ASUS TUF Vs Acer Nitro 5: Which is Better in 2024?

By: Editorial Team

In this article, we compare two budget gaming laptops – ASUS TUF and Acer Nitro. Here’s everything you need to know about ASUS TUF Vs Acer Nitro.

ASUS TUF vs Acer Nitro 5 Overview

ASUS TUF
Acer Nitro
Design (5)
4
4
Build Quality (5)
2
3
Upgradeability (5)
4
4
Display (5)
3
4
Thermals (5)
4
3
Performance (5)
4
4
Battery Life (5)
2
3
Total (35)
23
25

ASUS TUF- Pros & Cons

ASUS TUF Gaming F15 Laptop, 15.6' 144Hz FHD IPS-Type Display, Intel Core i7-11800H Processor, GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB PCIe SSD, Wi-Fi 6, Windows 11 Home, FX506HEB-IS73

Pros

Solid Performance

Affordable

Decent Cooling System

Lightweight

Cons

Not The Best Build Quality

Poor Battery Life

Poor Display

Acer Nitro 5 – Pros & Cons

No products found.

Pros

Great Performance

Decent Build Quality

Decent Display

Cons

Poor Battery Life

Display Lid Has A Lot Of Flex

Runs Hot

Design, Build Quality & Upgradeability

ASUS redesigned the TUF and made it thinner and lighter than its predecessor – the ASUS FX504. It still has similarities to the ASUS FX504. But, it looks better overall.

ASUS managed to shave off some weight and thickness. The ASUS TUF weighs 4.7 lbs (2.13 kg) and an inch thick. Although it is still a thick gaming laptop. It is lightweight and you can easily carry it around.

Most of the ports are also found on the left side whiles the rest is on the right.

The design is almost clean that is if you go with the Gold Steel colour. No red lines or streak are running around the body. Just an all-black colour with a muted logo.

ASUS FX505 Review

The red fusion and red matter colours have a few red lines running around its body. The display lid and keyboard deck are brushed and you might mistake them for brushed aluminium.

If you look closely enough the ASUS TUF design looks like a cross between its previous model and the ROG line.

The build quality is not impressive. ASUS says it’s military tested. But, at its price point, you shouldn’t expect great build quality. It is completely made from plastic. And the display and keyboard area easily flexes.

However, the keyboard is RGB and for a budget gaming laptop is a great feature to have.

The ASUS TUF is easy to upgrade. Removing a few screws on the underside will reveal the internal components. From there, you can upgrade the RAM, SSD, HDD and WLAN card.

Acer also redesigned the Acer Nitro. But, not so much. It resembles the previous Acer Nitro and the red and black Acer Predator.

The Acer Nitro does away with most of its red lines and streaks. A low-key aggressive look.

In addition to that, the corners of the laptop seem to be cut off. The only part of the laptop that has red accents is the keyboard, trackpad and the area under the display.

Aside from that, red accents are nowhere to be found. The keyboard is backlit though not RGB but red in colour.

The Acer Nitro also has black lines that run diagonally on the laptop and are parallel to each other. Overall, the Acer Nitro looks so much better than the previous model and the ASUS TUF.

Acer Nitro 5 Review

For the build quality, it is made entirely of plastic. And as with most gaming laptops, the display has quite a bit of flex.

The only good thing is that the rest of the laptop is sturdy. It also weighs 5.1 lbs (2.3 kg) and an inch thick.

Not exactly your thin and light gaming laptop. But, still far better than what gaming laptops used to be. You can also easily upgrade the Acer Nitro.

Opening it will reveal the internal components. From there you can upgrade the RAM, SSD, HDD and WLAN card. Two SSD slots allow you to take advantage of RAID 0. SSDs in RAID 0 have better transfer speeds.

Display

First things first, budget gaming laptops do not have impressive displays.

The ASUS TUF rocks a Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS matte display. There are no options for a 4K display. The viewing angles are good and the display has a slim bezel design. But, only on the bottom.

acer nitro 5
Acer Nitro 5

The display also isn’t bright. And so outdoor use will be quite difficult. Depending on the model, the display can have a refresh rate of 60Hz, 120Hz, 144Hz or 240Hz. The higher the refresh rate the better.

Because they reduce visual distortions – screen tearing, stuttering and ghosting. However, it doesn’t make sense to go with a high refresh rate.

If the gaming laptop is not powerful. The colour accuracy is below average and so colours will look washed out.

Overall, there is nothing special about the ASUS TUF display.

The Acer Nitro has a slightly better display than the ASUS TUF. It has a Full HD (1920 x 1080) 15.6 inch IPS matte display.

It has excellent viewing angles and is sharp. It is also bright enough to be used outdoors.

asus tuf
ASUS TUF

The gaming laptop also has 60Hz and 144Hz display options. Colours accuracy is above average and so colours will look decent.

The display also has a slim bezel design albeit only on the sides. You can also open the lid with one hand.

All in all, the Acer Nitro has a pretty average display. But, it is far better than the ASUS TUF.

Thermals

High temperatures. Every gamer’s concern. It’s a known fact that high temperatures can cause thermal throttling, crashing and slowly damage your laptop. Gaming laptops are known to get notoriously hot.

Because powerful components are packed in the slim chassis. And both budget gaming laptops get hot. The question is which one is cooler?

asus tuf teardown
ASUS TUF Teardown Credit Laptopmedia

The cooling system of the ASUS TUF is unchanged from the previous model. It has two vents in total.

A large grill vent at the back runs from right to left. And a vent on the underside. There are no vents on the sides.

Looking inside the laptop. The ASUS TUF has three heat pipes and two fans. Two heat pipes are shared by the CPU and GPU.

And the last heat pipe sits on the GPU. The heat plates are large with the GPU heat plate being the largest.

Despite the few heat pipes and vents. The ASUS TUF manages high temperatures well. That is if you go with the Ryzen and Intel Core i5 models. The temperatures are not so high to cause any thermal throttling.

Still, the high temperatures will slowly damage it. Applying the thermal paste and undervolting it will at least reduce it by a few degrees. The reason why the Ryzen APUs do not run so hot is because of power consumption.

Compared to the Intel processor, it has lower power consumption and so doesn’t give off a lot of heat. But, at the cost of lower base clocks.

The Acer Nitro 5 runs hotter than the ASUS TUF. It has three vents in total. One large grill vent at the back that covers the entire length of the laptop, one vent on the right side and vents on the underside.

Opening the Acer Nitro you will see two fans located on one side and three heat pipes in total.

Two of the heat pipes are shared by the CPU and GPU. And one heat pipe for the GPU. The cooling system is similar to the red and black Acer Predator. And that was a hot gaming laptop.

The Acer Nitro is no different. The Acer Nitro quickly gets hot, especially during long gaming sessions.

The good thing is that it doesn’t thermal throttle. The surface temperature also gets quite hot and uncomfortable when gaming.

Overall, the ASUS TUF does a better job at cooling than the Acer Nitro. However, undervolting and applying thermal paste will give you better temperatures and performance.

On a side note, the Intel variants are always going to run hotter than the AMD Ryzen variants.

Performance

The ASUS TUF comes in two configurations – AMD Ryzen and Intel Core. Both are capable configurations and these are paired with the AMD Radeon, NVIDIA GTX and RTX series.

And the most common configuration is the AMD Ryzen 7 and GTX 1660 Ti. The more affordable one has an AMD Ryzen 5 with a GTX 1650 or AMD Radeon RX 560X. The Intel Core configurations are not so common.

The AMD Ryzen 7 and GTX 1660 Ti configuration is a solid combo. You will get decent FPS on AAA title games on high preset.

The AMD Ryzen 5 with the AMD Radeon RX 560X will at best give you decent FPS on low and medium settings when playing AAA title games.

Upgrading the RAM of the ASUS TUF to 16GB dual-channel mode will vastly improve its gaming performance and performance as a whole.

AMD Ryzen processors always receive a boost in performance when this is done.

For the Acer Nitro, you have Intel Core and AMD Ryzen options. And are paired with either an NVIDIA GTX or RTX series

You will get high FPS on AAA title games when playing on medium to high settings.

If you are looking for performance. Both are great options since they are evenly matched if comparing the same configurations.

Battery Life

Battery life and high temperatures are every gaming laptop’s weaknesses. The ASUS TUF has a 48WHr battery and it’s able to last 2-3 hours under normal use.

The Acer Nitro has a 57WHr battery and it’s able to last 3-4 hours under normal use.

ASUS TUF Vs Acer Nitro 5 – Which One To Get?

The Acer Nitro is the better choice. It has a better build quality, performance, battery life and display.

The ASUS TUF, on the other hand, has better thermals, and an RGB keyboard and it’s much more affordable than the Acer Nitro. It’s a difficult choice.

But, the Acer Nitro has a better value than the ASUS TUF. But, if you are on a tight budget. The ASUS TUF will suffice.