Review of the Acer Nitro V 16 gaming laptop (ANV16-41)

Acer has many lines of laptops in every category. This also applies to gaming models. There are flagships, mid-range, and entry-level models. Today we are going to talk about the new entry-level model Acer Nitro V 16. It is aimed at casual gamers and students and has some interesting features. For example, relatively fresh AMD Hawk Point processors. Read more about the laptop’s capabilities below in the review.

Acer Nitro V 16 (ANV16-41) specifications

Package contents

Acer Nitro V 16 has a minimal package without any bonuses, which is quite expected for a base-level model. So in the box we have a laptop, a 135W power supply, a power cable, and the necessary documentation.

It’s worth noting that the Acer Nitro V 16 is a rather large model with a 16-inch 16:10 screen, so there’s a chance it won’t fit in the laptop compartment of an old backpack.

Design and construction

Acer Nitro V 16 has a design that is quite typical for basic gaming laptops. It is restrained, without bright aggressive decorative elements and without a bunch of additional lighting. Only the red backlighting of the keyboard, as well as a simple geometric pattern and the line’s logo on the topcase give away the fact that it belongs to a gamer.

The laptop is made entirely of black plastic of two different types. The bottom part and the frame around the display are made of plastic with a rough surface. The top cover and working surface are matte smooth plastic. The surface itself is pleasant to the touch, but very marky. Fingerprints remain instantly and it is not an easy task to remove them with a microfiber.

Compared to the previous 15.6-inch Nitro V 15, the hero of the review has a more restrained top cover design. It has only a silver logo in the form of a stylized letter N in the middle. No more gray and blue diagonal stripes. Subjectively, this decision was in favor of the laptop, it looks more restrained.

A similar logo adorns the area under the Acer Nitro V 16 display. Above the keyboard, there is a large area for the cooling system to suck in cold air. Hot air flows outward from four zones: one on the side edges and two at the back. You can only feel the hot air flow if your hand and mouse are close to the side edge.

The display bezels are not the thinnest, which is quite normal for a gaming model. There are rubber strips around the perimeter to protect the display. The webcam, along with the operation indicator and two microphones, is located in the traditional place, above the display. The laptop also has a third microphone on the front edge.

The bottom of the laptop is quite standard. There are four massive rubber feet to prevent slipping on the table, lots of vents and stereo speakers. There are triangular markings in front of the rear hot air outlets.

Acer Nitro V 16 is well assembled, but the plastic surfaces bend. This is especially true of the top cover.

Connectors

Acer Nitro V 16 doesn’t have a lot of connectors, they decided to spread them out over three sides. This is a common solution for gaming models. On the left side, there is a Kensington lock connector, RJ-45 network, USB 3.2 Gen1 (Type-A), and a 3.5mm audio jack for headphones or a headset.

On the opposite side, there is only one full-size USB 3.2 Gen2 (Type-A) with the function of charging devices when the laptop is turned off and LED indicators. In a way, this is logical, so that the cables do not interfere with the hand with the mouse.

On the back are HDMI 2.1, Type-C USB 4, and a port for connecting a power supply. Of course, I would like to see a card reader and a pair of USBs, given the dimensions. But for an entry-level laptop, the set of connectors is very good.

Display

Acer Nitro V 16 is equipped with a 16-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1920×1200 pixels. Recently, the 16:10 aspect ratio has become quite popular in laptops. The refresh rate is 165 Hz and the pixel response time is 3 ms.

The budget matrix AUO B160UAN05.B. According to official information, its maximum brightness is 300 cd/m², and the static contrast is 1000:1. The color gamut is only 65%. The screen has good viewing angles and a sufficient margin of brightness, but the colors do look a little dull.

Hardware measurements have shown that the maximum screen brightness is 282,204 cd/m², the black field brightness is 0.301² cd/m, and the static contrast is 938:1. The indicators are close to the declared ones. The color accuracy is not bad, but the color gamut is really much narrower than sRGB:

Platform, performance and software

Acer Nitro V 16 is powered by AMD Ryzen 8040 series Hawk Point processors, which were announced in December last year. Nvidia GeForce 4000-series is used as a discrete graphics accelerator. We reviewed a configuration equipped with a mid-range AMD Ryzen 5 8645HS processor. It has 6 cores that can operate at a frequency of 4.4 to 5 GHz. There is support for multi-threaded computing: up to 12 threads. The standard TDP level is 45 W, and can vary in the range of 35-54 W. It includes an AMD Ryzen AI neuroprocessor for machine learning and generative AI tasks. is equipped with 16 GB of DDR5-5600 RAM and two 8 GB slots. The laptop is equipped with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5 wireless modules and Gigabit Ethernet.

The built-in AMD Radeon 760M graphics has 8 processing units and a maximum frequency of 2600 MHz. The discrete graphics card used is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop with a TGP of up to 85 watts (55 watts plus 30 watts Dynamic Boost). The amount of video memory is 8 GB, with a maximum frequency of 2090 MHz. The laptop is equipped with a MUX Switch multiplexer that allows you to connect the display directly to a discrete graphics card. This gives a slight performance boost, but increases power consumption.

Acer Nitro V 16 has a fairly powerful and balanced configuration that demonstrates high results (taking into account the price category) in synthetic tests. It has enough power for modern games, as well as for working with graphics or video:

Performance drops significantly when running on battery power, but this is not critical for a gaming model; such laptops are not bought for working on the road.

The drive used is an NVMe PCIe Gen 4.0×4 SSD, namely an OEM model manufactured by Kingston. The speed is not record-breaking, but it is quite sufficient. Up to 4800 MB/s when reading and up to 3500 MB/s when writing.

Acer Nitro V 16 handles modern games well. You can safely set medium-high settings and get a frame rate of at least 60 FPS. Cyberpunk 2077 used a preset with minimal RT, with DLSS, but without frame generation. In Days Gone, Horizon Zero Dawn, and The Ascent, you can safely crank everything to the maximum. Only Calisto Protocol with the settings cranked up to maximum sometimes drops to 50 FPS.

• Cyberpunk 2077 — 60-80 FPS (without generating frames)
• Horizon Zero Dawn — 90-140 FPS
• Days Gone — 130-140 FPS
• Calisto Protocol — 50-70 FPS
• The Ascent — 100-110 FPS

Acer Nitro V 16 is configured using the Acer Nitro Sense app. It includes system monitoring, updates, laptop and cooling system modes, diagnostics, MUX Switch, charging modes (full or 80% to extend battery life), and more.

Heating and stability of operation

The laptop uses a two-fan cooling system. Cold air is drawn in from the bottom and top, through the area above the keyboard. The hot air is discharged through four zones on the side and back. In the AIDA64 stress test, the processor heats up to 90° at first, and then the temperature stays at 87°, the system works stably, and no trotting is observed.

The average processor frequency is 4.64 GHz with a maximum of 5 GHz. The keyboard remains cold. The noise of the fans, even at maximum speed, is hardly too loud and the sound itself is not annoying.

Security and webcam

More advanced gaming laptops usually have infrared cameras or fingerprint scanners for quick identification of the owner. Basic models, like the Acer Nitro V 16, are still without them, so you will have to enter a password every time you turn on.

The webcam has HD resolution. Acer PurifiedView technology based on machine learning is used to improve the image. And the microphones support Acer PurifiedVoice 2.0 noise reduction technology. The webcam quality is mediocre, but it’s good enough for video conferencing.

Keyboard and touchpad

Acer Nitro V 16 uses a full-size keyboard with an additional number pad. The layout has a few small features, but they are not critical. The navigation block has a standard button size, but it is not separated from the rest of the keys, so the right Shift key is a little shorter.

The additional unit is not separated from the main unit. It has a Nitro Sense shortcut button, media control keys, and a power button in the corner. On the left side of the topcase, above the keyboard, there is a thin button for quickly switching modes. Subjectively, it would be logical to swap it with the power button. When I first used it, I pressed it to turn on the laptop.

The manufacturer does not specify this information, but according to my own feelings, the keys have a travel of 1.7 mm. It’s quite soft, but the trigger point is clearly felt. The keyboard is very quiet. You can only hear the quality of the sounds when you take out your anger on it after losing a game of skating. The keyboard has a bright orange backlight with four brightness levels.

The touchpad is of medium size. It has a high-quality plastic coating on which the finger slides perfectly. The sensitivity and positioning accuracy are not bad. It’s enough for basic tasks. For everything else, there’s a mouse, which is very likely to be owned by a gaming laptop owner.

Speakers 

Acer Nitro V 16 has two speakers located on the bottom of the laptop on the sides closer to the user. They have very good power, there is no need to crank up the volume to the maximum to hear the game, not the cooling system. The quality is quite expected: it’s enough for videos and movies. For music, it is better to connect external speakers.

The speakers support DTS: X Ultra virtual surround sound. For customization, there is a corresponding application with ready-made settings for different scenarios, as well as a graphic equalizer.

Battery life

Acer Nitro V 16 is powered by a 59 Wh battery. For a gaming model, this is very little. But usually such laptops are rarely used outdoors. However, in the current environment of regular power outages, battery life has become an extremely important criterion. Acer promises up to 7 hours of operation.

In real-world conditions, when working with a browser and documents with the display brightness at 50%, the laptop can withstand approximately 4.5 hours. The bundled power supply has a power of 135 W. It takes approximately 2 hours to fully charge.