Reddit reviews Acer Nitro 5 AN515 Laptop: Core i5-8300H, 15.6inch Full HD IPS Display, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, NVidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Graphics (Renewed)

A friend of mine got this model, but they make a 1060 + 16gb of ram version. Although with your budget, you could definitly spring for something beefier like this

Remember that for Paradox games, the CPU is super important

Honestly dude just look at r laptop deals and slickdeals and look for an i5 with 8gb ram and ssd would be my criteria (Absolute must).

I have and like the acer nitro 5 as it's good for gaming as well it has a gtx 1050ti (btw you only need dedicated graphics if you like gaming this was the older one though so i'm not sure about the new gen) and costs around $600 on sale ($550 if you can wait) https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Nitro-AN515-Laptop-i5-8300H/dp/B07KSK447S/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_147_lp_tr_t_2/130-8322783-1713326?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=GZB9JSMRX5Q8R3HRZ44K. The downsides to this one is the battery life is not the best and it is heavy.

There are lighter options with better battery life as well without a good graphics card for around the same range.

I doubht umbc is any cheaper than amazon, newegg, best buy or costco on sale.

I'd say 5-$600 is a good amount to spend and will last you 4 years.

Basically you can pick 2 of the 3:

1. Good GPU
   
2. Good battery life and weight
   
3. Good price <$600
   
   I've found it's not worth it to try to save $1-200 here for a laptop and to invest more.
   
   At the same time there's no way in hell i'm paying more than $700 for a laptop so the people that say spend $1200 should be ignored unless you want all 3 of the criteria on the list above.
   
   BTW umbc cs is very linux centric for almost all classes. I've basically never used windows for coding. Windows is really only used for Malware analysis and for that class they give you a VM with XP on it.
   
   Hope this helps.

This is $650 but it'll run fortnite over 60fps. You won't be able to run fortnite well on a laptop for $400 or less

Acer Nitro 5 AN515 Laptop: Core i5-8300H, 15.6inch Full HD IPS Display, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, NVidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Graphics (Renewed) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KSK447S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_aOpTCbF61HQDT

These series not bad. But some users says it have thermal problem. I will buy nitro 5 an515-54

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Nitro-i5-9300H-Windows-Renewed/dp/B07VYRVHT1/ref=mp_s_a_1_13?keywords=acer+nitro+5+2019&qid=1571718960&sprefix=acer+nitri&sr=8-13

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Nitro-AN515-Laptop-i5-8300H/dp/B07KSK447S/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?keywords=acer+nitro+5+2019&qid=1571718960&sprefix=acer+nitri&sr=8-4

You have the [Nitro 5](https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Nitro-AN515-Laptop-i5-8300H/dp/B07KSK447S/ref=as_li_ss_tl?keywords=nitro+5&qid=1564766220&s=electronics&sr=1-5&linkCode=ll1&tag=gaming0789-20&linkId=f8868c5713f7170ab16a96ff756ee17e) which consist of a i5 8th gen processor, gt 1050ti gpu which performs well for light gaming. Ips screen display for wide angle viewing and 6 hours of battery life.

you can check out the [acer nitro 5] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B07KSK447S/ref=as_li_ss_tl?crid=109WOGE1AC42F&keywords=acer+nitro+5&qid=1556073476&s=electronics&sprefix=acer+nitro+5,electronics,212&sr=1-3&linkCode=ll2&tag=gaming0789-20&linkId=de92cdb44d4140c2b12840a22a615d0d&language=en_US) which has the 1050Ti, IPS screen display, great processor performance for it's price and 7 hours battery life.

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Nitro-AN515-Laptop-i5-8300H/dp/B07KSK447S/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_147_tr_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3JEQSKEC75Y6HB352EQ5

This is probably the best refurbished deal for you. (Note that you have only one drive bay though - you cant have HDD+SSD combo and drive size is quite limiting)

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIACYN90X2234&ignorebbr=1

this one is used, but doesnt look half bad (Screw Newegg naming conventions, its this one: https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/dell-xps-15)

Now obviously 600 is kinda low budget for actual gaming laptop, but these two have IMO good balance between form factor, cooling and performance

It’s that or this

The BEST I could find at that price range.. Remember, there's a lot of tradeoffs when you go for a mid range gaming laptop versus a mid range gaming PC. I'm confident that for a few more bucks, you could build an equivalent desktop plus buy a Chromebook for schoolwork.

I would recommend this Acer Nitro 5

The display cover has a brushed-metal look to it and you can open it with one hand.

Ram is easily upgradeable, SSD is also upgradable but it needs a little more work.

Keyboard is backlit chiclet keyboard (only red) and it can be turned on and off, with good travel and precision.

Touchpad supports multi-touch gestures and it is big enough to use them, with clear pressure point.

Screen is not super bright, so it might struggle in direct sunlight, and color coverage is also not great but slightly above average at 40% RGB and 62% sRGB.

Screen doesn't have Screen flickering / PWM and it has IPS panel so the viewing angles are great, but response time is not great too.

CPU throttle a little and gets hot (to the point that it is painful to use on your lap), but for general usage and most games it shouldn't have a big negative impact.

GPU is powerful enough to run Age of Empires on Medium to high settings, you can view the expected FPs from this link

https://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-1050-Ti-Notebook.168400.0.html

Fan noise is very low during idle or light usage, but rather loud during gaming, but that is to be expected.

Battery life during non gaming usage is very good for a gaming laptop at around 5.5-6.5 hours.