However, it is heavier and less portable. The MSI Stealth GS66 is priced at a premium, offers better performance for 3D tasks, machine learning, and engineering. It's more portable because of its lighter weight but has a shorter battery life for typical use. If budget is a concern and you want a larger display, the Acer could be a better option, while for high performance in professional tasks and better portability, the MSI would be ideal despite its higher price. 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 17
- Good battery life
Advantages of the MSI Stealth GS66
- Very good for engineering and design
- Very good overall display quality
- Very good overall build quality
- Good portability
- Very good keyboard
Key differences
Screen Quality
7.4
8.1
17.3in
SIZE
15.6in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
165Hz
REFRESH RATE
360Hz
280.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
280.0 nits
The MSI Stealth GS66 has a better screen than the Acer Nitro 17 for general use, gaming and AI, and engineering and design.
For general use, both the Acer Nitro 17 and MSI Stealth GS66 have panels with adequate resolution and brightness, making text and images clear and easy to view in various lighting conditions. Engineering and design tasks benefit from the accurate color reproduction of these laptops, as they offer a wide color gamut, ensuring that designers see true-to-life colors. However, for gaming and 3D applications, both fall short due to lower refresh rates, leading to less smooth visuals during fast-paced scenes or 3D animations.
Battery
8.0 Hours
5.5 Hours
The Acer Nitro 17 has 8 hours of battery life. The MSI Stealth GS66 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.
Portability
Poor
Good
17.3in
SIZE
15.6in
6.8 lbs
WEIGHT
4.6 lbs
1.1in
THICKNESS
0.7in
The MSI Stealth GS66 has good portability, while the Acer Nitro 17 has poor portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
7.4
8.0
The MSI Stealth GS66 has very good build quality, while the Acer Nitro 17 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$970
$1,799
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
The Acer Nitro 17 has a price of $970 and the MSI Stealth GS66 costs $1,799.
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Key similarities
General Use
7.8
7.7
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
280.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
280.0 nits
8.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
5.5 Hours
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
5.5/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.5/10
The Acer Nitro 17 and MSI Stealth GS66 are both good for general use.
The Acer Nitro 17 offers a larger screen and substantial storage for comfortable general use, but at the cost of a heavier build and lower portability than the MSI Stealth GS66, which provides excellent portability with a lighter weight and a higher-quality keyboard, albeit with less storage. Despite these differences, both laptops feature capable processors, decent battery life, and solid screen quality, making them suitable for general usage scenarios.
Gaming and AI
7.4
7.8
7.3/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.8/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
165Hz
REFRESH RATE
360Hz
Yes
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
Yes
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
6.7/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
7.5/10
The MSI Stealth GS66 and Acer Nitro 17 are both good for gaming and AI.
The Acer Nitro 17's Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU and a screen refresh rate of 165Hz make it suitable for gaming and 3D applications, while the MSI Stealth GS66 with a more powerful Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti GPU and a higher screen refresh rate of 360Hz offers even smoother gaming and 3D performance. Both laptops have capable CPUs and IPS displays for screen quality, but the better GPU and higher refresh rate of the MSI may be more desirable for the most demanding gaming and 3D work.
Engineering and Design
7.9
8.2
7.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
7.3/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.8/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers MSI Stealth GS66 to be very good for engineering and design, while the Acer Nitro 17 is good.
The MSI Stealth GS66 has a more powerful graphics card and a higher screen refresh rate, making it very good for tasks like 3D modeling and rendering, which are common in engineering and design work. On the other hand, the Acer Nitro 17 is bulkier and has a less potent graphics card, but offers a larger storage capacity and larger screen size, which can still be good for engineering and design, but with some trade-offs in performance and portability.
Content Creation
7.8
7.7
7.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Acer Nitro 17 and MSI Stealth GS66 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
7.4
7.5
7.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The MSI Stealth GS66 and Acer Nitro 17 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.
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How the Acer Nitro 17 and the MSI Stealth GS66 compare to other laptops
Spec Comparison
 |  | |
| Acer Nitro 17 | MSI Stealth GS66 |
GENERAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | |||
$970 | $1,799 | ||
Release Date | |||
Release Date | May 1, 2023 | April 1, 2022 | |
Overall Dimensions | |||
Overall Dimensions | 15.8'' x 11.6'' x 1.1'' | 14.2'' x 9.7'' x 0.71'' | |
Weight | |||
Weight | 6.83 lbs | 4.63 lbs | |
Width | |||
Width | 15.77" | 14.17" | |
Depth | |||
Depth | 11.59" | 9.65" | |
INTERNAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Processor | |||
Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS | Intel i7-12700H | |
RAM | |||
RAM | 16 GB | 16 GB | |
DDR Memory Version | |||
DDR Memory Version | 5 | 5 | |
RAM Slots | |||
RAM Slots | 2 | 2 | |
Storage | |||
Storage | 1024 GB | 512 GB | |
BATTERY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Battery Life | |||
Battery Life | 8 Hours | 5.5 Hours | |
Battery Capacity | |||
Battery Capacity | 90 Wh | 99.9 Wh | |
SCREEN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Diagonal Size | |||
Diagonal Size | 17.3" | 15.6" | |
Display Technology | |||
Display Technology | IPS | IPS | |
Resolution | |||
Resolution | 1920 x 1080 | 1920 x 1080 | |
Refresh Rate | |||
Refresh Rate | 165Hz | 360Hz | |
Display Brightness | |||
Display Brightness | 280 nits | 280 nits | |
RELIABILITY, APPEARANCE & ACOUSTICS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Build Quality Score | |||
Build Quality Score | 7.4/10 | 8/10 | |
Portability Score | |||
Portability Score | 5.6/10 | 7.5/10 | |
Gaming Laptop Appearance | |||
Gaming Laptop Appearance | Yes | Yes | |
Premium Business Laptop | |||
Premium Business Laptop | No | No | |
Fan Noise Score | |||
Fan Noise Score | 6.8/10 | 7.5/10 | |
HARDWARE FEATURES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Keyboard Quality Score | |||
Keyboard Quality Score | 7/10 | 8.5/10 | |
Speaker Quality Score | |||
Speaker Quality Score | 8/10 | 8/10 | |
Webcam | |||
Webcam | 720p | 720p | |
Fingerprint Reader | |||
Fingerprint Reader | No | No | |
Backlit Keyboard | |||
Backlit Keyboard | Yes | Yes | |
Number Pad | |||
Number Pad | Yes | No | |
CONNECTIVITY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
USB Type-A | |||
USB Type-A | 3 | 2 | |
USB-C ports | |||
USB-C ports | 2 | 3 | |
USB-C Charging | |||
USB-C Charging | Yes | Yes | |
Display Outputs | |||
Display Outputs | 3 | 4 | |
Thunderbolt Version | |||
Thunderbolt Version | N/A | 4 | |
Shopping
Acer Nitro 17
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Dig into reviews and images
PCMag
Mark Knapp | October 2023
"The Acer Nitro 17 isn't an exceptional gaming laptop; it's kind of chunky even among 17.3-inch notebooks, with a lackluster keyboard, and it doesn't outperform comparably priced machines. But there's a lot to like about it, including a good array of ports, a screen that's sharp and bright for work and play alike, and battery life that soundly beats the competition. All this comes at an affordable price. If size and weight aren't big concerns, you'll find the Nitro 17 a dependable big-screen gaming rig. If you crave higher quality, consider a slight step down or up in screen size with the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 Gen 8 or Alienware m18 respectively."
MSI Stealth GS66
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Dig into reviews and images
NotebookCheck
Florian Glaser | February 2022
"The MSI Stealth GS66 is powerful enough for QHD. The Core i7-12700H and the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti found in the 12UGS model that we tested run all modern games smoothly in the native QHD resolution. The 15-inch display is very fast with its 240 Hz refresh rate, and it also offers a great color space (almost 100% DCI-P3) on top of that, which should please gamers as well as content creators, although we would have still wished for a higher brightness. Case, input devices, and connectivity (Thunderbolt 4) are at a good level. However, among other things, the GS66 loses points due to the high temperature development in 3D mode and its poor webcam."
Get a great deal on the Acer Nitro 17 or the MSI Stealth GS66
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.
About MSI
MSI, also known as Micro-Star International, is a Taiwanese technology corporation. MSI is known for their wide range of gaming devices. Their series include the entry-level Cyborg/Thin and Sword/Katana series, the mid-range Bravo/Delta and Crosshair/Pulse series, and their high-end Vector, Raider, Stealth, and Titan GT series. At every performance level, MSI offers a variety of devices with varying balances between performance, battery life, weight, and price, making them a solid option to consider at every price point.
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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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