A major feature of Acer’s Nitro 5 gaming laptop 10th Gen Intel core i5-10300H is how easy it is to replace or add RAM thanks to an easy-access panel on the bottom. Just about all models come with a single 8GB stick of SODIMM RAM, keeping a second slot free to add more after purchase. With its combination of low price, decently powerful specs and a nice feature set, there’s no denying that the Acer Nitro 5 is one of the best value laptops out there. Of course, some sacrifices do have to be made, but none affect this laptop’s overall performance enough to matter, especially for the savings it offers. Can you do Acer Nitro 5 AN515-55 RAM upgrade? Get more in Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop 10th Gen Intel core i5-10300H review.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Inexpensive for a gaming notebook
- Capable GeForce RTX 2060 graphics
- High refresh rate display
Cons
- Creaky plastic body
- Lacklustre audio
Price and Availability
The Acer Nitro 5 is one of the most affordable gaming laptops in the market today. With its $749 starting price, the same model that we tested, you get its most basic configuration. This exact configuration is available in the UK, though it does cost about £335 more.
Several other configurations are on hand for the US market, the most expensive of which is the $1099. For that price, the laptop boasts an Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, though its GPU and hard drive are the same.
Specifications – Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop 10th Gen Intel core i5-10300H
| Brand | Acer |
|---|---|
| Series | Nitro 5 |
| Model | AN515-55-54Q0 |
| Part Number | NH.Q7JAA.005 |
| Color | Obsidian Black |
|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home 64-bit |
| CPU | Intel Core i5-10300H 2.50 GHz |
| Screen | 15.6″ 120 Hz IPS |
| Memory | 16 GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 512 GB NVMe SSD |
| Graphics Card | GeForce GTX 1650 Ti |
| Video Memory | 4 GB GDDR6 |
| Dimensions (W x D x H) | 14.31″ x 10.04″ x 0.94″ |
| Weight | 5.07 lbs. |
| CPU Type | Intel Core i5 10th Gen |
|---|---|
| CPU Speed | 10300H (2.50 GHz) |
| Number of Cores | Quad-core Processor |
| Core Name | Comet Lake |
| Turbo Frequency | Up to 4.50 GHz |
| CPU L3 Cache | 8 MB |
| Screen Size | 15.6″ |
|---|---|
| Touchscreen | No |
| Wide Screen Support | Yes |
| Display Type | Full HD |
| Resolution | 1920 x 1080 |
| Panel | IPS |
| Refresh Rate | 120 Hz |
| LCD Features | LED-backlit IPS Display, 120 Hz Refresh Rate |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home 64-bit |
|---|
| GPU/VPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti |
|---|---|
| Video Memory | 4 GB |
| Graphic Type | Dedicated Card |
| SSD | 512 GB |
|---|---|
| Storage Spec | 512 GB NVMe SSD |
| Memory | 16 GB |
|---|---|
| Memory Speed | DDR4 2933 |
| Memory Spec | 8 GB x 2 |
| Memory Slot (Total) | 2 |
| Memory Slot (Available) | 0 |
| Max Memory Supported | 32 GB |
| Optical Drive Type | No |
|---|
| LAN | Killer Ethernet E2600 |
|---|---|
| WLAN | Intel Wireless Wi-Fi 6 AX201 802.11ax Dual-Band 2.4GHz and 5GHz featuring 2×2 MU-MIMO technology (Max Speed up to 2.4Gbps) |
| WiFi Generation | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.0 |
| USB | 1 x USB 3.2 Type C Gen 2 (up to 10 Gbps) 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Feauring Power-off Charging) 2 x USB 3.2 |
|---|---|
| HDMI | 1 x HDMI 2.0 |
| Audio Ports | 1 x Headphone/Microphone Combo Jack |
| Audio | DTS: X Ultra Audio Acer TrueHarmony Technology Acer Purified.Voice technology with two built-in microphones |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Two Built-in Stereo Speakers |
| Touchpad | Precision Touchpad (supporting Windows Modern Touchpad gestures) |
|---|---|
| Keyboard | Red Backlit Keyboard |
| Backlit Keyboard | Backlit |
| Webcam | HD Webcam (1280 x 720) supporting Super High Dynamic Range (SHDR) |
| Style | Standard |
|---|---|
| Type | Gaming & Entertainment |
| Usage | Consumer |
| AC Adapter | 135-watt AC Adapter |
|---|---|
| Battery | 4-cell Li-Polymer, 3560 mAh |
| Battery Life | Up to 10 hours battery life |
| Package Content | Laptop AC Adapter & Power Cord |
|---|
| Dimensions (W x D x H) | 14.31″ x 10.04″ x 0.94″ |
|---|---|
| Weight | 5.07 lbs. |
Compare Acer Nitro 5 vs Razer Blade 15
| Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop | Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop | Razer Blade 15 Base Gaming Laptop 202 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computer Memory Size | 8 GB | 16 GB | 16 GB |
| CPU Model Manufacturer | Intel | Intel | Intel |
| CPU Speed | 4.5 GHz | 5 GHz | 5 GHz |
| Screen Size | 15.6 inches | 15.6 inches | 15.6 inches |
| Item Dimensions | 14.31 x 10.04 x 0.94 inches | 14.31 x 10.04 x 0.90 inches | 13.98 x 0.78 x 9.25 inches |
| Item Weight | 2.65 lbs | 5.07 lbs | 4.70 lbs |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home | Windows 10 Home | Windows 10 |
| Processor Count | 4 | 6 | 6 |
| Wireless Communication Standard | 802.11ax | 802.11ax | Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac |
Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop 10th Gen Intel core i5-10300H review
Design
The display hinges feel sturdy and secure, and the amount of ports on hand is a boon. More importantly, the laptop has a comfortable keyboard, and a user-controllable cooling system (more on those two topics later.)
The screen lid, for example, is made of cheap plastic. The top cover and the area around the keyboard track fingerprints like crazy, and the screen has almost an inch of bezel around it, all of which make us feel like we’re PC gaming in the early aughts.
Trackpad
The trackpad gives a lot of travel and it’s very stiff, which means that you have to really do some hard pressing for anything to register, resulting in early finger fatigue. Buttons 1 and 2, located in the front left and right sections of the trackpad, respectively, have it worse, resulting in many missed presses. We gave up on it after a day, and switched to a proper mouse.
Keyboard
The keyboard only offers four lighting zones compared to the per-key RGB backlighting schemes offered by premium gaming notebooks. The colour of the backlight can be customised using the preloaded Nitrosense app, which also lets you adjust the fan speed and monitor the laptop’s internal temperature.
Sure, the symbols are in red, the backlight – which, by the way, is only activated when plugged in, so the keys are hard to see in the dark when its not – is red, and the WASD keys are emboldened in red paint.
Refresh rate
As expected of a mainstream gaming notebook, the display does not support Nvidia’s G-Sync technology, which synchronises the display’s refresh rate with the game’s frame rates (fps) to eliminate screen tearing and stuttering. But it has a fast 144Hz refresh rate, which means that there won’t be any screen tearing in games that reach or exceed 144fps.
Camera and audio
The camera, which offers video recording at 720p 30fps at its highest setting, is grainy. It’s just fine for web chats, but don’t expect much quality imagery produced here.
The laptop’s sound is a little hyped on the high-end and very echoey, though you could personalize it with the equalizer in the Dolby Audio software. In short, it’s yet another laptop with subpar audio – par for the course, basically (unless you’re Origin).
Battery life
Surprisingly, the Acer Nitro 5’s battery life is better than you’d expect from a budget gaming laptop. Gaming laptops, in general, are notorious for their bad battery life, and we are not surprised that this guy only had 3 hours and 20 minutes worth of juice when we ran our Guardians of the Galaxy battery test at 50% brightness. Though it is worth mentioning that the more expensive and much-better-performing Asus Strix Scar Edition, which this writer reviewed prior, only reached 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Ventilation & cooling
Perhaps one of the best things about the Acer Nitro 5 is its dual-fan ventilation and cooling system, the vents of which are located in the rear part of the laptop. It’s loud, but not as loud as many gaming laptops.
Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop 10th Gen Intel core i5-10300H Performance review
Here’s how the Acer Nitro 5 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark: Sky Diver: 15,877; Fire Strike: 5,582; Time Spy: 1,859
Cinebench CPU: 832 points; Graphics: 108 fps
GeekBench: 3,913 (single-core); 15,541 (multi-core)
PCMark 8 (Home Test): 3,299 points
PCMark 8 Battery Life: 2 hour and 32 minutes
Battery Life (techradar movie test): 3 hours and 20 minutes
Total War: Warhammer II (1080p, Ultra): 24 fps; (1080p, Low): 57 fps
ME: Shadow of War (1080p, Ultra): 27 fps; (1080p, Low): 65 fps
How to do Acer Nitro 5 AN515-55 RAM upgrade?
1. Remove the bottom plate
Since there are no service lids here, you need to remove the entire bottom panel to access the internals. First, remove all 11 Phillips-head screws. Then pry the panel with a plastic tool and lift it away. It’s as easy as that.
2. Battery
Here, the battery is slightly downgraded from last year. It has a capacity of 57.47Wh, compared to 58.75Wh for its predecessor, roughly resulting in the whopping 1Wh decrease year on year.
3. Memory and storage
In terms of memory, this device supports up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM with a maximum frequency of 2933 MHz. However, the storage compartment is more impressive. You get two M.2 slots that can work in RAID 0 mode. They are designated by numbers on the motherboard, stating that number 1 supports PCIe drives only, while number 2 can hold both PCIe and SATA drives. Not in the last place, there is a 2.5″ SATA drive bay for your gaming libraries.
4. Cooling system
And what a surprise, the cooling is pretty much the same we saw on the Predator Triton 300 (PT315-52). There are three heat pipes and four heat spreaders, and the only difference between the two laptops is that the Nitro 5 uses two plastic fans, whereas the Triton 300 has a plastic and a metal one. Additionally, there are two cooling plates, located above the video memory and the VRMs.
Check out all Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-55) prices and configurations in our Specs System or read more in our In-Depth review.
You can now power on your Nitro 5 and verify that the RAM you’ve installed is recognized by the system.
- Right-click the Start button.
- Click System.
You should now be able to see the total amount of installed RAM in the Device specifications section. As long as it matches the total amount you have installed, your upgrade was a success.
Eight and four makes 12 GB total RAM. Installation was a success.
