INTRODUCTION

As some of you know by now, my second son is a gaming addict. About 5 years back, as a reward for him doing pretty well in his VCE exams, I bought him an Acer Nitro 5 with Intel i7 and 16GB RAM.

I was pretty surprised back then that the Nitro 5 was not hot compared to other notebooks/laptops with graphic cards. And the price I bought, considering it had an Intel i7 chip, was not really expensive as Acer just newly launched the Nitro 5 Gaming Notebook and it was on promotional price. The unit was bought at Low Yat Plaza KL.

In early 2019, I also bought my second son a Microsoft Surface i5 for his Master Of Science degree where he needs to take several computer programming courses. But he always wanted a Desktop Gaming Rig and below are two articles related to his new rig:

My Son Was Blessed Where He Earned AUD6K From Thin Air And Then Burned Part Of It On A Computer Gaming Rig

My Son Was Blessed With A FREE Gaming Rig – Part II

When I saw my son’s desktop rig with “Ah Beng” moving light on the Graphic Card, it made me feel like getting a unit too, haha.

My son’s desktop gaming rig cost more than RM7K. I mentioned towards the end of the Part II article above that:

But come to think of it, I am not going to build a RM7K+ computer for myself as it is a waste of money since it will be obsolete in a few years time. I think I will get myself the cheapest Acer Nitro 5 that comes with 512GB SSD considering that my son’s Acer Nitro have been performing flawlessly for the past 4 years.

And the joke to me is, my son’s Graphic Card cost close to RM2K which I can buy a new completely built  Acer Nitro 5 for another RM500 that comes with 2 years warranty.

Above statement was back in November 2019 but I did not buy the Acer Nitro 5 because my current laptops were still functioning fine.

My New Toy – Acer Nitro 5 with AMD Ryzen 7 Processor and SSD 512GB

In the above said article (Part I), I mentioned that:

As far as I am concerned, playing computer games is a waste of time…. and I am more that qualified to make this statement because I have been playing computer games ever since I was a kid – I had Apple IIe compatible, Coleco Adam (colour screen long before Apple and IBM models), many Microsoft compatible computers plus video games from Philips, Atari, Sega, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo and XBox. All of you GenY and GenZ were not even born when I was playing computer games….. but what did I gain from playing computer games? Nothing but shiok sendiri, hahaha.

I used to be a computer gaming addict too, right up to my early forties. Even while I was working, I will play computer games after work and sometimes until 6am and then go to bed to catch a few hours of sleep before going to work.

However I stopped playing computer games after I was diagnosed with Glaucoma where my right eye have been 75% damaged. The Glaucoma medications (eye drops) has many side effects and prevented me from playing games non-stop from day to night till morning. So please excuse me if there are many grammar, typos and spelling errors in my articles because I am really half blind, hahaha.

So why do I need a Gaming Laptop, i.e. Acer Nitro 5?

Before I bought the Acer Nitro 5, for my normal internet usage and watching movies, I was mainly using a 7 years old Dell 17″ i7 laptop linked to a 23″ external monitor. I had also just recently bought another ASUS 14″ Intel notebook with SSD purely just for my internet banking needs after my old Toshiba 14″ notebook was having problems.

Last month, April 2020 during the lock down, I organized a video conference for My Air Miles Disciples, and the damn Dell 17″ laptop shut down by itself because it got overheated!!! Therefore I had to break my rule and use my ASUS 14″ Intel i5 notebook, which is only to be used for my Internet Banking, for the video conference call.

After the above mentioned event, I decided to buy a new laptop.I tell you everything happens for a reason and what you think is bad is actually a blessing in disguise. Because my old Dell was giving me problems, I got reason to go buy myself a better computer with SSD so that it starts up and shut down instantly, hahaha.

So I went researching for a new Acer Nitro 5. Well, since November 2019, a newer model was launched with AMD Ryzen 7 Processor and 512GB SSD for less than RM3K. I only considered Acer Nitro 5 notebooks; because, I know for a fact from my son’s Nitro 5 usage, that it never gets really hot and it is still working perfectly after 5 years of non-stop gaming.

After 2 days of researching and checking the prices of several Nitro 5 online, i.e. Lazada, Shopee and directly with computer resellers, I decided to purchase it from Lazada for RM2833.

Now Lazada allows us to use our Maybank credit cards for 0% Installment Plans. However, I have warned you that 0% Installment Plans are traps to make you spend beyond your means; and more importantly it gives you a false impression that you have money that you don’t because the money in the bank is to be used to repay the 0% loan.

I decided to pay one shot RM2,833 with my Maybank Visa Infinite which means I also earned more than 1K air miles 🙂 Please be reminded that if you opt for 0% Installment Plan, you will only earn 1X TP with Maybank cards including their AMEX.

My new toy, i.e. Acer Nitro 5, was delivered to me on 2nd May, about a week after I ordered it. It is with shiok sendiri sensations that I present to you the unboxing of my new toy, hehe.

My New Entry Level Gaming Laptop Acer Nitro 5 Specifications:

Model Number: AN516-43-R3B4

Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 3750H

Monitor: 15.6″ Full HD, IPS 120Hz LCD

Graphic Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 1650 with 4GB RAM

Memory: 4GB RAM

Storage : 512GB SSD

Actually there is another entry level Nitro 5 with the new Intel i5 9300H which is reported to be better than the Ryzen 7 3750H selling for about RM300 more but it only comes with 256GB SSD which is like nothing. My condition was that my new notebook must have 512GB SSD and that’s why I opted for the cheaper AMD Ryzen 7. And since I am not going to use my Nitro 5 for any hardcore gaming, the AMD Ryzen 7 Processor should be more than adequate.

OK, let’s continue with the unboxing:

 

ACER Nitro 5 AN516-43-R3B4 Super Mini Review

The battery was flat when I took it out from the box. I had to connect it to the power point and only then it could start.

 

As usual we have to perform the normal standard setting up. I was directly connected to Acer where my Nitro 5 was registered. Damn easy, no need to submit any documents by mail for the warranty.

The unit came with Norton Securities but for 1 month only. This is fine with me because I also use Norton for my other computers and still have devices to add to my current Norton account as I bought multiple devices last time.

Well, I have been using the Nitro 5 for the past 24 hours (no gaming) and the keypads and the area where your palms rest while you are typing remains cool. Like I said, the beauty part of Acer Nitro 5 is that it has twin fans and many ventilation gaps.

The speakers are okay, nothing to complain.

And with SSD, the unit starts up instantly the moment I press the power On switch.

So compared to my old Dell 17″ i7 which starts up damn slow and gets very hot (I need to use an external keyboard as it is impossible for my hands to touch the damn unit), I am super happy with the Acer Nitro 5 Ryzen 7.

Window 10 Home is also included but Office 365 is a trial version.

FYI, all my home computers don’t have Microsoft Office installed for years. I have been using Open Office for years where you can download it for FREE! However, if you need to send Words or Excel files to your colleagues, then the Open Office may have some minor issues.

 

My Current Working Computers

So now I have 3 working notebooks in KL. My sons have their own notebooks and each of my daughter have an Apple Mac Air 13″. And all of us have our own iPads. My wife has 3 iPads, i.e. the normal iPad, iPad Mini and iPad Pro but she uses her Huawei P30 smartphone to watch Korean Dramas (influenced by my daughters) most of the time, hahaha.

Actually, I also have a working Apple MacAir 11″ (as shown below) too. But I hardly use it because the screen is too small for my liking.

So Bros & Sis, next time before you buy any notebook with a graphic card, better that you visit the computer stores and touch the notebooks you are considering to purchase and you will be surprised that many will be kind of hot even though they are idling. Then you go and touch an Acer Nitro 5 and you will feel the significant difference in the temperature.

Whatever it is, do not purchase an Intel Celeron laptop which are really cheap because you will be pissed off as it takes forever to start up and update. Minimum I suggest Intel Pentium or i3 processor.

Thank you all for checking out this article. And now that I have a new and faster and cooler computer, I can have more video conference gathering with My Air Miles Disciples 🙂