7.7 / 10
SCORE Acer Nitro V 16S AI (ANV16S-41-R2AJ) $1,300 at Amazon Pros Thin, sturdy, mostly aluminum design
Big, bright 16-inch display
Ample RAM and storage for the price
Free M.2 slot to add second SSD Cons Throttled RTX 5060 limits frame rates
Flex in plastic keyboard deck make keys feel mushy
Fuzzy 720p webcam
No biometrics for easy, secure logins
Lacks fast Thunderbolt 4 or USB4 ports
It wasn't too long ago that Acer's Nitro budget gaming laptops were bulky, all-plastic affairs. This year's edition brings with it an update to Nvidia RTX 50-series graphics and an addition of aluminum for a trimmer and lighter design than the Nitro model I reviewed last year. Like last year, the 2025 model is based on a 16-inch, 1200p IPS display powered by an AMD CPU with an Nvidia GPU.
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