Acer Nitro V 16 Laptop Review

Acer’s Nitro 5 budget gaming laptops have (mostly) been incredibly popular over the years. They’ve been notable for packing a punch where it counts while keeping the costs down elsewhere. They ballooned in price during Covid but made a comeback afterwards. Now, here’s the Acer Nitro V 16 which sports a refreshed, nifty design and a relatively low price tag. Just how good can it be?

Acer Nitro V 16 Specs

Features, Ergonomics and Design

The Acer Nitro V 16 has a nifty, new, light-sensitive ‘N’ insignia on the lid and an orange backlit keyboard. These design flourishes extend into the new NitroSense app to make the Nitro V and its otherwise, all-black, geometric-line-adorned chassis, look both classy and cool. You could just about get away with it in an office, too. I approve.

It feels better-made than some predecessors though I can’t get away from the fact that the power connector often got dislodged (and disconnected) without me realising. It’s my only criticism but it feels like a design flaw.

The matte, 16-inch, 1,920 x 1,200 IPS screen is only a squeak above Full HD but it still displays a reflection-free, crisp and clear Windows Desktop with vibrant colours. Multimedia was rendered well with HDR compatibility meaning contrast was impressive and details remained visible in shadows and highlights (although the latter could blow-out in particularly bright scenes). HDR also meant that monochromatic transitions were mostly smooth and free from blockiness blight. However, noticeable stepping was evident in colourful gradients.

The quick, 165Hz screen partners with a rapid pixel response time to render fast-moving objects impressively smooth. Only pro-tier FPS player might grumble.

Above the screen is an HD webcam. While detail isn’t the best, the graininess level doesn’t change much in low-light. The microphone captures voice clearly, even in noisy environments, but I’ve heard better.

The dual-speaker specs aren’t specified, but fidelity is reasonable and they get quite loud. However, there’s a noticeable lack of bass and they sound rather tinny.

The orange-backlit keyboard is a particular highlight. The Scrabble Tile keys are comfortable and accurate to type and game upon; there are full-sized arrow keys; and a number pad. The trackpad is smooth and accurate and the buttons are well-weighted and quiet.

It all means that Acer’s Nitro V 16 is particularly pleasant to interact with.

Connectivity and Ports

Inside there’s Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. That’s not a bad complement but I did feel limited by having access to only one USB-C port.

Features, Ergonomics and Design Score: 3.3 / 5

Performance

Inside Acer’s Predator V 16 is an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS processor which has eight cores and 16 threads that operate between 3.8 and 5.1GHz (and an NPU). It’s joined by Nvidia’s mid-range 8GB GeForce RTX 4060 graphics, 16GB of DDR5-5600 RAM and a speedy, 1TB NVMe hard drive.

In the PCMark 10 benchmark, which uses applications that test every component of the system, the Predator scored an impressive 7,946 which is well above mid-table. (Score: 3.9 / 5)

In the processor-based Cinebench rendering tests, the V 16 scored 2,548 in the rapid R15 test and 15,857 in the longer R23 test. These are bang-on average compared to all the laptops we’ve tested, which is quite impressive considering that it’s a market that includes overclocked, premium chips. That said, I usually expect AMD CPUs to do even better, here. (Score: 2.5 / 5)

When it came to the 3DMark gaming tests, the Nitro scored 5,867 (average 27.2fps) and 2,566 (average 25.7fps) in the difficult, ray-tracing benchmarks, Port Royal and Speed Way (respectively). These show that the laptop is capable of playing the latest and greatest games but you might have to drop the settings to make things smooth.

In the AAA-title mimicking Time Spy and Fire Strike Extreme tests, the Nitro V 16 scored 10,440 (average 63.8fps) and 12,325 (average 57.4fps) respectively which is enough to keep everything flowing nicely without stuttering.

In the easier 3DMark Night Raid test, which apes casual and competitive games, the Nitro scored 58,821 which is represents a super-healthy framerate of 547fps.

I also ran the new CoD Blops 6 built-in benchmark. At default settings (with graphics quality optimised) and at native, 1,920 x 1,200 resolution, it averaged 123fps with the lowest one per cent of frame rates (1% Low score) being 52fps. At tweaked, Full HD resolution, with the lowest settings for maximum performance, it averaged 168fps with a 1% Low score of 73fps. So, the Nitro V 16 has no problems playing this popular game.

[Update] I also ran other UL and 3DMark benchmarks which will be folded into our reviews in 2025. Here they are for reference:

UL Procyon Microsoft Office: 7,063
UL Procyon Adobe Photo Editing: 6,382
UL Procyon Adobe Premiere: 27,844
UL Procyon Ai Vision (CPU): 83
UL Procyon Ai Vision (GPU): 605
3DMark Solar Bay: 45,796
3DMark Steel Nomad: 2,262

As for cooling, the Acer Predator V 16 often runs very quietly (even silently) without getting warm. However, when set to Turbo mode you’ll be made well aware of the robust whooshing sound (with high-pitched overtones). It’s nothing like its Mistral-like ancestors, though.

3D Performance Score: 3 / 5

Portability and Battery Life

The Nitro V 16 feels very sturdy (unlike some of its budget forebears). There’s minimal flex and creaking in the chassis, the lid only twists a little when force is applied and the hinges are robust. It should survive life on the road rather well.

It weighs a hefty 2.5KG, which is what I’d expect for a stacked 16-incher. The Power brick and cables only add another 505g to the mix too – that’s light for a gaming laptop. It’s worth labouring the point that the power connector on our review unit didn’t always stay connected, mind.

I ran our PC Mark 10 Modern Office battery test but didn’t have high expectations as the screen does not dim very much and the 59Wh battery isn’t very big. Indeed, it only managed 5 hours and 1 minute which is low, even for a gaming machine. However, this improved when we ran the UL Procyon Microsoft Office battery benchmark, where it scored 8 hours and 51 minutes. This isn’t the first discrepancy we’ve seen in these benchmarks and we’ll investigate further, down the line.

Portability and Battery Life Score: 1.4 / 5

Price, Value & Availability

The Acer Nitro V 16 can be found at OfficeWorks, right now, for $1,497. That’s incredibly low for a well-built, stylish, gaming laptop. It may go on sale shortly with Black Friday coming up, but it also could sell-out beforehand too. Right now, though, it’s won our Best Value Laptop AND Best Budget Gaming Laptop Award… outstanding!

Value Score: 5 / 5

Overall

What a return to form for the Acer Nitro! While the V 16 has some foibles – particularly with regards to battery life and the power connector – there’s no denying that the styling, features and performance on offer belie its budget nature. It’s a great buy and a worthy award winner.

Overall: 4.9 / 5

Last Updated on April 26, 2025 by Nick Ross