The Best (?) Budget Gaming Laptop #Helpful Post

Hey guys, this is Austin.

Usually when you're talking about a gaming laptop,

you're pretty much in the $1,000-plus budget.

Now there's nothing wrong with high-end gaming laptops.

Not only do you get all the fun toys like, you know,

high-end displays with high refresh rates and RTX graphics,

but you also get some of the nicest designs out there.

However, not everyone wants to spend 1,000, 2,000,

even $3,000 when it comes to a gaming laptop,

and that is where Acer's Nitro 5 comes in.

There's definitely something to a laptop

that you can take to work or school all day

and yet still come home and play some games

without breaking the bank.

Now specifically what I have here is the all-AMD version,

so it's got a Ryzen processor as well as RX graphics.

However, you should definitely keep an eye on those prices.

So I was able to pick this guy up for $570,

and at less than 600 bucks, there's a lot to like.

What's not so hot, though,

is that sometimes this laptop spikes up to around $700,

and at that kind of price,

it's a little bit of a harder sell,

so definitely be sure to keep an eye out

for when the sales are,

and, well, just don't overpay for the laptop.

Take a look around the Nitro 5,

and it absolutely looks the part

of a much more expensive gaming laptop.

It's all red and black, it's built reasonably well,

and you even have a back-lit keyboard

which is a nice touch at the price.

Now the bezels definitely are on the larger side,

and the screen isn't anything all that special.

So it is a 15.6-inch 1080p IPS panel,

so it's good, it's decent,

but it doesn't have any kind of high-end bells and whistles

such as that high refresh rate.

But, I mean, we're talking about less than 600 bucks.

It is hard to complain about this stuff.

This screen is totally fine.

You also get a solid selection of ports.

Not only is there USB-C and Ethernet,

but you also have plenty of USB-A ports, HDMI.

There's even an SD card reader.

Now, at almost six pounds,

this is certainly not a thin and light gaming laptop.

It's a little bit on the thicker side,

and yes, it is made entirely out of plastic,

but honestly, it does feel reasonably sturdy.

I really wouldn't worry about

leaving this in my bag all day.

It's what's inside that's really interesting.

Now there is a standard Core i5

and GTX 1050 version of this laptop.

What I have here is the pure AMD version,

Ryzen 5 2500U as well as a Radeon RX 560X.

This is straight-up not a combo

that I've pretty much ever seen before,

but you know what, it's actually not bad.

Sure, the Ryzen 5 does fall behind

the higher-wattage Core i5.

When you look at the graphics compared to the GTX 1050,

it's actually a slight bit faster,

which is especially impressive considering

we basically never see AMD graphics in laptops.

Performance-wise, when you get into a game like Overwatch,

it's really no problem.

So right now on 1080p on Medium settings,

we're getting a very consistent 60 FPS.

This makes sense, right?

This is the kind of performance

that you would expect out of something

that's roughly the equivalent to a GTX 1050.

It's not the most powerful thing in the world,

you won't be able to play everything on Ultra,

but games like this are 100% playable.

So we were about to start playing Apex Legends

until I realized that this was using

the integrated GPU instead of the actual RX 560,

so I'm gonna try to fix that real quick.

So this actually does bring me to one of the issues

that I found with this system

in that the driver situation is all over the place.

So this does have AMD graphics,

it was included with that Ryzen processor

as well as the Radeon graphics,

but the issue is that even though

they're going to be fixing this soon,

right now you just can't go to the AMD website

and download drivers.

You actually have to get them specifically from the OEM,

which in this case is Acer.

Oh, hi, Austin from the future here,

back with an important update.

So of course the day after we filmed that segment,

well, AMD dropped that driver update

that they have promised,

so now you can go straight to the AMD website

and download all the drivers you need for the Nitro 5,

and importantly, it looks like Apex Legends is now working.

With everything cranked to 1080p Medium,

I can see if we pull up Task Manager

that the 560 is running it 80, 90% load.

It looks like we should be good now.

All right, that's definitely better.

So, yeah, with a mixture of Medium

and a couple of Low settings,

we're pretty close to a 60 FPS lock now.

With the driver issue fixed,

this is a much more usable laptop,

so disregard everything I said earlier, it's fine now.

So it does look like Fortnite

is properly supporting the 560X.

So I hop into my settings here.

I am able to run at 1080p on High,

and now let's see how it actually performs.

Okay.

Oh, wow (laughing).

We just need to make a montage of me dying in Fortnite.

I mean, this is fine, like,

it was running 50 frames per second

until I got shot in the face.

Upgrading is pretty easy,

although it is a little bit on the limited side.

So with a single screw on the bottom,

you can upgrade the RAM,

so by default this guy comes with eight gigs,

although it's me, I'm definitely gonna upgrade to 16.

Not only is that just nice to have,

but also considering that we're running a Ryzen processor,

having fast dual channel memory can make a big difference.

Then there's the hard drive.

So by default, this comes with a one terabyte drive,

and that's fine, it's kinda decently quick

as far as hard drives go, but it's 2019

and you guys should know my stance on hard drives.

Just no.

Just say no to hard drives.

Thankfully, upgrading this is also super-easy.

Again, it's just one screw behind the door on the bottom,

and I think it's actually a pretty worthwhile upgrade

to go to something like a 500-gig SSD.

It's not that expensive,

and it'll give you a ton of capacity,

but importantly, you're gonna get that SSD speed.

Now as this is a gaming laptop,

battery life isn't exactly the strong suit.

Now it is actually pretty decent

for a gaming laptop like this.

I was able to get around four to five hours of standard use,

but of course you have to keep in mind

that you're going to need a charger

if you really want to take this out

for a full day of proper use,

and especially if you're gaming.

I mean, you're definitely gonna need it.

So when it comes to the Nitro 5,

it is all down to the price.

Now at $570, with just a couple of upgrades,

this is absolutely my favorite budget gaming laptop

that I've taken a look at all year.

Unfortunately, if you're paying upwards of $600,

the value proposition becomes a lot sketchier,

so it really does kind of depend on

where you're able to find this

and how expensive it is.

Once they get those AMD driver issues sorted out,

there's a lot of potential with the Nitro 5.