Hey, how's it going? Dave2D here
So this is the Nitro Spin 5. This is the 2-in-1 convertible from Acer
that's supposed to do everything
Work, play, media consumption, everything
Because it's a 2-in-1 hybrid device that has a GTX 1050 in it,
like the entry-level gaming card
And, it's coupled with a Kaby Lake-R CPU
So like a quad-core 8th generation CPU
So, it's not like super powerful, but it's like an entry level hybrid laptop
that doesn't cost too much money,
but should be a good fit for a lot of different people
So this thing's build quality is quite good, it's actually better than I thought it would be
for the price. It's fully aluminum with a brushed finish up top
And even the keyboard deck is aluminum.
Now, the design is actually something I like
You don't see like, colored hinges very often
I don't love the color red, but I do like the fact that they colored the hinge
and the chamfered edge. I do wish it was a different color
instead of red, like if this was blue, it would look awesome but,
I do like the design. One thing about the build though is that
The hinge is quite stiff, and I'm not sure if they done this with purpose...
Like maybe there's some intent to this because when it's in the different modes,
like tent mode and presentation mode, maybe it's kinda beneficial
to have a stiff hinge for tapping the screen, but
when you're just flipping it around to put it into different positions, it is stiff.
Alright, this thing is a 2-in-1 device
So theoretically, it can used as a tablet
The thing is..
It's a very big device, right? 15 inch tablet feels kind of ridiculous
to begin with. It's not comfortable to hold it like that
Like within the ten seconds of holding this, it's like- it's a bit of a workout
But it can be used in tent mode and presentation mode quite nicely.
Now, getting into the inside is actually pretty easy.
It's a few screws, and you're in there,
you can upgrade the two drives, so there's an M.2 drive
and a 2.5 inch bay. It's kind of strange to see
a thinner 2-in-1 device like this to have a swappable hard drive, but that's kind of nice.
The RAM however, is soldered on which is unfortunate
Because, otherwise you would be able to upgrade this thing quite a bit.
Okay, the battery is 50 watt hours, it's not particularly large
And I just kinda felt the battery life won't be very good because,
it's a 15 inch screen, 50 watt hour battery, but it's actually pretty good
7.5 hour battery life with the screen at 250 nits.
Now, the charger they supply is a barrel plug, but it's actually
a smaller adapter. It's only 90 watts.
You could actually power this whole laptop through USB-C.
So the keyboard and the trackpad are both good...
They're like not amazing or anything, but good
Backlighting on the keyboard with a decent layout and a number pad
And I find the keystrokes to be... they're okay
It's not like super tactile or anything, it's an average keyboard
The trackpad is a plastic surface, does have a fingerprint sensor which is nice,
but I found the tracking to be... I want to say laggy,
like that's just not the right word, I don't know how to describe it,
It just feels a little bit different, as if it wasn't using
Windows Precision drivers, but it is.
The button mechanism and the gestures work nicely.
The ports selection is pretty good. You get a bunch of USB's,
and a full size SD slot.
Okay, the screen looks pretty good. When it comes out of the box,
it has a greenish hue to it, but once you calibrate it, it looks good.
Color gamut is decent, and so is the brightness.
I kind of wished it was a little bit brighter, because it is a 2-in-1 device
You might be using this outdoors more frequently, but yeah, decent screen
Especially for the money. I was expecting a much worse screen,
considering this is a $1000 device. It's a touchscreen
and it also supports a pen. Acer makes one
It's the Active Stylus or something like that, but it doesn't come with the product
You have to purchase it separately. Now, the stiffer hinge
that I mentioned before is actually nice when it comes to pen input
in laptop mode. It's that the screen doesn't wobble very much.
There are two speakers, and a sub underneath.
They sound good, not amazing or anything. But it doesn't
have much bass, despite having that sub.
Performance is solid. It's a Kaby Lake-R, so four-core CPU
coupled with a GTX 1050, and it's not a combination you see very often
Most companies are sticking
this GPU with a more powerful CPU, but it actually works nicely
with this. You're getting pretty good framerates in games, like you can hit
60 frames per second for most of the light
to moderately demanding games, if you drop the quality a bit.
Now, the thermals on this thing are... well, they're not amazing
I wished that they were better. They're acceptable because it is a
2-in-1 device. Not trying to be like ultra-hardcore gaming.
It does throttle when you benchmark, not when you're playing games
It's definitely not noticeable when you're playing games
But if you benchmark or if you're running stress tests, there are some thermal limitations
I think the problem comes from the heat pipes. We've seen this design before
on other Acer laptops, where the CPU and GPU
run in series like this, and it's just not the best way to cool it
But it is cost-effective, and because it is only
a 15 watt CPU, it doesn't put out crazy amount of heat
You can kinda get away with it. Now something I notice that
If you play your games kind of like in this weird way where you use
the laptop kind of in presentation mode,
and you have an external mouse and keyboard, the thermals are actually
a little bit better. You don't need to play like this, but you can.
It's actually a lot more comfortable than it may seem.
I mean the screen is a little bit closer, it's just a little bit of a different experience
The webcam up on top. 720p, it's not particularly good
like this is what it looks like. The fans are quiet on idle
And not too loud either when it's on load.
So overall, this laptop, or the hybrid 2-in-1 device, is
very good for a lot of people. Now, it's not built
for like hardcore gaming. I feel like, with the red accents and stuff
And the way they market it, it might kind of con someone
to thinking that this is somehow a really hardcore gaming laptop, it isn't.
It's a great kind of hybrid device that's good for
a lot of people. I think it's good for people like students
or just someone who wants the versatility of the 2-in-1 device,
for casual or moderate gaming. And if you want something
that has like tent mode or presentation mode for media consumption
This is great. But if you want something that's like tablet mode where
you want to be able to use this thing in your hand all the time,
This is way too big for that.
I think for most people, it wouldn't be comfortable as a tablet.
Okay, hope you guys enjoyed this video!
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See you guys next time!