New Acer Aspire V Nitro series

Interesting the review says the touch-pad is an elan one but according to the Acer support website on the drivers page all the drivers for all USA nitro versions use a synaptic driver.

 

There is a HWInfor32 zip file attached to the review full of goodies but even though it has detailed info on pretty much all parts of this notebook, there is nothing on touchpad (at least not that I can see).
I've managed to navigate acer.cz website somehow and there is no driver from ELAN either for this notebook there - only for Synaptics.

Anyway - very detailed specs and logs and screen-shots are in the aforementioned archive. Well worth reviewing.

 

Bottom of this Review
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fnotebook.cz%2Fclanky%2Frecenze-notebook%2F2014%2Facer-aspire-v15-nitro-black-edittion-vn7-591&edit-text=

In the Technical Data Section

 

Yes I saw that but I thought there must be a mention of a touchpad used in the hardware report from HWInfo32 included in the archive but somehow there seems to be no mention of either ELAN or Synaptics.

 

my temps are in celcius.....even though i am a dane living in the US......

ohh and it will barely fit samsonite tectonic medium 15.6" backpack, its a very tight fit, i will see if i can exchange the bag for something else, cause its annoying

 

Guys and Gals. Do not forget to use coupon code PoweredByYou (supposed to expire 10-31-14). If ordering this laptop from acer.com! You can save 10%, which comes to 120 USD off with this coupon code!

Acer.com Version Link
Acer Aspire VN7-591G-75NJ Notebook | Acer Store

 

Is there anyway to preorder or buy this in Canada?

 

It was on Bestbuy.ca but they took it down. So, I would be watching their. Sorry I lost the link for it that might work again at some point.

Also, Just found a guy or gal selling the USA version V17 Nitro black on eBay that will ship to Canada.
Acer Aspire VN7 791G 77JJ 17 3" i7 4710HQ 16GB 1TB 256GB SSD Notebook Black | eBay
New Acer Aspire VN7 791G 77JJ 17 3" i7 4710HQ 16GB NX Mqraa 001 Notebook | eBay

 

i asked the same question to Plextor customer service, to know id their Plextor PX-G256M6e M.2 could be used as a bootable disk, and i recieved this answer:

"From what I've seen if you have a native m.2 interface (PX-G256M6e) the drive should work as a plug and play device. In some rare cases in some specific models will not allow you to boot from the m.2 interface but will allow you to use it as a secondary drive with simple updates it should rectify the problem. Typically the motherboard manufacturers should be able to confirm compatibility. "
I tried to asked Acer but i had no answers about compatibility. Anyone have more information on motherboard model and specifications?
I'm giving up the option to install a pcie m.2 ssd, so can you advice me for a good performanced msata m.2 2280 model?
thank you

 

Now that those new graphics cards are coming out will the price of this laptop drop soon or should I just pull the trigger now? I'm intrested in the 15,6" version, I've read posts about heating issues but I mainly play league of legends so do you guys think that will be a problem? sorry about my bad english.

 

3 hour 8 player supreme commander 2 match..... graphics at fullhd and max details....gpu 55c, cpu 55c as well, .....didnt notice any hot spots, fan was audible but not by much.....machine sitting in my lap

machine had been running on battery for 2 hours before gaming, and ran another 70 minutes of the game before windows said 10% left, please plug in

 

Thats good to know......

 

imho heat is only a problem when you try to make it a problem, such as running prime95 and furmark, or intel burn test.....do that in a desktop pc and the cpu gets hot as well

when i ran prime95+furmark the laptop did get very hot, but there was no crashes no artifacts...and now that i just finished an hour of far cry3, cpu was at 58c, and gpu at 65c, laptop on desk, inside temp about 21c, i have no worries

my nitro is the 15.6" 16gb +256gb ssd and 1tb hdd, game run in 1080P

 

Well, I couldn't resist it, ordered the 15.6" one with 1tb+128ssd and 8gb ram, is 8gb ram sufficient for a while? Price was 1200€

 

I was waiting for the Asus G551 with the IPS screen to come out but I can't really wait much longer so I'm considering the Acer Aspire V Nitro. I've been reading through this thread and I've noticed two problems mentioned repeatedly, overheating and subpar IPS screen. The main reason I was waiting for the G551 is for a good IPS screen with a 860 or higher graphics card on a 15" screen. Reading the problems about heat and screen are concerning. There are several 15 inch models can anyone tell me the major differences between each, specifically whether any of them have a different IPS screen or are they all the same?

 

If you read above in this topic you will see some recent posts that suggest that the nitro does not overheat when playing games, only when a stress test is run on it. If i had to guess they only overheat when the stress test is attempting stuff more than any modern PC game needs! I can not say for sure because I do not own one of these yet!

 

hi,

I just wanted to ask if someone was willing to list me the advantages and downsides of the Aspire V 15" and/or 17". I'm on the verge of buying one of them but a few things hold me back.

I've several times now that the aspire V series are non-upgradable, meaning it will come with a GTX 860M (which atm is proving to be quite a good deal). But with the remainders of the 900M series around the corner, i was wondering if it was worth buying an aspire V now (since it's hard to tell how much performance the 960M would have on an 860M). I'm not an intensive gamer, but i would like something that could still play games at a reasonable resolution (preferably 1080p, with some but too much option downscaling (like medium/high, no AA or something)). I was looking to play games like Lords of the Fallen etc on that laptop, the other games that i have are older and shouldn't be a problem.

Additionally, i keep seeing suggestions to stick with the 15" version of the laptop, is there a particular downside to the 17" i'm not aware off, apart from maybe the size?

Lastly, i wanted to know if the HDD that comes with the laptop is actually a bottleneck for the rest of the components. If i remember, they ship with a 5400RPM 1TB HDD. Does that actually impact gaming performance significantly compared to a 7200RPM? Cause if it does, the asus g551 seems like the better choice (4gig maxwell GTX 860M, 1tb 7200 RPM although no SSD and a bit more expensive)

thanks!

 

It should be able to play the games at the settings you want. I believe the 17" comes with a 256gb ssd AND 1tb hdd (though these details could be region specific). Personally, im considering the 17" if acer can pull their finger out and get it released in uk. I've waited this long to get a new laptop and am in the same boat as you - don't need absolutely bleeding edge graphics, but an 860 is a difficult pill to swallow when we're seeing 970's etc already, with possibly 960s soon to follow...

 

i just went to the technology plaza here in Taipei to check out the VN7. They had both the 17" & 15" with the i7, both with an 128 SSD & 1 TB 5400RPm. I asked them if it possible to upgrade to a 7200 RPM HDD. They told me it's not possible as an integral service of the product, but the guy could replace the 5400RPM disk with a 7200RPM one if i bought a seperate 7200 RPM HDD first. So upgrading through Acer itself is appearantly not possible.

Other than that, i like the aesthetics. However, while i was checking out the machine, i felt that the hinges on that support the screen aren't all that firm. The display itself easily sways with the slightest push against the laptop. Other than that, the display itself was a very clear and sharp IPS panel that allowed 4K resolutions. Not as good as the Asus G551's IPS, but quite good nonetheless.

I asked them if the display model had any games on it to see the performance. For some reason, they only had Dota 2 installed (which is a terrible reference for performance, cause the game can be run at high details on far inferior systems). nonetheless, it kept the framerate at about 70-85 at 1080p maxed out.

 

I'm in the market for a laptop and this is perfect. I had a few questions though, and was hoping for some help.

Would it be faster to boot the OS and load games/applications by 1) Using the stock 1TB + 128GB SSHD and let the cache do its work, or 2) Install a M.2 SATA SSD and move my OS/games to the SSD? What happens with to the SSD portion of the SSHD when I change it to the "Storage" drive, will it still be used as a cache memory or will it turn into open memory?

How hard would it be to add in an M.2 SSD? I was planning on purchasing the Clevo Shark 3 since it looks soo easy to add components but this seems much harder.. Is there anything I should keep in mind while doing this process, so I don't accidentally fry or break something?

Would getting a laptop cooler work well with the 15" unit's design?

Is Newegg most likely to be the cheapest retailer? Amazon? TigerDirect? Anywhere I can use student discount or promo code or the like.

 

I don't think it has an sshd, not 1tb and 128gb anyway! Pretty sure the 128gb will be your boot drive with os (and frequently used programs), and the 1tb will be your 'media' drive for large files and other programs...

 

I'd like to buy this version as soon as its price drops a bit: https://www.cyberport.de/acer-aspir...ll-hd-gtx850m-ohne-windows-1C26-9AU_1695.html

Do you know if Acer has included some kind of charging management to prevent the battery from degradating due to unnecessary charging?

 

@ hendrik87

I have to say I'm with you on that one. I like that non-Black version too. As for the battery software - most likely they don't.

And @siperiea is correct, it's not SSHD. It's a "normal" HDD and 128GB SSD so you can actually replace HDD with SSD and end up with two SSDs - one for booting and one for storage (which is what I'd do since I already have a 256GB SSD)

 

Woops, I just assumed it would be an SSHD. So there should be 3 HD ports total: the primary HDD, boot drive SSD, and the empty M.2 SSD, right?

 

The ssd is in the m.2 slot ... So you have a hdd slot and m.2

 

Does anyone know how this series compares to the Asus GL551 (not the G551 with IPS screen that has yet to come out). Which one is better overall? Specifically the screen and cooling comparisons.

 

Ah dang had my hopes high.. So the ssd in the m.2 slot wouldn't fit in the hdd slot, correct? So I would have to get a SATA III SSD like the Samsung EVO and place it in the HDD drive, yes?

Would 128gb + 256gb crucial SSD be too little for gaming/movies?

 

Here's a good review of the the laptop

Acer V15 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-591G) Review

 

Depends on the size of files and how many you have? Say each game movie is 5gb, then you would have space for 20 ish on the 128 (minus os @20gb) and 45 on the other...

 

got a few days use on the 15.6" version now....i went wirth the 256 ssd and 16gb ram, as its a pain to upgrade your self, im not bad at taking stuff appart, but im sure i would snap some pins and hooks in the process.....i did upgrade my asus 1215n, which also requires your to take the netbook all appart, and several snap hooks broke in the process, leaving me with a neetbook that doesnt really feel "tight" and well put together.

the lenovo y50 can be had cheaper but the screen is for a better word crap, why such a screen made it into production in 2014 is beyond me, some will say you can just buy a 100$ ips panel and upgrade the screen your self...but that would also void your warrenty, and again leave you with the risk of breaking those damn plastic snap hooks (sorry dont know what they are called )

back to the 15" nitro, i bought this model as i am going to be traveling quite a bit between the US and denmark due to old sick parents....so i wanted something that wouldnt drive me mad like my netbook(asus 1215n..soo slow)...i like to relax by playing games, far cry3, supreme commander, counterstrike, and l4d2....the nitro has an ssd AND 1tb disk....which was a big selling point for me as im used to ssd speed, but also having tons of space for movies, pictures, and music...i also like to edit my videos (sony vegas) so powerful cpu is nice....the ips is great if your more than one person watching the same machine......2.4kg is right around max for me, to have in my backpack along with tablets battery packs etc for the kids (i usually carry all the tech, and wife does all the other stuff)

cons.:

powersupply plug, is typicall round one, and the way it plugs in leaves it wiggling a bit, something that usually leads to a loose plug, that wont hold it in place....i might be wrong and the wiggeling is what keeps it from getting loose over time...i had an asus with same kind of plug, and it self destructed within a year of gentle use, how hard is it to implement some magnets or better way of securing it ?...come on this is black edition, a supposed high end machine

battery life is not good, well it has been on battery now for about 4.5 hours, playing mp3 and installing left 4 dead 2, screen mostly off...and theres 13% left ...windows says 23 minutes (it actually cut off 10 minutes later)...i race rc cars on a fairly high level and we run lithium batteries as well, and capacity usually gets better within 3-10 charges so we will see, but i dont think it is or will be a notebook for those who require long battery life.

touchpad was a little annoying when it was completely new, but now that it has gotten some used (read finger grease/oil) its getting better and better as fingers now glide easier.

dont know if its a con or not, but i would rather have had a smaller notebook than full numeric keypad.

all usb ports, power plug, and hdmi is on right side...this can be nothing and it could be a big deal....if you like a wired mouse, simply have a camera / phone etc hooked up and using external mouse it could be annoying......

the bezel around the screen is kinda big, which means the laptop is kinda big too...thin yes...but other dimensions means it has a hard time fitting into backpacks made for 15.6" nb's

the screen while being an ips panel has some issues, on dark scenes be it game or movies theres some light bleeding through in the upper corners, especially the upper right....but its not noticeable in windows browsing or typing on this forum....also the viewing angles both left and right has some issues, you can see whats written at all angles but the picture darkens a bit making for a less uniform viewing.

windows 8.1.....arghhh...i dont know if its the screen or windows, but a bunch of fonts looks blurry/furry ...never seen that with win7....dont know if i can install win 7 and get everything to work, i got a spare license, and would really like to run win 7 on all my platforms, but it will depend on driver availability

theres a sticker saying 4 speakers....with mp3 i only hear left and right....with movies it still sounds like stereoverything be it mp3 or 5.1 surround sounds like stereo...y50 was way better with sound....also headphone and microphone is in one jack that has to do both.

screen, needs calibration, theres no details in the dark part of movies, the msi and y50 didnt do any better....but is it really that hard to calibrate the screen before shipping it out ???

pro's, remember this is what i like...you might think differently

keyboard is nice, i like layout, and i like how it works, shift/alt/etc is easy to use, i normally use a logitech g15 keyboard, and i am digging this keyboard too and it has been an easy transition

touchpad now that it has some use is nice, not great but nice, my wife has the biggest macbook you can get and i absolutely hate how hard left and right click is(i also hate apple and everything they stand for)...the nitros touch pad is nice and light to click

the build in hd4600 is actually quite capeable with older games, so you can make this laptop run a bit longer by forcing it to use the hd4600 instead of the more power hungry nvidia 860

the 860 will deal with most games at acceptable frame rates

fans are quiet, really at max they are still quiet, i would say about the same noise level as sticking your behind you desktop pc case, you can hear it but its not bothering wife and kids sitting in the couch next to you watching tv (the msi gs60 got its fair share of "cant you play somewhere else" from the wife)

temps i have yet to play farcry3 for hours and hours to see what kind of temps it will get up to...but unless your pushing system to the max with synthetic apps made to test if your system is stable (which it is) temps will not be a problem, as many has said before, regular use will keeps temps acceptable....wonder if the gpu can be overclocked ....

screen, is way better than y50

ssd AND hdd

there is an m2 ssd slot which is occupied if you get a nitro with ssd, and theres one hdd spot which is occupied with the 1tb 5400rpm disk, windows 8 reported 80mb/s while transferring from usb3 external disk

the hdd is no slouch....copying from 1tb disk to ssd windows average about 104mb/s.......copying from ssd to hdd yielded about 85mb/s....i find it fairly speedy for an 5400 rpm hdd....i installed steam on the ssd though, i like my games to load fast ;-) and with 256 gb theres plenty of room for os and some games, while the hdd holds media stuff

 

Still not on sale in Canada or preorder

 

go with the cheapest option you can find, SATA ssds these days don't differ much from each other, or rather not enough to make you feel a difference

HD4600 is only more efficient in 2D works, in 3D works why would you think HD4600 has more peformance/watt than a maxwell GPU? even hd5200 can barely match up to kepler in terms of efficiency

 

i liked both lenovo and acer keyboard...the lenovo seemed to have a bit more travel in the key strokes, i havent had them side by side, as i had to return one laptop to buy another

sad to say imho the power plug is driving me insane, it has a right angle plastic housing that can stick below the machine...wont happen while on a table but when using it on your lab, every time i move around a bit my thigh seems to hit that damn plug and well, that might very well ruin it in a short period of time

power/efficiency

so you are saying that allowing the nvidia to do 3d it will play longer on a charge than running the same game on the hd4600 ? i am not saying your wrong, just trying to learn something here...and figure out how i can get the most mileage out of this thing on long flights

 

it depends on how much load the game puts on the graphics card and how much performance you are getting out of it. let's just at the same 30fps, if the game is somewhat demanding, you are better off playing with the 860m because you are guaranteed to have a more stable fps. if the game is not demanding at all (cs 1.6 let's say) which doesn't put much of a load on the neither iGPU nor 860m, then sure iGPU can be more efficient.

for reference, HD5200, aka iris pro, at 100% load it runs with 35W which is about what GT 740M runs, and they perform about the same too, which means iGPU doesn't have higher efficiency at all, esp in 3D works

 

I like this notebook for the price, but maybe that poor man's Asus RoG might be the better buy.

I'm also holding out to see what Alienware does as I'm a sucker for their excellent keyboards and the cool lighting.

 

I would bite, but Acer needs to shove the 970M into this laptop. Then they would be sold out for months.

 

That's a shame!
Yeah I'm interested in the low power version since I will be using it for my Univeristy as well.
I wonder what is the difference between 4210u + 840m vs 4210 + 850m. The 850m is of course more powerful but it might be limited by the low power cpu giving it a slight but not big advantage over the less powerful 840m.
These are just my suppositions.

Moreover are the 8,5h of battery life been tested or is it just Acer's claim?

How do you force the laptop to use the integrated vga? I thought it wasn't possible :/
(i could play baldur's gate for hours and hours )

 

Nvidia Control panel, set it to use only the intel HD, and not switch to nVidia.

 

I would not wish for that....
They could do that and than the design of the current nitro might have major cooling issues......

 

have used the laptop for several hours on my lap, and the power plug is driving me nuts....its a 90 degree plug, in a plastic house, it exstends below the laptop, bottom, so with your legs spread a bit the thigh is putting quite a bit of pressure on the plug....its driving me nuts as i have to keep my legs in an uncomfortable position, my only solution is fire up the 3d printer or mod an ethernet plug to hold the wire, cause this is going to destroy the power hole in the laptop

 

I just ordered Acer Aspire Nitro Black Edition VN7-791G-77JJ Notebook Intel Core i7 4710HQ (2.50GHz) 16 GB DDR3L Memory 1TB HDD 256GB SSD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2GB 17.3" Windows 8.1 64-Bit from newegg. Hopefully the description just has some errors like not having a back-lit keyboard. The specs on acer's site says it does.

 

the danish sites didnt call it a "black edition" and yet it says so on the box and touchpad, i wouldnt worry...ytour gonna get backlit keyboard

im actually considering sending the laptop back and get the 17" version which is just a bit larger, considering the 15.6 is on the very large side to begin with, and the 17" is supposed to have better screen and cooling....i have a few days to decide, before its too late.

 

When do you think the GTX960M will be available for this machine?

 

Please help me guys. I bought this laptop 3 days ago and now suddently a vertical line of green pixels appeared on the screen. What can it be?

 

Send it back under warranty

 

if bought within the EU, i believe you have at least 14 day's to return it to store, and get your money back...sending it in for warranty will just leave you without a laptop for weeks

i have been reading up the specs on the 17" vs 15"...and the dimensions are almost the same ...17" is 0.6 kg heavier, its 1mm taller, 3.3mm wider, and 3.5mm deeper, i am so torn...2" more screen realestate in return for 3mm deeper and wider, i have been studying laptops for a month now before the choice fell on a y50, and then this 15" nitro, arghhhh im sick and tired of researching

 

Yes guys I know that I can send it back. I was wondering if there is anything I can try to do to solve the problem before sending it back. Thanks for the reply anyway.

 

If Acer's smart about it.... never.....

 

I think you should check the dimensions again. I am pretty sure you mixed up on the units. IIRC, your numbers are right, but we are talking about cm.

 

It's the opposite. If they want to keep up with the competition, they need to put the 970M in.

The 860M model is still going to be in production regardless of whether a 970M model comes out or not. This is the perfect laptop to receive the 970M because of the excellent cooling system. The MSI GS60 managed to put the 970M inside and achieve the same or lower temperatures. Acer can do the same thing. They have computer engineers who get paid lots of money to figure out ways to solve this type of problem.

Unfortunately, based on the release schedule, I don't think Acer is going to put in the 970M. The MSI GS60 was released over 6 months ago while the Nitro came out less than a month ago. MSI has had more time to shove the 970M in while Acer has been spending their time dealing with the 860M version. It's more likely they'll wait for the 960M announcement and release a new version with a 960M. Which should be around the second half of next year. I can't wait that long.