Is Acer Nitro 5 a good gaming laptop for Fortnite?

How well does the Nitro 5 run Fortnite?

I played a few rounds of Fortnite on Epic and Medium graphics settings to get a feel for performance. I used a model containing an AMD Ryzen 5 2500U processor (CPU), 8 GB of RAM, a 1 TB hard-disk drive (HDD), and an AMD Radeon RX 560X graphics card (GPU),

The Nitro 5 was able to hit an average of 37.9 frames-per-second (FPS) on Epic and 78.5 FPS on Medium, which is excellent considering the 15.6-inch 1080p display maxes out at 60 Hz. I didn't notice any significant dips in FPS, and performance was smooth through all rounds when playing on Medium. On High, you'll likely notice a few dips below 60 FPS during frantic action.

I likewise played some Dying Light and Path of Exile to get an average FPS on games that require a bit more power. On "Best Performance" settings, the Nitro 5 averaged 34 FPS in Dying Light, while in Path of Exile it averaged 69 FPS with a mix of Low and Medium settings.

Where's the best place to buy an Acer Nitro 5?

Acer teamed up with Best Buy to offer a bunch of Nitro 5 configurations — including a couple of exclusives — starting at $600 and going up to about $720. You can choose from Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA hardware, there are price-match guarantees, and you can take advantage of financing and free delivery.

Which hardware should you choose at checkout?

I tested Fortnite on a Nitro 5 with Ryzen 5 2500U CPU and Radeon RX 560X, which costs about $660. Fans of AMD will be able to get solid Fortnite performance, but there are cheaper models available. A $600 option has an 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8300H CPU and NVIDIA GTX 1050 GPU inside, which combined should offer performance similar to the AMD hardware.

For the best performance possible, you'll want to take a look at the $720 model with a Core i5-8300H CPU and a NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti GPU that will outperform the standard GTX 1050 and the Radeon RX 560X.

Thanks to a couple of easy-access panels on the bottom of the Nitro 5, RAM and 2.5-inch storage upgrades are about as easy as possible. All models come with a single 8 GB stick of RAM which leaves a second slot open, and there's also room for adding an M.2 SSD if you buy a model with HDD.

Acer's Nitro 5 is a relatively affordable gaming laptop that can easily handle Fortnite

Even if you opt for the cheapest Nitro 5 model available, you should still be able to hit 60 FPS at 1080p with Medium settings selected. Going with a model that has inside a GTX 1050 Ti should propel you to a smooth ride on Epic settings, which makes the game look as good as possible.