You can already find a lot of Zen 4-based laptops in different form factors. One of the iterations is the Acer Nitro 16 (AN16-41). Over the years, the Nitro lineup evolved and now some of these devices are close to the performance levels of the more premium Predator machines. The AN16-41 model boats some pretty mouthwatering specs like NVIDIA Ada Lovelace GPU options with hefty TGPs and Zen 4 or refreshed Zen 3+ CPU variants. The top processor model is the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS. Here, we have a 16" 16:10 display so yes, the screen is taller. You can choose between two 165Hz panels - one 1200p and one 1600p. The notebook also brings goodies to the table such as Nvidia Advanced Optimus, G-Sync, and a MUX switch. Just like many other Nitro devices, the upgradability is good and the same applies to the I/O. You get Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth 5.1 for connectivity. The Nitro Sence app is full of useful features such as four power presets, manual fan control, keyboard backlight tunning, and advanced system monitoring. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/acer-nitro-16-an16-41/ Specs, Drivers, What's in the box Drivers All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://www.acer.com/us-en/support/product-support/Nitro%20AN16-41/downloads What's in the box? Inside the package, you will find a bit of paperwork and a 230W or 330W barrel plug charger. Design and construction The design of the Acer Nitro 16 (AN16-41) is very similar to the Nitro 16 (AN16-51) with colorful accent lines on the lid. The device is entirely made of plastic. The profile thickness is 25.9 - 27.9 mm and the machine stops the scales at 2.7 kg. You can press down the lid in the middle, it feels spongy when we try to twist it, and it's bouncy during angle changing. Contrary to that, the base is solid. On the bright side, you open the lid with a single hand. We can spot thin bezels around the panel except for the "chin" that houses some stickers and the Nitro logo. The dual-mic 720p HD 30 FPS Web camera with Temporal Noise Reduction is positioned in an orthodox location above the display. Below the hinges, "sits" a large ventilation grill that houses the "Mode" key that can be used for switching between the power presets. The keyboard is great for gaming or even for long typing sessions because of the large keycaps that have long travel and clicky feedback. The dedicated "Nitro Sense" can be found in the NumPad section and we are happy to see big Arrow keys. The touchpad is wide and it offers spot-on accuracy and a smooth surface. The 4-zone RGB backlight (option) can be controlled via the Acer software. Flipping the laptop upside down reveals two speaker cutouts and a huge ventilation grill. The heat is guided through four vents - two on the sides and two on the back. Ports On the left, there is a 2.5Gbps LAN, a USB 2.0 port, a MicroSD card slot, and an Audio combo jack. On the back, we can spot a power plug, an HDMI 2.1 connector, a USB4 port, and a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2) port. Both Type-C connectors support Display Port and charging capabilities. On the right, you get two USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 2) ports (the latter supports power-off charging function). Display quality, Health impact (PWM), Sound Acer Nitro 16 (AN16-41) is equipped with an IPS WUXGA panel, model number BOE NV160WUM-NY2 (BOE0B72). It comes with a 165Hz refresh rate and G-Sync support. Its diagonal is 16" (40.6 cm), and the resolution - 1920 x 1200p. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:10, the pixel density – 141 ppi, and their pitch – 0.18 x 0.18 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 61 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels). Viewing angles are good. We offer images at different angles to evaluate the quality. Also, a video with locked focus and exposure. The maximum measured brightness is 484 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 451 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 13%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6870K. In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 31% Brightness (White level = 141 cd/m2, Black level = 0.13 cd/m2). Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is good – 1100:1. To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy. Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook. Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day. The yellow dotted line shows Acer Nitro 16 (AN16-41)'s color gamut coverage. Its display covers 98% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976, and 79% of DCI-P3, ensuring a super vibrant and attractive picture. We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. Below you can compare the scores of the Acer Nitro 16 (AN16-41) with the default settings sRGB. The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light. The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions. Response time (Gaming capabilities) We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa. We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 10.4 ms. Short pixel response time is a prerequisite for a smooth picture in dynamic scenes. Gamers should be happy. After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude. Health Impact: PWM (Screen flickering) Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the display is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM. Acer Nitro 16 (AN16-41)'s display doesn't use PWM for brightness adjustment. Health Impact: Blue light emissions Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light. Health Impact: Gloss-level measurement Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 48.5 GU). Sound Acer Nitro 16 (AN16-41)'s speakers produce a sound of very good quality. Its low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations. Buy our profiles Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Acer Nitro 16 (AN16-41) configuration with 16.0" BOE NV160WUM-NY2 (BOE0B72) (1920x1200) IPS. *Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at bg.laptopmedia@gmail.com. Read more about the profiles HERE. Performance: CPU, GPU, Gaming Tests All benchmarks and tests were conducted with the “Turbo” preset activated in the NitroSense app. Also, the “Best Performance” mode is applied in the Windows “Power & Battery” menu and the "NVIDIA GPU-only" mode is selected in the BIOS. CPU options This laptop can be found with AMD Ryzen 5 7535H, Ryzen 5 7535HS, Ryzen7 7735H, Ryzen7 7735HS, Ryzen 5 7640H, Ryzen 5 7640HS, Ryzen 7 7840H, Ryzen 7 7840HS, Ryzen 9 7940H, or Ryzen 9 7940HS. GPU options The GPU options are the following - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 (Laptop, 140W), GeForce RTX 4060 (Laptop, 140W), and GeForce RTX 4070 (Laptop, 140W). Gaming tests Assassin's Creed Valhalla Full HD, Low (Check settings) Full HD, Medium (Check settings) Full HD, High (Check settings) Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) Average FPS 166 fps 143 fps 118 fps 101 fps Borderlands 3 Full HD, V.Low (Check settings) Full HD, Medium (Check settings) Full HD, High (Check settings) Full HD, Badass (Check settings) Average FPS 142 fps 128 fps 104 fps 84 fps Far Cry 6 Full HD, Low (Check settings) Full HD, High (Check settings) Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) Average FPS 114 fps 99 fps 93 fps Gears 5 Full HD, Low (Check settings) Full HD, Medium (Check settings) Full HD, High (Check settings) Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) Average FPS 185 fps 151 fps 143 fps 126 fps [eBook Guide + Tools] How to MAX OUT your Laptop Temperatures and comfort, Battery Life, Performance presets comparison Max CPU load In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering. Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp. AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS (35W TDP) 0:02 - 0:10 sec 0:15 - 0:30 sec 10:00 - 15:00 min Acer Nitro 16 (AN16-41) 4.83 GHz @ 59°C @ 79W 4.85 GHz @ 65°C @ 77W 4.77 GHz @ 67°C @ 78W Lenovo Legion Slim 5 (14″, Gen 8) 4.58 GHz @ 85°C @ 99W 4.52 GHz @ 99°C @ 99W 4.51 GHz @ 100°C @ 89W Acer Nitro 17 (AN17-41) "Turbo" preset 4.90 GHz @ 59°C @ 73W 4.85 GHz @ 65°C @ 72W 4.81 GHz @ 63°C @ 70W Acer Nitro 17 (AN17-41) "Performance" preset 4.91 GHz @ 54°C @ 68W 4.87 GHz @ 59°C @ 68W 4.67 GHz @ 70°C @ 66W The Nitro 16 (AN16-41) with the optional Ryzen 7 7840HS can achieve almost the same high CPU frequencies and pleasant chip temperatures as its bigger sibling Nitro 17 (AN17-41) that we have tested with the same CPU. Real-life gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min) GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min) Acer Nitro 16 (AN16-41) 2580 MHz @ 68°C @ 102W 2595 MHz @ 66°C @ 102W Acer Nitro 17 (AN17-51) "Turbo" preset 2520 MHz @ 78°C @ 112W 2520 MHz @ 81°C @ 111W Acer Nitro 17 (AN17-51) "Performance" preset 2490 MHz @ 73°C @ 108W 2490 MHz @ 73°C @ 108W ASUS TUF Gaming A15 (FA507, 2023) 2520 MHz @ 78°C @ 112W 2520 MHz @ 81°C @ 111W Lenovo ThinkBook 16p Gen 4 2475 MHz @ 76°C @ 107W 2475 MHz @ 77°C @ 108W HP Victus 16 (16-r0000) 2520 MHz @ 77°C @ 107W 2520 MHz @ 76°C @ 107W The GeForce RTX 4060 can sustain an almost 2.6GHz core clock and 102W power limit after half an hour of gaming. The low temperature of 66°C is nice to see. Gaming comfort In Turbo mode, the keyboard gets slightly warm in the center which is good since it doesn't feel hot to the touch. You get four performance presets. You can also ramp the fans to their max speed of around 6125 RPM. The fan speed in "Turbo" mode in idle is ~2200 RPM. During gaming, the fans are super loud in "Turbo" mode because of the 5800 RPM speed (which is actually pretty close to their max possible value). It's great to see that the GPU TGP remains the same in "Performance" and "Balanced" modes while the noise levels are way lower. The big surprise here is the "Quiet" preset that offers 2100 RPM fan speed and a great 85W TGP which is impressively high given how low the noise is. Battery Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This notebook's 90.61Wh battery pack lasts for 12 hours and 30 minutes of Web browsing or 11 hours and 7 minutes of video playback. To achieve that, you have to apply the “Balanced” preset in the Windows “Power & Battery” menu, select the “Balanced” mode in the Acer Nitro Sense app and choose the Optimus mode in BIOS to use the iGPU. Disassembly, Upgrade options, and Maintenance To gain access to the internals, you have to unscrew 11 Phillips-head screws. You can easily pop up the bottom panel by carefully lifting it while holding firmly the two plastic exhausts on the back. The battery isn't fixed to the chassis with screws. There is a dedicated socket for it with soft padding on the inside of the bottom plate that keeps the battery in place. The battery is a 90.61Wh model. To remove it, you have to detach the connector from the motherboard and lift the unit away from the chassis. The capacity lasts for 12 hours and 30 minutes of Web browsing or 11 hours and 7 minutes of video playback. For memory upgrades, you get two SODIMMs for up to 32GB of DDR5-5600MHz RAM in dual-channel mode. The memory stick is additionally cooled by a dedicated thermal pad. Yep, the device that we have bought has just one memory stick installed so the RAM operates in single-channel mode. This means that the overall performance is a bit hindered because the AMD CPUs are hungry for memory bandwidth and a dual-channel mode always helps. Storage-wise, there are two M.2 slots for 2280 Gen 4 SSDs. The cooling system looks massive with its two fans and a pair of heat pipes shared between the CPU and the GPU. There are two additional ones for the video card and another pipe for the processor. We can also see four heat sinks and a duo of big and thick metal plates. Storage performance Our notebook is equipped with a 1TB HFS001TEJ9X125N which is a Gen 4 NVMe. It's fast but gets hot during benchmarking - 77°C. Verdict The Acer Nitro 16 (AN16-41) is a capable gaming device thanks to its powerful hardware that is tamed properly by the potent cooling system. The optional Ryzen 7 7840HS can maintain a 4.77 GHz frequency in longer 100% stress while the temperature is just 67°C. This reminds us that the manufacturer has applied liquid metal to the CPU chip. The GeForce RTX 4060 can show 2595 MHz core clocks alongside 102W TGP after 30 minutes of max load. All this results in a snappy performance no matter the task. Still, the fans are pretty loud in "Turbo" mode but this isn't a huge problem since the GPU power limit is the same in "Performance" and "Balanced" modes where the noise levels are way lower. The lid rigidness is a bit disappointing but the base is solid. The cooling draws air through the keyboard deck and that's why the board doesn't feel hot at all during gaming. The 16" IPS 1200p display (BOE NV160WUM-NY2 (BOE0B72) is a true gem for gaming and even for content creation because it has 98% sRGB coverage plus the panel color accuracy reaches an average dE value of 1.1 with our "Design and Gaming" profile (which is a good improvement compared to the default 2.9 score). The PWM-free screen can offer snappy pixel response times and a high max brightness of 484 cd/m2. The I/O is good, you get 5 USB ports in total as well as a MicroSD card slot. Some of the most important connectors and the power plug are placed on the back of the device which leads to better cable management on your desk. The input devices are comfortable for work and the keyboard backlight can be controlled via the Nitro Sense app which is full of useful features. The upgrade options are adequate - two SODIMMs and two M.2 slots for Gen 4 SSDs. The Zen 4 CPU may be powerful but it's also efficient because the battery life is great for such a gaming machine - 12 hours and 30 minutes of Web browsing on a single charge. Nice! Of course, you have to select the Optimus mode in the BIOS to use the iGPU when you don't need the full power of the notebook. The MUX switch unleashes the maximum potential of the video card when the charger is plugged in. The Nitro 16 (AN16-41) is a laptop that impresses with potent hardware, long battery life, a good cooling solution, and extras such as dGPU-only mode, Nvidia Advanced Optimus, and G-Sync support. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/acer-nitro-16-an16-41/