Acer Aspire V17 Nitro Black vs Asus N550JK-DB74T vs Asus GL551JM

[Jicnon]

So I am currently looking for a laptop that can be used for gaming as well as watching movies, TV shows, and everyday use. I use my laptop for a lot of things and have narrowed it down to the three laptops in the title

the Acer Aspire V17 Nitro Black, the Asus N550JK-DB74T, and the Asus GL551JM.

Obviously the GL551JM is a little cheaper, but not much so in the long run because I anticipate upgrading it to a SSD shortly after purchase. They all have the same processor and the same amount of RAM and as I intend to get them from Costco will all have the same warranty. Size also does not bother me as I am used to a 15-17" and all three have roughly the same weight. My question is which one do people think is better for general use as well as gaming, I am perfectly fine playing games in non-ultra settings I would just like to be able to play most games at a med-high quality with good FPS. Additionally, if anyone has positive or negative experiences with the above laptops I would be interested in hearing it!

 

[Warukyure]

If the specs are correct then I would say go with the Acer Aspire Nitro, it has a GTX 860M like the Asus G551 which make these 2 better than the Asus N550JK since that uses the GTX 850M. Also the Acer Aspire Nitro lists that its an IPS screen which I think is much better for TV shows/Movies/etc. It also says it has both an SSD and an HDD which is perfect.

The only potential downside i can see with the Acer is that its thin like the Asus N550JK. Depending on how much gaming you do, thin laptops can be the enemy, they will get much hotter much faster. The Asus G551 is a big, thick laptop so it has more room for cooling compared to the other 2. But if you're watching mostly movies, web surfing, and some light gaming then the heat issue isnt much of a worry. (It's not like its gonna go thermonuclear on your lap, more like bacon cooking.)

 

[Jicnon]

Thanks for your insight. I am mostly curious as to whether the extra performance offered by the 860m over the 850m will be very noticeable in my gaming. It would aslo be nice to be able to hold it in my lap during non-gaming sessions (i.e. surfing the internet or taking notes) but heat doesnt bother me while I am playing a game because I always have it off my lap. That is, as long as it doesn't get hot enough to hurt the laptop like my current one has.

 

[Warukyure]

The Acer Nitro when not gaming is fine to be used on your lap, the ASUS G551 not so much because its a much thicker/heavier laptop.

And yes, the 850M to 860M for gaming performance is a noticeable gain and would go a bit further.

 

[Maxwell4ME]

I will first start by saying that I almost always choose ASUS over every other option and especially when it comes to laptops. However, in this case I must say that the Acer Aspire V17 Nitro Black http/www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NJNFVO0 is easily the best option. Acer is a great laptop manufacturer and the specs for the V17 Nitro Black are much better than the ASUS model you mentioned.

Go with the Acer V17 Nitro Black.

 

[Jicnon]

Thanks for both of your responses. I am strongly leaning towards the Aspire V17 at this point. It has better graphics, a bigger screen, and more storage. The only things keeping me considering the N550JK are the aluminum body, AC wireless, very slightly better cooling, and better battery life.

 

[Warukyure]

The N550JK can actually get dirt into those holes that you see just around the top part of the keyboard so kinda hard to clean. Also AC wireless is kinda useless unless a) you go buy a brand new AC router and b) if you share A LOT of large files over your home network.

 

[Anirban Sinha]

I had bought the acer V nitro considering its high end specification. But I returned and switched to ASUS N550JK at Taiwan.
Not talking about high end gaming performance but some basic features one needed to be satisfied - like trackpad, keyboard, wireless connectivity, battery are just cheap in quality, I felt irritated. All the ports are on right side. I compromised a SSD speed, awesome sound and weight and got ASUS. Well if you see the configuration it sounds nice in case of Acer but I felt quality of hardware is much more reliable in ASUS. If any of you work in night the red led light in keyboard is definitely going to give a hard time to see the keys and at the same time light distribution is not uniform with single key on/off led.
In case of Asus it seems everything perfect and nicely placed. Before going to high end work anyone would not have any complain to basic features compared to Acer. Asus tackpad is far more better than Acer. It will allow to work really fast with different gestures. Keyboard is more perfect to type and silver keyboard is far more visible in a low light condition even if the backlit is off. The overall battery backup is 4 to 4.5 hrs with web browsing.
I strongly recommend ASUS N550JK, the recent model is available with 4GB 850M graphics at Taiwan with 2 years International warranty (Acer : 1 year International warranty). ASUS comes with a high end model with 256 SSD and 16GB of RAM. But one can upgrade a lower end mode with SSD compromising DVD drive. Please remember Apple is giving lower configuration of hardware but still high priced and well accepted same time it wins more customer satisfaction for easy to use. My suggestion is to try both of the model in hand and choose one you feel satisfied to work with.

 

[Hawdong]

While I haven't tried the touchpad on Asus, I can definitely say that Acer's touchpad just doesn't do it for me and I have used other touchpads with better precision. Since I don't want to use an external mouse on a laptop, I cannot simply overlook this issue as it ruins the whole experience on an otherwise fine laptop. Sorry to say, I'm returning my Acer Aspire V17 Nitro.