Ugly, imposing, unremovable and above all unable to compete with a fixed PC: this is what we generally hear about laptop gamers. Valid arguments in the past, but which are more cliché when it comes to current gaming laptops. At the start of 2022, we are debunking four misconceptions about the most recent gaming laptops.
If the PC (and we are obviously talking about a good old tower) remains undoubtedly the best platform for playing today, their portable counterparts do not benefit from the same enthusiasm. It must be said that the main manufacturers of laptop gamers spent the early 2000s putting obstacles in the way, between aggressive and garish designs and performance far from being there, especially in the long term.
This reputation still persists today, even though the manufacturers of portable gamers, like Acer, have made a small revolution in the design of their machines in recent years, both in substance and in form.
So much so that current gaming laptops have little to do with their predecessors. Through the example of the Predator Helios 300 and Nitro 5 ranges, we will try to dispel four misconceptions about gaming laptops, which are no longer (quite) true in 2022.
Gaming laptops have an aggressive and garish design
This is partly true, but less and less. Even today, PC gamers adopt a much less sober look than their counterparts dedicated to office automation. Nevertheless, things have improved a lot on this ground in recent years. If dark colors and LEDs are often still in use, the lines of the frames have been greatly softened, gaining in sobriety.
Most manufacturers have now abandoned the gigantic logos adorned with RGB LEDs, carbon coatings, as well as the quirky and angular frames that were commonplace until recently. Gaming laptops have also benefited greatly from Nvidia’s know-how, through its Max-Q concept, which has given birth to more efficient, better optimized GPUs that require less cooling. These efforts have, among other things, enabled laptop manufacturers to greatly refine the silhouette of their machines, which has a significant impact on their final design.
Acer has fully embraced this new philosophy on its most recent models such as the Predator Helios 300 or the Nitro 5. These two computers adopt a fairly similar look: shell combining aluminum and matte black plastic, discreet touches of color (blue for one, red for the other), LEDs limited to the backlighting of the keyboard and a fairly discreet logo (in particular for the Nitro 5), all with a simple design, which focuses above all on ergonomics and finesse.
If we are still far from the sobriety of a MacBook, the new portable gamers have nevertheless been able to evolve in the right direction and now offer an appearance that allows them to blend into their environment, and not to swear with it. the rest when not playing.
Gaming laptops age badly
It is less and less true. More and more manufacturers are paying particular attention to the finishes of their most recent laptops. The materials and components used are of higher quality and age much better over time. More and more machines now have a chassis that mixes aluminum and hard plastic, which gives them greater strength and better resistance to daily shocks. For example, it is a long time ago when the coating of the hinges was gone after just a few months.
Many improvements have also been made over time to crucial points such as the screen or the keyboard. The quality of the screens that equip machines like the Predator Helios 300 has nothing to envy to their fixed counterparts. IPS panel, high refresh rate and low latency, all with a protective coating that helps reduce eye strain. Same observation with the keyboards which now offer better comfort, light but pleasant resistance to typing and above all, greater longevity. This is for example the case of the Nitro 5, which even has the luxury of having fully configurable RGB lighting, which allows for example to highlight the ZQSD keys in game.
Last point, far from being negligible, laptops keep their efficiency longer. Many manufacturers, such as Acer, have completely redesigned their designs, particularly in terms of cooling their machines, to ensure that performance is maintained over time. A good way to avoid the syndrome of the PC which grinds for hours by making a wind tunnel noise.
Gaming laptops are frozen in time
It is both true and false. Of course, it is impossible to completely change the configuration of a laptop over the years to keep it up to date. The miniaturization of the components present in the cabin of a laptop makes it extremely difficult to replace a screen, a GPU or a CPU, these last two elements being very often soldered directly on the motherboard.
Newer laptops, on the other hand, have some level of improvement. More and more models allow, very simply and without the need for extensive knowledge of electronics, to replace or add an SSD or RAM to your machine.
The Nitro 5 from Acer even has two PCIe M.2 slots which allows two 1 TB SSDs to be installed in Raid 0. This process allows them to be considered as a single 2 TB disk while increasing read speeds and writing, for increased performance.
A laptop gamer will never come close to a “real” PC
Again, this claim tends to no longer be true. High-end gaming laptops, especially those equipped with the latest generation graphics cards, offer performance that has nothing to envy to their fixed counterparts. More and more machines thus make it possible to play the latest titles of the moment, including the most demanding ones, in completely correct conditions with the graphic options pushed to the limit.
In recent years, many manufacturers have worked to optimize the architecture of their laptops in order to reduce the gap between machine and nomads and fixed PCs. Significant progress has thus been made in terms of component cooling. In electronics, heat is a major problem, since it prevents components from operating at full speed. Avoiding unnecessary overheating therefore means preserving performance, especially when you are playing and the PC has to draw on all these resources.
The presence of GeForce RTX 30xx GPUs in gaming laptops allows you to benefit from the latest technological advances in graphics. We are obviously thinking of Ray Tracing, which makes it possible to offer particularly realistic lighting in the game, but also of Nvidia’s DLSS technology. The latter is ideal for laptops, since it optimizes graphics performance by improving the refresh rate of images while maintaining maximum image quality.
Discover Acer gaming laptops at Boulanger
With its Predator range, Acer currently offers machines entirely designed for gaming and this, with a resolutely modern approach. With its Nitro 5, the manufacturer offers a sober and efficient machine that revolves around an Nvidia GeForce RTX 30xx graphics card.
You can currently find the Acer Nitro 5 from 2199 euros at Boulanger.