Comments Locked

50 Comments

Back to Article

  • cfenton - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    The screen is such a big compromise on a laptop. I wish there was an option to pay a bit more and get something decent.

    I know it's kind of weird, but this looks like it would make a decent HTPC. It has lots of power and a new GPU for media playback.
  • ingwe - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    Yeah this screen makes it DOA to me. Such a shame they cut that corner as it really separates a decent laptop from a great laptop.
  • edzieba - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    Seriously, 61% sRGB? How on earth do you even FIND an IPS display with primaries that far off?!
  • Otritus - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    I recall an entry level laptop with amd having a 38% sRGB 60hz 1080p 15.6 in screen. That's more inaccurate than not!
  • meacupla - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    Consumers need to realize that panel type ≠ inferred quality

    Very high quality TN panels have good enough color reproduction, but still not great viewing angles.
    Very poor quality IPS panels look like garbage, and look like garbage at any angle.
  • meacupla - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    Just to be clear I don't mean to let Very poor quality TN panels off the hook either.

    Very poor TN panels have extremely awful color reproduction, but are also combined with atrocious viewing angles that invert colors inside of 50cm viewing distances.

    So, as awful as this IPS panel is, it's still infinitely better than an equally very low cost/quality TN panel.
  • sonny73n - Saturday, October 10, 2020 - link

    I just got an laptop for less than $780. To my surprise, its IPS display has no backlight leaks even in the dark. I won't mention the brand because some of you may start the politic bullshit but here's the specs:
    Ryzen 4700U, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB PCIE SSD, 14" 1080p 100% sRGB display, fingerprint sensor on the power button and backlit keyboard.

    The companies behind those brands that allowed to sell in the US must've thought that most consumers are pretty stupid - all their midrange and budget devices are garbage.
  • DiHydro - Sunday, October 11, 2020 - link

    Toshiba
  • kmmatney - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    I bought an Intel version of this laptop last year - paid $550, so it was the lowest end model and I'm certain had this same display. The screen isn't that bad - much better than other laptops I had looked at. In fact, I had originally purchased an HP budget gaming laptop on black Friday, but the TN screen was so horrible I had to return it. By comparison this screen was awesome. I'm real picky about screens - my normal driver is a Dell Mobile Precision with an expensive color calibrated display. This screen was not as good, but I have no problems with it.
  • lightningz71 - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    I wish that the 1650ti version was available for testing as well. I've seen a few comparison benchmarks online, but not as rigorously done as these.

    Also, it looks like the 4800h version with the 1650ti and improved screen might be a decent foundation for a long term machine. Being able to add a 2.5 inch ssd as a boot drive, and then get two fast NVME drives to raid together to hold the game files, you could have a convincing mobile machine for the new titles coming out for the next console generation. It would be able to keep up with the higher data throughput demands, have 8 real cores, and a similar amount of memory, just no ray tracing.
  • Mogvil20 - Thursday, October 22, 2020 - link

    Details About Card activation

    Great Article. Thank you for sharing! Really an awesome post for everyone.

    http://philagribiz.com/
  • Operandi - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    Midrange AMD notebooks are something we've had forever this is boring. Where are the high-end Renoir based ultrabooks?
  • vlayceh - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    All derivatives of GTX 1650 for laptops have 1024 cores while 1650 desktop has 896 cores. Your article mentions 896 cores which I suppose is an error.
  • lightningz71 - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    Unfortunately, the GPU-Z screen capture that is shown on the GPU Performance page clearly indicates only 896 pipelines.

    An earlier article near the release of the 1650 mobile indicated that it could be configured with multiple pipeline enablement configurations and multiple power targets, and that few vendors were ever going to note how their particular implementation was done. The only way to absolutely insure that your 1650 was fully enabled, and also equipped with GDDR6, would be to get a 1650TI version.
  • treecats - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    lol, what a terrible idea. AMD Ryzen 4600H and 4800H already included Vega graphics. Why bother including a discrete graphic card. Get rid of the graphic card and use that money to improve the screen on the base model, and this will make the laptop thinner, lighter and probably cheaper. more attractive to potential buyers. People wants a gaming laptop wouldn't want to buy this, they rather spend more money.
  • Otritus - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    This machine provides adequate 1080p gaming performance. As someone whos gamed on a 750 ti from 2015 to today, this would be an excellent step up in performance. And frankly this is not trying to be a cheap thin and light, but a machine that will give you solid performance at a cheap price. Not everyone can afford $800+ laptops, and the compromises to hit $670 seem fair.
  • Bobby3244 - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    Any reason why we don't see the CPU clocks in the Far Cry thermals? I had a friend pick up a gaming laptop with ryzen 4800h and a 5600M (Dell something), and the CPU clocks when playing games was horrible (2500~ Mhz), which was promptly returned. As far as thermals go, this one looks better, but I would still like to see the clock speed of the CPU.
  • Brett Howse - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    GPU-Z only grabs the CPU temperatures.
  • nicolaim - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    The port selection is so 2017...
  • Otritus - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    I've been noticing the value gaming settings is 13x7. While this seems fine on older integrated gfx solutions, the improved gaming performance of tiger like (and likely cezanne) seems like this resolution could be buffed to 1080p, especially because budget discrete gpus like the 1650 seem like an excellent 1080p medium to high card (and faster budget gpus are coming).

    And frankly for the games that I play at 1080p, I can either easily hit 60 fps on a 750 ti, or am fine with reducing the eye candy or sacrificing fps when compared to 720p. So a value 1080p might be better representative for entry-level gaming in 2020.
  • Brett Howse - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    Let me re-evaluate when I get something Tiger Lake. Right now I'm still finding that the iGPU solutions are struggling at 1366x768 / 1280x720 in most titles.
  • lakedude - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    Laptops in this class are right up my alley. You can easily spend $800 on a laptop with zero graphic performance. I've got a Nitro and would buy another, depending on specs/price of course.

    My taste may not be typical but the monitor does not bother me for 2 reasons.

    1) Color gamut is not that noticable to me. Sure I've got OLED screens that look amazing and side by side the Nitro looks washed out by comparison but there are many other worse problems to my eye (like slow switching, limited view angle, low res, etc.).

    2) All but a couple times a year I used my laptop "docked" to a keyboard/mouse and monitor so the monitor isn't even in use most of the time. I realize this is a special use case so YMMV.

    Other than the screen this thing has specs that would have needed a huge heavy chassis just a few years ago.

    Cheap, good specs (cept screen), and fairly light for a 1080p "gaming" system. What is not to like?
  • lmcd - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    ~4 lb laptops with equal dGPUs are absolutely possible. For example, an upgraded Inspiron 15 would match this in performance in a smaller profile.
  • Linustechtips12#6900xt - Thursday, May 13, 2021 - link

    exactly correct if I didn't have to go to college and have something that didn't scream "I'm a fuc*ing gamer B*tch" then I would totally buy this
  • Valantar - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    It's a shame the Zephyrus M15 is missing from the normalized battery life chart, as that is the most relevant comparison of those in the other charts. For reference if anyone else wonders, with its 76Wh battery it ends up at a normalized battery score of 6.74, noticeably below the Nitro.
  • coolrock2008 - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    AM i reading this correctly? The difference between the entry level SKU and the the $999 SKU AN515-44-R078 is just the GPU upgrade? $330 to move from 1650 to 1650Ti? Ouch.
  • DanNeely - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    Also the 144hz display. But since the GPU isn't fast enough to play current games that fast' I'd much rather have seen the 16gb/512gb upgrade instead. Assuming the 144hz panel isn't better quality in ways other than the refresh rate anyway.
  • Brett Howse - Saturday, October 10, 2020 - link

    Mid-tier is still the 60 Hz panel so yes only the GPU is different.
  • Galcobar - Sunday, October 11, 2020 - link

    Either this (Brett's) comment or the chart on the first page has an error then; the chart shows the middle tier to share the upgraded GPU and screen refresh of the upper tier.
  • Brett Howse - Sunday, October 11, 2020 - link

    There was some confusion from Acer on this I think someone edited my chart, but I switched it back now. Only the top-tier model has the 144 Hz display. Acer's marketing materials for the mid-tier said it did, but the spec sheet did not show it, and I clarified with them that the mid tier does in fact not have the 144 Hz.
  • IBM760XL - Friday, October 9, 2020 - link

    This is the sort of configuration that, had it been available a couple years ago, probably would have resulted in me buying an AMD laptop instead of a hex-core Intel. Along with the powerful CPU, it has an adequate GPU, a good keyboard layout (notably the arrow keys), a plastic chassis (which I prefer on the exterior to metal, although metal core + plastic exterior is best), and a port selection that is so 2017 (again a plus for me). Not to mention upgradable memory and storage.

    I'd be a little bit distrustful of the build quality of an Acer, but have to admit my mate's Acer with a 1070 has held up surprisingly well, so to save a few hundred bucks by going with this one instead of the simlar MSI + Intel that I did go with... it would have be tempting.

    Screen, meh. It's 1080p and IPS in its size segment, which is about all I'm going to ask for. Wouldn't pay $330 for Ti + 144 Hz.
  • ads295 - Saturday, October 10, 2020 - link

    For what it's worth, we have 4 Acer notebooks in our household. Oldest one is 5+ years old and youngest is less than 1. All of them are doing pretty well.
  • isthisavailable - Saturday, October 10, 2020 - link

    Will we ever see a laptop with H series processor and no GPU?
  • lefty2 - Saturday, October 10, 2020 - link

    Why is there no review of the noise emissions?
  • Brett Howse - Saturday, October 10, 2020 - link

    It's in the thermals section. 53 dB(A) measured at sustained load.
  • lefty2 - Saturday, October 10, 2020 - link

    But what about noise level at idle / low work loads?
  • Brett Howse - Sunday, October 11, 2020 - link

    Also in the text of the review... no noise at low load.
  • Muzeem - Saturday, October 10, 2020 - link

    can u review hp pavilion gaming 15 ec ryzen 4000 models
  • Shmee - Sunday, October 11, 2020 - link

    How hard is it to take apart / upgrade? Since the drive is fairly small capacity, this would be important IMO. Also how many SODIMM slots are there?
  • lakedude - Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - link

    On my Nitro 5 there are doors on the back for memory and SSD access but this might have changed. Mine shipped with a m.2 SSD installed, leaving the bay empty for a 2.5 inch. Once again this might have changed by now.
  • Crazyeyeskillah - Sunday, October 11, 2020 - link

    The keys themselves are reasonably, with good resistance and travel.

    Editors: We can do better than this anandtech, really been trying to be loyal despite the drop in quality.
  • Calista - Monday, October 12, 2020 - link

    Obviously built to a budget, but for the money few complains can be raised. $700 give us a decent gaming laptop with no fatal flaws. Sure, the screen could have been better. But a lot of people just don't care all that much when it comes to PQ, and even a bad IPS screen tend to be a good enough.
  • AMDSuperFan - Monday, October 12, 2020 - link

    I am not sure if I am still banned.
  • AMDSuperFan - Monday, October 12, 2020 - link

    I was banned for the big AMD announcements. But since I am back for now, I ask that people do not ask that I be banned for opinions and dialogue. You will note that I never curse or harass others. I simply provide noteworthy opinions on the articles, from my personal perspective of a Super Fan of the AMD company. Why would my personal opinions generate such angst from the community while others say curse words upon one another and engage in angry discourse?

    I am not angry. I am happy and go lucky. Allow me to be!

    All that said, I am super excited about this new budget offering from AMD. AMD may not be the fastest but it is good for those of us on a tight budget. Let the rich fat cats buy the Intel products that are faster with better features. AMD fans like me enjoy a bargain and will give up quality in every aspect of a product for a good deal that is almost as good at some things!
  • lefty2 - Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - link

    mentions no noise at idle, but says nothing about noise at low load. nor does he mention noise levels when coolboost is turned off
  • Johnstron1980 - Friday, December 4, 2020 - link

    I agree with the other commenters! I was SOO close to buying the Nitro 5 2020 with a Ryzen 4800H but then... the screen is so poor. WHYYY?? It seems like a trend to put crappy panels on great Ryzen machines to save the manufacturer a buck. But it does not make sense. I would gladly pay a bit more for a better screen, but the next step up in screen quality on the market is MUCH more expensive. Surely it does not cost the manufacturer that much more to go to the next step up in screen quality?
  • Rec2020 - Monday, July 19, 2021 - link

    I got into photography a few months after getting this laptop. I edit photos on it, but something made it feel flat, and other devices always made my photos look more saturated. Despite calibrating the screen with the built in utility + using a few other on-screen gradient charts etc and having fairly accurate looking hues the saturation has always been an issue. Did some digging just to find this thing only has a 61% of sRGB gamut? Jesus! sRGB is the smallest gamut even used for ANYTHING. It's THOROUGHLY outdated, even the old analog NTSC color space from 1953 is larger than sRGB (which came out in 1993 I think). How do you manage to manufacture something in the 2020s that could be outdone by a 1950s high end CRT TV? Absolutely pathetic.
  • Rec2020 - Monday, July 19, 2021 - link

    Oh, and by the way this laptop's screen also has uneven lighting at the top from the backlights. They point outwards in a ^ shape from the top center. Not sure if it's a widespread issue, but I've seen an in store display for a slightly more recent version of this with that too. Not an issue unless darker content is displayed on screen but worth mentioning.
  • Altuzza - Monday, August 23, 2021 - link

    Even those with a stable income source and are regularly paid salaries can face an emergency when they need cash quickly. I recently used https://oncredit.vn . It literally saved me. There was no money at all. The popularity of payday loans is at its peak today. I don't see anything wrong with that.
  • Maurice Hawkins - Wednesday, February 16, 2022 - link

    It's awesome, I'm looking forward to it. I will go to https://apkcima.com/ to download the game and test it on this laptop

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now