5 Best Acer Gaming Laptops for 2022 (4K, Ryzen, Budget) (2024)

Along with their Predator line of gaming hardware and peripherals, Acer is one of the top suppliers of gaming laptops on the market. And, in this post, we’ve selected five of the best Acer gaming laptops across a handful of categories to help you find an Acer laptop that will take your gaming experience to the next level.

Acer has surged in popularity among gamers since the release of their Predator lineup of gaming hardware and gear. Acer’s Predator monitors are widely regarded as the top display options for serious gamers. And, the same is true for their gaming laptops.

Acer offers a wide range of gaming laptops, ranging from their high-end Predator lineup, to their creator-driven ConceptD series, to their budget-friendly Nitro edition laptops. And, in this post, we’ve rated and compared some of the top options available across a handful of different categories. So, regardless of whether you have a huge budget, or a small budget, there is an Acer laptop listed below that should fit your needs.

Our Picks for the Best Acer Gaming Laptops

In the table below, we’ve made picks for the best overall Acer gaming laptop right now, the best 4K option, the top Ryzen-based Acer gaming laptop, the best value option, and the top budget choice.

		NAME	SPECS	RATING
TOP PICK		Predator Helios 300	1080P 144Hz RTX 3060 i7-10750H 16GB RAM	9.0/10	Check Price Read Review »
4K		ConceptD 7	4K 60Hz RTX 2080 i7-9750H 32GB RAM	9.0/10	Check Price Read Review »
RYZEN		Nitro 5 45-R21A	1080P 144Hz RTX 3060 R5 5600H 16GB RAM	9.0/10	Check Price Read Review »
VALUE		Nitro 5 54-77KG	1080P 144Hz RTX 3050 Ti i7-11800H 16GB RAM	8.8/10	Check Price Read Review »
BUDGET		Nitro 5 55-53E5	1080P 144Hz RTX 3050 i5-10300H 8GB RAM	8.6/10	Check Price Read Review »

*Read more about our picks for the best Acer gaming laptops by clicking the “Read Review »” link.

Our current pick for the best overall Acer gaming laptop if the Acer Predator Helios 300. It isn’t an extreme gaming laptop and it seems that, at the time of writing this guide, Acer hasn’t yet come out with their typical high-end option with the latest generation CPU & GPU combination.

As of right now, Acer’s best option is the Helios 300. It comes with an Intel Core i7-10750H processor, an NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB NVME SSD.

For its display, the Helios 300 sports a 15.6-inch 1080P IPS screen with a 144Hz refresh rate and a 3ms response time.

While that combination of hardware isn’t the most extreme configuration, it is a solid array of hardware, and one that will you to max out anything you throw at it. And, at just under $1,700 it is moderately priced. So, if you’re not looking to spend over $2,000 on a gaming laptop, the Helios 300 is about as good of an option as you’ll find.

If you’re in the market for a 4K laptop that will also work well for gaming and content creation, the Acer ConceptD series is worth checking out. It doesn’t have the newest generation of hardware, offering an older Intel Core i7-9750H processor and a one-generation old RTX 2080 GPU.

However, the CPU and GPU combination will still be good enough to max out games on the 15.6-inch 4K display. And, while there are more extreme 4K gaming laptops out there (like ASUS’ Duo SE 15), they are quite a bit more expensive.

So, the slightly older hardware will allow you to jump into 4K gaming for a bit less money and that hardware will handle games just fine.

Ultimately, if you’re looking for a 4K gaming experience from a laptop, but you don’t have the thousands necessary to spend on extreme laptops (the ASUS Duo SE 15 comes in at ~$6,000), Acer’s ConceptD is an option worth checking out.

While Acer isn’t currently as competitive in the high-end of the gaming laptop market (I suspect that will change in the near future), they do have some solid value-oriented options available through their Nitro lineup of laptops. And, if you’re looking for an AMD Ryzen-based laptop, the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R21A is worth checking out.

At just a little over $1,300, the Acer Nitro 5 45-R21A comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H processor, 16GB of RAM, an RTX 3060 GPU, and a 512GB NVME SSD. It also comes with a 15.6-inch 144Hz display. That’s a solid hardware combination for the price. In fact, other than the processor, it is essentially the same hardware configuration as the Helios 300 listed above.

The Intel Core i7 in the Helios 300 will provide a slight performance boost over the Ryzen 5 5600H, but the two are so similar in terms of in-game performance that you likely wouldn’t notice the difference between them.

So, really, if you wanted to save quite a bit of money, you could opt for this Nitro RTX 3060 laptop over the Helios 300.

Another value option if you’re looking to minimize the amount you spend is the Acer Nitro 5 AN517-54-77KG. This laptop sports a brand new Intel Core i7-11800H CPU, 16GB of RAM, and an RTX 3050 Ti GPU. It also comes with a 1TB NVME SSD and a 17.3-inch 144Hz display.

And, it comes in with a price tag of just under ~$1,200.

In our opinion, that makes it a tough competitor to the Ryzen-based Nitro laptop listed above. Whereas that Nitro laptop has the better GPU (RTX 3060 vs RTX 3050 Ti), the Nitro 5 54-77KG comes with the better processor (i7-11800H vs Ryzen 5 5600H), double the storage (1TB SSD vs 512GB SSD), and a larger screen (17.3-inch vs 15.6-inch).

If you’re playing competitive titles that aren’t too demanding (like Fortnite, League of Legends, Overwatch, Rocket League, etc.) then you’d probably be better off opting for this Nitro 5 54-77KG over the abovementioned one, because the difference in real-world GPU performance will be negligible in those types of games.

If, however, you’re playing more demanding titles and you want to ensure you get as high of an average framerate as possible, the extra GPU power that the Nitro 5 45-R21A and its RTX 3060 offer might be the better option for you.

In the end, though, both are solid choices, and both will offer a similar in-game experience.

For an even more affordable Acer 5 gaming laptop option, the Nitro 5 55-53E5 is worth taking a look at. For under ~$850, the 55-53E5 comes with an Intel Core i5-10300H processor, 8GB of RAM, an RTX 3050 GPU, and a 256GB NVME SSD. You also get a 15.6-inch 1080P 144Hz display.

While that hardware combination isn’t going to blow anyone away, for the price, it really isn’t too bad. Perhaps most notable is the inclusion of a 144Hz display in such a budget-friendly laptop.

The downsides are obvious, too, though, with just 8GB of RAM and a smaller 256GB SSD. However, the good news is that, while it’s tough to upgrade a laptop, the two easiest items in a laptop to upgrade are its RAM and its storage component.

So, if you don’t have a huge budget now, you could start out with this Nitro 5 laptop and then add a larger SSD and more RAM in the future.

Ultimately, for under $850, this laptop will serve as a very solid entry-level gaming laptop. In fact, it will be able to run any game you throw at it and you should be able to run most games on higher settings with a playable framerate.

Which Acer Gaming Laptop is Best for You?

Acer’s gaming laptops come in all shapes, sizes, and performance levels. Whether you’re looking for a Ryzen-based gaming laptop, or a sub-$1,000 option that will get your feet in the door, there is an option listed above that should work for you.