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Nitro 5 15
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MacBook Air (2020)
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Advantages of the Acer Nitro 5 15
  • Very good for engineering and design
  • Good for gaming and AI
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air (2020)
  • Good overall display quality
  • Best in class overall build quality
  • Very good portability
  • Excellent battery life
  • Best in class speakers
  • Best in class keyboard

Key differences

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Gaming and AI

7.6
Nitro 5 15
MacBook Air (2020)
6.3
7.3/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
3.9/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
144Hz
REFRESH RATE
60Hz
Yes
SUPPORTS DLSS
No
Yes
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
7.5/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
10.0/10
The Acer Nitro 5 15 is good for gaming and AI, while the Apple MacBook Air (2020) is only fair.

Engineering and Design

8.1
Nitro 5 15
MacBook Air (2020)
7.4
8.7/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
6.0/10
7.3/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
3.9/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Acer Nitro 5 15 is very good for engineering and design, while the Apple MacBook Air (2020) is good.

Screen Quality

6.9
Nitro 5 15
MacBook Air (2020)
7.5
15.6in
SIZE
13.3in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
144Hz
REFRESH RATE
60Hz
262.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
395.0 nits
The Apple MacBook Air has a better screen than the Acer Nitro 5 15 for general use, engineering and design, and content creation.

Battery

5.5 Hours
Nitro 5 15
MacBook Air (2020)
15.0 Hours
The Acer Nitro 5 15 has 5.5 hours of battery life. The Apple MacBook Air has 15 hours of battery life.

Portability

Fair
Nitro 5 15
MacBook Air (2020)
Very Good
15.6in
SIZE
13.3in
5.5 lbs
WEIGHT
2.8 lbs
1.0in
THICKNESS
0.6in
The Apple MacBook Air (2020) has very good portability, while the Acer Nitro 5 15 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.

Build Quality

7.2
Nitro 5 15
MacBook Air (2020)
10.0
The Apple MacBook Air (2020) has best in class build quality, while the Acer Nitro 5 15 has good build quality.
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Key similarities

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General Use

7.8
Nitro 5 15
MacBook Air (2020)
7.8
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
262.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
395.0 nits
5.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
15.0 Hours
8.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.5/10
6.3/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
8.9/10
The Acer Nitro 5 15 and Apple MacBook Air (2020) are both good for general use.

Content Creation

7.8
Nitro 5 15
MacBook Air (2020)
7.8
8.7/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
6.0/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Apple MacBook Air (2020) and Acer Nitro 5 15 are both good for content creation.

Software Development

7.5
Nitro 5 15
MacBook Air (2020)
7.8
8.7/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
6.0/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
8.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.5/10
The Apple MacBook Air (2020) and Acer Nitro 5 15 are both good for software development.

Cost

$899
Nitro 5 15
MacBook Air (2020)
$899
Product imageProduct image

$400

$600

$800

$1,000

$1,200

$1,400

The Acer Nitro 5 15 has a price of $899 and the Apple MacBook Air (2020) costs $899.

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How the Acer Nitro 5 15 and the Apple MacBook Air (2020) compare to other laptops

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Spec Comparison

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Acer Nitro 5 15Apple MacBook Air (2020)
Acer Nitro 5 15Apple MacBook Air (2020)

GENERAL

Price
$899
$899
Release Date
May 1, 2023November 1, 2020
Overall Dimensions
14.2'' x 10.7'' x 1.06''12'' x 8.4'' x 0.63''
Weight
5.51 lbs2.8 lbs
Width
14.19"11.97"
Depth
10.67"8.36"

INTERNAL

Processor
Intel i7-12650HApple M1
RAM
16 GB16 GB
DDR Memory Version
54
RAM Slots
20
Storage
1024 GB256 GB

BATTERY

Battery Life
5.5 Hours15 Hours
Battery Capacity
57.5 Wh49.9 Wh

SCREEN

Diagonal Size
15.6"13.3"
Display Technology
IPSIPS
Resolution
1920 x 10802560 x 1600
Refresh Rate
144Hz60Hz
Display Brightness
262 nits395 nits

RELIABILITY, APPEARANCE & ACOUSTICS

Build Quality Score
7.2/1010/10
Portability Score
6.4/109/10
Gaming Laptop Appearance
YesNo
Premium Business Laptop
NoYes
Fan Noise Score
7.5/1010/10

HARDWARE FEATURES

Keyboard Quality Score
8/109.5/10
Speaker Quality Score
7/109.5/10
Webcam
720p720p
Fingerprint Reader
NoYes
Backlit Keyboard
YesYes
Number Pad
YesNo

CONNECTIVITY

USB Type-A
30
USB-C ports
12
USB-C Charging
YesYes
Display Outputs
21
Thunderbolt Version
43

Shopping

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Acer Nitro 5 15

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Dig into reviews and images

NotebookCheck

Sascha Mölck | June 2022
"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."

Apple MacBook Air (2020)

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Dig into reviews and images

NotebookCheck

Andreas Osthoff | July 2022
"The Apple MacBook Air M2 Entry is a very good, but too expensive daily MacBook. The new MacBook Air M2 is undoubtedly once again a very good mobile companion, but we are still a little bit disappointed on a very high level, which is definitely connected with the increased price point. The new chassis is extremely slim and the front edge is no problem during typing, but the bezels are pretty wide for a modern device and in addition with the vertical space required for the notch, the new Air has larger footprint than some Windows rivals."

Get a great deal on the Acer Nitro 5 15 or the Apple MacBook Air (2020)

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 Apple

Apple, an American technology company, is one of the world’s largest company in terms of market capitalization. Their MacBook laptops feature a slim, minimalistic design, class-leading battery life, and premium display and speaker quality. In 2020 Apple switched from using Intel processors to their own silicon chips which have excellent performance and efficiency. The macOS operating system is the second most widely used OS, after Windows.

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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.

By the numbers

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Laptops evaluated
48,640
Laptops stats compiled
13
Proprietary Laptops ratings developed
109,395
Recommendations made
23,703
Consumer hours saved

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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