Acer Nitro V 16 AI review: The best budget gaming laptop

These preset fan modes are part of Acer’s NitroSense software, allowing you to balance performance, fan noise and battery life to suit your needs. Performance mode is the default, but you can crank it up to Turbo mode to set the fans to maximum speed — and that’s where the problems lie. While these modes can give you up to 6 percent faster frame rates and cooler internal temperatures, they can also drain your battery in some games. Anything GPU heavy, e.g Cyberpunk 2077will be drained in Turbo and Performance modes. Only in balanced mode will the battery stay charged, which turns on automatically once the battery level drops to 40 percent. Meanwhile, games that are more CPU heavy, e.g Marvel competitors-It does not drain the battery at all when plugged in.

It’s all bad. Acer shouldn’t sell a product that can’t do the things buyers assume it can do. If the company can’t charge the product using a high-powered power charger, I’d at least prefer it disable Turbo mode or add a notification to warn players when they’re playing in a mode that’s losing battery. Acer also doesn’t support higher-wattage power adapters, so at least for now, you’re stuck with what you get.

I don’t know if this is necessarily the end of the world. The 5 percent difference between Balanced and Turbo mode isn’t enough that most people will even notice, and many gamers might be turned off by the crazy fan noise that occurs in Turbo anyway. Balanced mode still offers very playable frame rates, especially if you want to use some upscaling. I have a bigger problem with it in The most expensive Nitro V 16S configurationswhich cost more and aim for a more premium experience.

So, while the 135-watt power adapter keeps the Nitro V 16 from greatness, price is paramount in a product like this. The retail price for the Acer Nitro V 16 is $899, which is already cheaper than many of its competitors. However, at a retail price of $629, its issues are easier to overlook.