Gaming

[SaintRam 16,227]

2 hours ago, Beetroot said:

Can anyone advise on this gaming laptop?

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/series/nitro5

It's literally half the price of most gaming laptops but I'm only looking for a starter one for my kid (he's only 10 but has just got into coding - I know nothing about any of this).

Is this a decent buy for a starter or is it junk?

FIrst question you need to answer is: Is a laptop necessary?

With a laptop you tend to be putting most of the value into its portability; and a PC is always a better option if the user doesn't need to take it elsewhere. You could put a more powerful tower PC together for that money (or an equally powerful one for less money).

If the answer is yes, you do need a laptop, then that one looks sufficient for the games you mentioned. They're all low-spec games as they're designed to attract the highest number of possible users, rather than be pretty or require a lot of processing power.

Newer / Higher spec games might prove a struggle or require the processor to be put in Turbo mode which I believe that spec has a simple button to do - but you can cross that bridge when it comes.

Edited January 16 by SaintRam

[David 46,620]

2 minutes ago, SaintRam said:

FIrst question you need to answer is: Is a laptop necessary?

With a laptop you tend to be putting most of the value into its portability; and a PC is always a better option if the user doesn't need to take it elsewhere. You could put a more powerful tower PC together for that money (or an equally powerful one for less money).

This. 

Another point to consider is laptop batteries are not the greatest, especially when running games. Could find yourself replacing the battery after a couple of years.

PC's are also easier to upgrade. 5 years down the line, Dad, I need a more powerful graphics card, good luck replacing one in a laptop. Could look at using an eGPU but that defeats the whole purpose of a laptop in the first place.

 

[Beetroot 9,124]

9 minutes ago, SaintRam said:

FIrst question you need to answer is: Is a laptop necessary?

With a laptop you tend to be putting most of the value into its portability; and a PC is always a better option if the user doesn't need to take it elsewhere. You could put a more powerful tower PC together for that money (or an equally powerful one for less money).

If the answer is yes, you do need a laptop, then that one looks sufficient for the games you mentioned. They're all low-spec games as they're designed to attract the highest number of possible users, rather than be pretty or require a lot of processing power.

Newer / Higher spec games might prove a struggle or require the processor to be put in Turbo mode which I believe that spec has a simple button to do - but you can cross that bridge when it comes.

 

3 minutes ago, David said:

This. 

Another point to consider is laptop batteries are not the greatest, especially when running games. Could find yourself replacing the battery after a couple of years.

PC's are also easier to upgrade. 5 years down the line, Dad, I need a more powerful graphics card, good luck replacing one in a laptop. Could look at using an eGPU but that defeats the whole purpose of a laptop in the first place.

 

Ok thanks. I've decided to buy it. Wouldn't consider a desktop at this age - maybe ill upgrade it next year and I'll have this one for work. Its prettier than mine with all its lights.

[Van der MoodHoover 12,463]

14 minutes ago, Beetroot said:

Junk then?

Not rubbish - but I think the ad is a bit naughty. Bit like being captivated by the look of the iphone 11 and then finding you've bought the iphone 9. It'll work, but as others have said, the tech has moved on (and continues to do so at a pace).

 

I once put my own PC together from best of breed components with the intention of upgrading the components as and when - which of course never happened....and the thing was obsolete within 3 years.....🤣

[Beetroot 9,124]

23 minutes ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

Not rubbish - but I think the ad is a bit naughty. Bit like being captivated by the look of the iphone 11 and then finding you've bought the iphone 9. It'll work, but as others have said, the tech has moved on (and continues to do so at a pace).

 

I once put my own PC together from best of breed components with the intention of upgrading the components as and when - which of course never happened....and the thing was obsolete within 3 years.....🤣

It'll be a considerable upgrade on my laptop though I imagine - which is what he's using at the moment. I think it cost me about £400 6 years ago.

[Van der MoodHoover 12,463]

8 minutes ago, Beetroot said:

It'll be a considerable upgrade on my laptop though I imagine - which is what he's using at the moment. I think it cost me about £400 6 years ago.

Oh yes - i would certainly agree with that. And if your laptop was a business one, it wouldn't have had the all-important gaming class graphics card so he'd notice a big difference. 

[TimRam 1,377]

43 minutes ago, David said:

This. 

Another point to consider is laptop batteries are not the greatest, especially when running games. Could find yourself replacing the battery after a couple of years.

PC's are also easier to upgrade. 5 years down the line, Dad, I need a more powerful graphics card, good luck replacing one in a laptop. Could look at using an eGPU but that defeats the whole purpose of a laptop in the first place.

 

Also a lot of newer laptops are a pain to even upgrade the ram or hard drive. Older ones are a lot easier strangely enough. Just a screw to undo the back panel (as in the case of my 2012 Toshiba).

[DarkFruitsRam7 14,617]

4 hours ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

Oh yes - i would certainly agree with that. And if your laptop was a business one, it wouldn't have had the all-important gaming class graphics card so he'd notice a big difference. 

@Beetroot is the most unprofessional businessman you’ll ever meet.

Edited January 16 by DarkFruitsRam7

[Beetroot 9,124]

1 hour ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

@Beetroot is the most unprofessional businessman you’ll ever meet.

 

[Beetroot 9,124]

@Van der MoodHoover

Which is a better processor?

ACER Nitro 5 17.3" Gaming Laptop - Intel® Core™ i5, GTX 1650, 256 GB SSD

ACER Nitro 5 15.6" Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 5, GTX 1650, 256 GB SSD

The 17.3" is only a bit more expensive but sounds like a massive screen! Too big?

[Van der MoodHoover 12,463]

6 hours ago, Beetroot said:

@Van der MoodHoover

Which is a better processor?

ACER Nitro 5 17.3" Gaming Laptop - Intel® Core™ i5, GTX 1650, 256 GB SSD

ACER Nitro 5 15.6" Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 5, GTX 1650, 256 GB SSD

The 17.3" is only a bit more expensive but sounds like a massive screen! Too big?

The i5 is not intels state of the art processor any more and AMD have been getting slightly better results, with better prices, on the Ryzen chips. 

So it looks to me like the somewhat higher cost of the bigger screen is being offset by putting a cheaper i5 chip in. 

On balance I'd be leaning towards the second one. If your son's genuinely using it on lap then 15 in is plenty of screen. So he'll get a slightly better visual experience with the faster AMD chip. (although the GPU is the same, the AMD will be passing more instructions more quickly so should on balance look "better" in high action animation). 

And there's a few Bob beer money for dad..... 🤣

[BIllyD 723]

51 minutes ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

The i5 is not intels state of the art processor any more and AMD have been getting slightly better results, with better prices, on the Ryzen chips. 

So it looks to me like the somewhat higher cost of the bigger screen is being offset by putting a cheaper i5 chip in. 

On balance I'd be leaning towards the second one. If your son's genuinely using it on lap then 15 in is plenty of screen. So he'll get a slightly better visual experience with the faster AMD chip. (although the GPU is the same, the AMD will be passing more instructions more quickly so should on balance look "better" in high action animation). 

And there's a few Bob beer money for dad..... 🤣

Might be a bit warm for the lap given the temps the GPU reportedly runs at 🔥

[Beetroot 9,124]

1 hour ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

The i5 is not intels state of the art processor any more and AMD have been getting slightly better results, with better prices, on the Ryzen chips. 

So it looks to me like the somewhat higher cost of the bigger screen is being offset by putting a cheaper i5 chip in. 

On balance I'd be leaning towards the second one. If your son's genuinely using it on lap then 15 in is plenty of screen. So he'll get a slightly better visual experience with the faster AMD chip. (although the GPU is the same, the AMD will be passing more instructions more quickly so should on balance look "better" in high action animation). 

And there's a few Bob beer money for dad..... 🤣

Brilliant thanks MoodHoover!

[Beetroot 9,124]

22 minutes ago, BIllyD said:

Might be a bit warm for the lap given the temps the GPU reportedly runs at 🔥

That's his problem.