Acer Aspire V17 Nitro Black Edition to be updated with GTX 950M/960M

Several online retailers around the world are starting to list 15.6-inch and 17-inch gaming laptops with Nvidia's upcoming GTX 950M and GTX 960M graphics cards. They are mostly incremental upgrades of already existing models without any significant changes to the rest of the hardware - major updates are evidently delayed until the release of Intel's Broadwell-H 37 W and 47 W processors in Q2 2015.

But even something as small as a slight graphical performance increase is welcome, especially by those still only planning to purchase a new laptop. If you are interested in Acer's Aspire V15 and V17 Nitro models, it's best to wait a few weeks: the Hungarian store Mysoft has recently put up a product page for the updated V17 Nitro Black Edition equipped with Nvidia's GeForce GTX 950M (4 GB) graphics card. The Full HD IPS screen remains unchanged, and hopefully the new GPU will allow more games to run smoothly at this resolution than its predecessor, the GTX 850M. The current Aspire V17 Nitro actually packs a GTX 860M - we expect the GTX 950M to perform roughly at its level while consuming less power. If you're after even higher performance, Acer has you covered with a GTX 960M based configuration. This one will also debut with Intel's Real Sense 3D camera onboard (optional), as promised by Acer at CES 2015.

The 15.6-inch Aspire V15 Nitro will be offered with the new GPUs as well. Additionally, a budget-friendly V15 Nitro model with an HD (1366x768) screen, a GeForce 940M and a Broadwell-based Core i5-5200U processor is planned. It will cost about $800 whereas the  more powerful models should range from $1000 to $1300. The Real Sense 3D equipped V17 Nitro will be around $1700 and the updated V15 Nitro with an Ultra HD 4K screen and GTX 960M will come close to $2000. Keep in mind, however, that these prices are approximate and will vary by region. The actual prices will only be known once Acer introduces the new configurations officially, but this isn't likely to happen until Nvidia unveils their new GPUs in March.

Source(s)