It’s a new year, so it’s time for all the different hardware manufacturers to showcasing their new hardware and attempt to convince you of parting with money that you already don’t have. Acer has continued to deliver on the value front with its brand and provides great quality laptops with a wide range of options to suit different wallets. Here’s what it has in store for 2021, in case you need a new workhorse.
Aspire 5 and 7
Acer’s Aspire devices are your usual budget series machines, though that has also sometimes led to shortcuts in specs and quality over the years that have not always well received. However, the company has announced it is bringing AMD’s new Ryzen 5000 processors to two new Aspire models, along with some new graphics cards and other spec improvements.
The higher spec’d Aspire 7 pairs the Ryzen chip with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU. Not the most powerful gaming PC, but one that should still suffice for the budget user wanting some light gaming sessions. It weighs 2.15 kg and can include up to 32GB of DDR4 memory and 1TB of PCIe SSD storage. It supports Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) and has a 15.6-inch FHD display. At a recommended pricing starting at $750, it’s well-priced.
The very budget-friendly Aspire 5 swaps out the Nvidia chip for AMD’s entry-level Radeon RX 640 GPU and allow for a maximum of up to 24GB of memory and 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD NVMe storage and/or a 2TB HDD and a 15.6-inch FHD IPS display. It features the same Wi-Fi 6 support as the Ryzen 7. It is expected to retail for $550.
We don’t have pricing details for these new laptops yet, but Acer has confirmed that both models should be available locally from the end of next month meaning you won’t need to wait long if you want to get your hands on one of these. These models have never been about sleek and sexy styling but should offer some decent performance for what you pay for.
Nitro 5
If you are keen on something more powerful though, the company also announced a new Nitro 5 laptop, which brings in that ultra-fast gaming performance. The new Nitro 5 will release with support of both the new 11th Gen Core H35-series processors or AMD’s Ryzen 5000-series CPUs and have the option of several powerful GPUs to match, up to the Nvidia’s RTX 3080. The laptops will come with a minimum of 8GB RAM and 256 GB NVMe SSD, though this can be expanded on quite considerably on both sides.
That flexibility in configurations should already appeal to the needs of many different gamers, but it’s the 1440p display with a fast 165Hz refresh rate or a 1080p screen with a 360Hz refresh rate that is perhaps the most impressive thing about the hardware.
Predator Triton
If you want a gaming PC that looks less colourful and more like a normal business laptop, then the new Predator Triton 300 SE is perhaps more suited to your tastes. Unlike the Nitro, it looks pretty unassuming on the outside, but still packs some pretty decent gaming specs and comes with Intel’s new 5GHz i7-11375H processor and Nvidia’s latest RTX 3060 GPU.
The laptop also offers a 14-inch FHD panel with a 144 Hz refresh rate and Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2 Gen 2, and HDMI ports for connectivity and weighs just 1.7kg and slimmer profile than your typical gaming laptop. The company was light on pricing any further details for this machine though did give a price of $1399,99 without providing full details of all the specs included in that price.
Acer continues their strategy of offering many different models to suit different tastes and its nice to see that they will be bringing on the latest new chips across all their new releases. Hopefully, this flexibility coupled with improved performance can help them to grow their userbase during the year.
Last Updated: January 14, 2021
