2020 Acer Nitro 5 will be available with AMD Ryzen 4000 CPU

by Mark Tyson on 22 April 2020, 12:11

Tags: Acer (TPE:2353), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), AMD (NYSE:AMD), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaekq2

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Acer announced several new and refreshed gaming laptops earlier this month. Alongside many other brands it piggybacked its announcement on Intel's 10th Gen Core H-series chips for gaming laptops launch, which coincided with Nvidia's GeForce RTX Super GPUs for laptops launch. On that busy day (2nd April), as well as looking closely at the new CPUs, HEXUS reported upon new gaming and creator laptops from the likes of Asus, Gigabyte and Lenovo. Then, a week ago, we got our first Comet Lake/RTX Super laptop in the labs for a thorough test and review, the Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR (2020).

At the time Acer launched several new and refreshed laptops, including the 2020 Acer Nitro 5. This is an affordable but powerful choice that sports up to a "10th Gen Intel Core i7 processor delivering 5GHz and graphics options of a GeForce RTX 2060, or the latest GeForce GTX 1650Ti or 1650 GPUs". Now Acer (Germany) has announced that there will be an AMD powered Nitro 5 gaming laptop choice for customers. However, some will find it irksome that the Intel version of the Nitro 5 provides better graphics and larger screen options to customers, compared to what it is offering to those who would prefer to choose the AMD CPU.

AMD fans may appreciate the choice of an AMD Ryzen Renoir CPUs up to the 8C/16T Ryzen 7 4800H in the Nitro 5. Acer says this model comes with a matte 15.6-inch 300nits Full HD IPS panel, with refresh rate of up to 144Hz. When one looks at the Intel equipped choices though, users get to pick between the latest Intel Core i5-10300H (4C/8T) and i7-10750H (6C/12T) CPUs, and an identical sounding 15.6-inch panel, as well as a 17.3-inch screen equipped version. Furthermore, while the AMD packing Acer Nitro 5 can be configured with "up to GeForce GTX 1650 Ti," the Intel version can be specced up to an RTX 2060.

I spotted the above AMD/Intel 2020 Acer Nitro 5 model discrepancy in a report by NotebookCheck, a portal which covers laptop releases extensively. The site asserted that it is increasingly common to see AMD options paired with "lesser" complementary hardware. If true, this isn't an optimal thing for consumers.

Pricing & Availability

  • The Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-55) with Intel processors and 15.6-inch display is expected to be available from mid-June at recommended retail prices starting at EUR 899.
  • The Acer Nitro 5 (AN517-52) with Intel processors and 17.3-inch display is expected to be available from mid-June at recommended retail prices starting at 999 EUR.
  • The Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-44) with AMD processors and 15.6-inch display is expected to be available from mid-June at recommended retail prices starting at EUR 899.

HEXUS Forums :: 7 Comments

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Posted by Tabbykatze - Wed 22 Apr 2020 13:04
Another example of a weird lockout effect happening to AMD laptops.

What possible reason is there not to have a 1660/1660ti or even an RTX2060?
Posted by this_is_gav - Wed 22 Apr 2020 13:47
Tabbykatze
Another example of a weird lockout effect happening to AMD laptops.

What possible reason is there not to have a 1660/1660ti or even an RTX2060?

Hi Acer,

Can you please provide your account number and sort code.

Kind regards,

Intel.
Posted by KultiVator - Wed 22 Apr 2020 14:28
Tabbykatze
Another example of a weird lockout effect happening to AMD laptops.

What possible reason is there not to have a 1660/1660ti or even an RTX2060?

The first wave of devices might be a bit tentative until the braver OEMs like ASUS prove there's healthy demand for the AMD parts.

It's also possible some of the OEMs are awaiting the ‘Big Navi’ GPUs before unleashing a fuller range of all-AMD laptops.
Posted by LSG501 - Wed 22 Apr 2020 15:44
KultiVator
Tabbykatze
Another example of a weird lockout effect happening to AMD laptops.

What possible reason is there not to have a 1660/1660ti or even an RTX2060?

The first wave of devices might be a bit tentative until the braver OEMs like ASUS prove there's healthy demand for the AMD parts.
Which is daft and incredibly biased because lets be honest people wanting a gaming laptop will be wanting the best cpu/gpu they can afford because you can't just swap it out later down the line.

So artificially restricting the sales of AMD hardware by limiting the gpu side of things is pretty poor.
Posted by KultiVator - Wed 22 Apr 2020 17:24
LSG501
Which is daft and incredibly biased because lets be honest people wanting a gaming laptop will be wanting the best cpu/gpu they can afford because you can't just swap it out later down the line.

So artificially restricting the sales of AMD hardware by limiting the gpu side of things is pretty poor.

Totally agree, but I'd imagine AMD are probably offering incentives to OEMs that'll take an all-AMD chipset+CPU+GPU combo. But right now, the new AMD GPUs (with XBox Series X / PS5 style power and RayTracing) are not ready to ship. Hopefully, we'll see that change in the second half of the year.

The OEMs also know that Intel will get themselves back in the game (eventually) - although it seems they have a mountain to climb to fix their security holes and finally make the move to the smaller, more efficient fabrication processes. Can they do it before AMD have moved the game on yet again?

I doubt any OEM will want to close the door on Intel, but the braver ones stand to do nicely out of AMD's strong resurgence - and smart consumers appreciate having choices.

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