Stylish gaming notebook with few flaws

The Acers VN7 Nitro Black Edition series is aimed at gamers primarily, expected when looking at the specifications (and the price to be clear). Acer typically there are a variety of configurations of the notebook in 15 and 17 inches, which differ primarily based on memory and hard disk (the 17 inch model have partly also a BD drive). I rate the 15 inch version with 8GB of RAM and 500GB hard drive SSHD (8 GB SSD share).

The Outer:
Let's start two outer values ​​and as stylish understatement is announced. Acer sets almost completely in matte plastic surfaces with legal-quality haptics, which I personally find very chic. The back of the screen consists of a slightly corrugated plastic, which is interrupted only by a small Acer logo. The hinge and the corresponding receptacle on the housing are made of a plastic-metal imitation (probably because non-magnetic) produced, which, however, absolute and metal looks and an impressed "Aspire V Nitro" bears, discreet and stylish, no question.
The remaining surface of the housing is also designed in a matt finish, which acts as slightly rubberized and also has a good feel. The fingerprint is also much less sensitive than the glossy surfaces most commonly used, but are sometimes greasy smears exist, they go with the surface used by Acer heavier again.
The overall height of the unit is encouragingly low, especially given the performance, but the feet wear something on (used for ventilation of the unit, more on that later).
From a processing perspective, there is virtually nothing to complain about. The gaps are running absolutely smoothly on my machine and everything is used accurately. The casing creaks Not at beherzterem pressure and are also little after. Only the screen warps easily and acts just too delicate, but this is also due to the low height.

Ports & Services:
Since the obrige product description of this says little and the device is not listed on the Acer website, I want the main features again shall list briefly: There you will find the following connections to the unit: 3 USB 3.0 ports, 1 HDMI output, RJ 45 jack, SD card reader, headphone output (same microphone). In addition, Bluetooth 4.0, WLAN with 2 antennas, 4 speakers on board. The rest arises indeed from the product title. Overall, a decent package (I did not miss anything, I use external drive), where I see the version with 500GB SSHD as more restrictive, because the hard disk is the performance brake More on this later.

Handling:
The handling of the Acer is very good. Let's start with the keyboard. This has an extremely short key travel, which is a bit of getting used to, but after some time really fast writing allows me they liked. The keys provide enough feedback on a good tactile feedback. The red light around the keyboard is not quite helpful like a white (keys are not quite as good as can be seen for example in an Acer M5), but are of course visually an eye-catcher and fit very well to the orientation of the notebook (gaming). The layout of the keyboard is good and all the buttons arranged ergonomically. The same applies to the palm rest on the front. She is pleasantly wide and provides enough supporting surface.
The touchpad is a good size and runs very well placed, I had no problems from operating errors while typing. Multi-Point Touch example for Pinch to zoom or scrolling on web pages worked fine and I have not missed while browsing / working with the unit the external mouse. When you play the pad, however, is only a temporary solution.
The connections of the unit are all on the right side, which is not necessarily happy for right. If you have a lot of peripherals connected via USB (eg external drive + mouse) the cable during operation may interfere with external mouse, a small Mank, here you have to carry on the housing and the peripheral position accordingly) the cable to.
Also not quite so happy I find the Anbrindung the ventilation holes at the bottom. On soft surfaces (this includes the clad thigh of the owner) is the heat dissipation / cooling slightly impaired (showed the temperature values). For graphics-intensive applications should leave the notebook necessarily on hard surfaces.

Sound:
Will I run separately because the is surprisingly good for a notebook. The 4 integrated speakers bring not only an almost perfect surround sound to conditions, but also have a pretty balanced spectrum to the mid range. They offer a pretty decent volume for notebooks and ultimately it was missing something in depth in the bass range. They are largely stable levels and bring sufficient power with which they tend to limit of volume to rattle. For accompaniment of games on the road but an absolutely feasible solution, here I was really surprised.

Screen:
The screen 16: 9 format dissolves in FullHD. While there is now equipment with smaller diagonal and higher resolution, but it is a good compromise (in terms of the required computing power) and for 15 inches is sufficient. You have to look very closely to detect minimal jagged edges of fonts. The color reproduction is good and right, of course, with my panel showed a slight yellow tinge, but on Windows could be correct settings. Pleasing is the matte surface of the display, although it can prevent reflections not quite, but at least this well reduced, so that they hardly interfere. The brightness of the display is good, although I've seen brighter representatives here already. But for a game in the shade it was good enough (in the sun I would deny myself the well for thermal reasons, to more development of heat)
The viewing angle stability is very good. Colors remain recognizable even under extreme angles and the brightness of the panel falls only slightly with increasing angle. This is for all four corners of the case top.
Not quite so happy I was at contrast ratio of the display or the black level. One sees the backlit display, even in down-regulation to shine through and the black has a slight gray shimmer. Certainly one can not expect here the black levels of AMOLED displays, but here I have seen better black levels with IPS panels. Bleeding of the backlight however, is not a problem and also Clouding occurred during my copy.

Battery:
The fact that Acer is not a long-distance runner, is already clear when looking at the specs. The 3 cell battery is sufficient for bridging power failures, if you also want to get the performance of the notebook. In Surf / Office operation the notebook is indeed acceptable 6:12 minutes usage time (almost six hours to come here and go in Powersave), but went the duration benchmark to less than 1.5 hours, the lights out. A train ride from Cologne to Munich you will therefore not gamble, if he is found a seat without network connectivity.

Performance:
The most important category in this performance class. The processor of the powerful, is unquestionable. The graphics card used corresponds to the upper middle class and so fall out, corresponding Benchmark Results:

3DMark13 Firestrike: 3597 points
3DMark13 SkyDiver: 11512 points
3DMark11: 4997 points
Cinebench R15: OpenGL 85.63 CPU 598 cb

All over ordinary values, attesting an equivalent benefit. Most Games should seek to play in the resolution with high details, and only really graphic-intensive games you have to forego some details in order not to break with the frames. When Fire Strike benchmark the frame number was not very high even with 15-20 FPS.
The hard drive turns out to share a little as despite SSD Performance brake and if you want an even better overall performance, should rather take the version with 128 GB SSD + TB HD, currently costs 100 EUR charge.
Here the values ​​of CrystalDiskMark (Comparative figures in brackets Acer M5 with SSD):

Sequential Read / Write: 112.9 / 113 MB / s (491.1 / 206 MB / s)
Random Read / Write 512K: 39,79 / 69,70 MB / s (378.1 / 203.7 MB / s)

The difference is obvious. Even when booting you realize this is a little, my Acer M5 with older I5 CPU SSD but was quickly arrived at the home screen as the VN7.
Overall, the notebook offers a neat, balanced performance, which should be sufficient for most games (especially considering the price). Only the hard drive falls here a bit out of the ordinary.

Noise / heat / power:
The Acer is very quiet and the fan rotates very restrictive. Only at higher temperatures it is audible and adheres otherwise discreetly, well resolved. Through the air vents at the bottom, but you should be careful not to place Acer on soft surfaces, the heat of CPU and GPU then rises noticeably. Even on flat substrates reach proper temperatures components. During 38 -40 degrees are OK in Idle mode and also in the Surf operation a maximum of 45 - 50 degrees are reached, so the CPU scratched during Benchmarkens at the 100 degree mark (97 degrees max.), The maximum temperature of the bed actuating drive i7 CPU. The GPU is cooled better here. Your temperature I could not drive 74 degrees (max. Temp is indicated by 98 degrees). Also noticeable was that the fan in the load range hectic acted a little and often changed its speed. Possibly remedied by means of Acer Update.
The power consumption of the power supply by the way was a maximum of 112 watts during the measurements. Lowest value in browsing mode 24 Watt Power.

Summary:

++ Very successful, discreet appearance
++ Decent performance for the price
++ Very good sound
+ Good choice of materials and quality workmanship
+ Keyboard illumination practically (and in red visually succeeded)
+ Good, functional design
+ Good connectivity with HDMI and 3 USB 3.0 *
+ Good ergonomics of Touchpad and Keyboard
+ Matt display with good viewing angle stability
+ Flat design

o temperature of the CPU under full load borderline (just under the allowable range)
o Contrast value of the display only moderately
o Battery life expected, somewhat short under load

- Hard drive is the bottleneck in the configuration with 500GB SSHD
- Restless fan under full load
- All USB ports on the right side

Conclusion:
Acer has launched with Black Edition in my eyes a very good gaming notebook, which knows how to convince with good facilities, great look, a surprisingly good sound and good performance in practice. Ultimately, however, are not quite right in the picture hard drive performance has yet led to withdrawal, even though it is not a slow representatives of their guild, but I personally would rather recommend the version with 128 GB SSD and 1TB HD. As a general criticisms, the exclusive connection options to stay on the right side, the somewhat restless fan under load and the somewhat disappointing black value of the display, but is criticism at a high level.
Nevertheless, a gaming notebook that you should look at more closely.

May have become a long review, but I have certainly forgotten what. If you have questions, you can feel free to leave a comment. Constructive criticism is just as welcome.

PS: Can perhaps confirm the CPU temperature under load someone?