Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition VN7-592G-71ZL 15.6-inchFull HD Notebook

In terms of quality and durability, how is the Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition VN7-592G-71ZL 15.6-inch Full HD Notebook as a gaming laptop? Is it a laptop worth investing in for college work and gaming or are there better laptops out there in the $700 to $1000 price range? The link to the product is: http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Edition-VN7-592G-71ZL-15-6-inch-Notebook/dp/B015XBKY6U/ref=pd_sbs_147_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=410PIVqBcdL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=0089RF3K5V5WZ2KZMKN8

 

Its a light, decent looking laptop. Durability seemed fine when I had it, but it overheats and throttles heavily while gaming. I tried to force the fans to full speed and this had some effect but the GPU still overheated and would throttle. I was able to undervolt the CPU, and disable turbo to limit its clockspeed in order to stop the CPU from throttling. I would avoid this laptop if you have any intention of gaming. It can't even handle stock GPU speeds before throttling and you will get FPS drops and lag because of this. Overclocking the GPU is totally out of the question.

The Dell Inspiron in my sig is at $799 (I paid under $700) at Amazon right now is a much much better deal. The CPU while an i5, is a full Skylake quad core minus hyperthreading and it performs equal to the i7 while gaming.

The GTX 960m in the Dell also doesn't even come close to overheating, in fact you can overclock the GPU to its max potential and it still barely breaks 70C under heavy gaming loads for hours.

Source:
I've owned both laptops.

 

ASUS ROG GL551JW $798
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232848&cm_re=960m-_-34-232-848-_-Product

Asus over at Newegg is a similar option. I would take the Asus over the Dell but that's just my choice. Performance of any of the 3 machines mentioned so far are going to be similar.

 

Thanks! Also, I saw that the Dell also has an i7 Intel Core model; is that worth the investment? Also, what do you mean by throttling? Also in regards to overheating, has the Acer ever overheated to the point that you could not repair the computer? Is it better to invest in a gaming desktop over a gaming laptop?

Thanks! There's also a newer version too!

Is Asus a better brand?

 

It is personal preference which brand you really want, and which style you prefer. The Asus was was unprofessional and nerdy looking. I don't care for the whole "Republic of Gamers" or dragon logos on my laptops. I like clean, yet powerful. Again this is personal preference. I also saw the Asus with a CD drive as a huge con. It's 2016 and I can't remember the last time I used a freaking CD. Its wasted space and weight. The Asus also gets warmer than the Dell while gaming, another con.

I would avoid that cheaper older model. It's older tech, it has a crappy TN display, and it only have 2gb VRAM. If you don't think this is limiting with a GTX 960m, go play any modern game. Rainbow Six Siege for example with mainly medium settings and the ultra HD texture pack uses almost all 4gb of vRAM on my card.

What I meant by throttling is that the laptop gets so warm/hot that it will reduce the performance by down clocking the CPU/GPU in order to lower the temperature and remain within safe operating parameters. Whenever you operate at a lower frequency by down clocking, you lower performance. In addition when this down clock comes suddenly, it can cause stuttering in games because of the rapid change in frames per second you are able to render.

Get a desktop if you have no need for mobile gaming. Get a laptop if you absolutely need something mobile for work, school, or gaming on the go such as in hotel rooms.