Acer Nitro 5 reviewed: An efficient RTX 4050 in economy mode
At first glance and after the first benchmarks, the Acer Nitro 5 AN51755-5552 seems like other entry-level gaming laptops. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 offers sufficient power to even be able to play current games such as Star Wars Jedi Survivor at Full HD resolution. Luckily, the outdated Intel Core i5-12500H doesn't slow matters down too much.
The rather modest power delivery is accompanied by loud fans but that changes quite dramatically if the "Quiet" performance mode is selected.
We measured a third of the original noise levels but discovered that frame rates in the tested games only dropped by around 5 to 6 %. In the bigger-than-average sized case, Acer was able to house cooling that doesn't produce excessive noise for the for the heat dissipated at medium power consumption.
As shown in the stress test, the GPU's average power consumption is reduced by around 50 % and the CPU's by around a third. Instead of 150 watts, both components only consume around 90 watts with quiet fans. What's all the more remarkable is the stable performer which continues to be sufficient for games in Full HD and high-detail settings. In our Witcher 3 endurance test and in quiet mode, the Acer Nitro 5 sits at a level comparable with the Medion Erazer Scout E20 which has maximum power at its disposal.
This indicates that the small Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 becomes very inefficient at high power consumption. On the other hand, 50 watts seems to be enough in order to power a full-fledged gaming laptop just short of the level of an RTX 3060. At the same time, the reduced power consumption means significantly lower heat dissipation.
With the Nitro, Acer has successfully managed to produce a comparatively affordable, quiet gaming laptop. But, maybe it would have been better not to cut so many corners, as shown in our extensive review of the Acer Nitro 5 AN517.