The Acer Nitro V 14 is the gaming laptop I've been longing for — Here's why

The Acer Nitro V 14 immediately caught my eye during Acer's packed keynote presentation ahead of IFA Berlin 2024 .

This upcoming gaming laptop is compact with a 14-inch display and features a polished white chassis rather than the typical black or gray. At the same time, it offers powerful specs, a 120Hz refresh rate, and a snappy backlit keyboard.

It's the portable, well-rounded gaming laptop I've been looking for, and I doubt I'm alone in appreciating what makes the Nitro V 14 unique.

At first, I was a little frustrated with Acer's marketing for the Nitro V 14, which positioned it as a laptop specifically for female gamers, seemingly because it's white. Luckily, Eric Ackerson, Associate Director of Product Marketing at Acer America, spoke with us after the keynote and shared his support for the Nitro V 14.

Ackerson tells Laptop Mag , "I think it’s absolutely horrible to try and say [white] is a gender-related color. I think it’s demeaning ... it doesn’t give women credit for having a style."

Ackerson also reiterated that the Nitro V 14 isn't just for female gamers and voiced his support for more colorful gaming laptops, which have sold well in other markets around the world.

The Nitro V 14 is a step in the right direction. I, for one, love white laptops because they have a cleaner, polished aesthetic that also doesn't pick up fingerprints the way black plastic and metal do. The Acer Nitro V 14 has a lot to offer all gamers, regardless of gender, earning it Laptop Mag 's award for best gaming laptop debut at IFA Berlin 2024.

Best of IFA Berlin 2024: Acer Nitro V 14

Despite Acer positioning the Nitro V 14 as a "girl gamer" laptop, its quality and style should appeal to a wide range of gamers and creators. You can max out the specs with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage, so the Acer Nitro V 14 can keep up with power-hungry apps and games.

At the same time, the smaller 14-inch display makes this a great gaming laptop for students or anyone who travels frequently since it's much more portable than bulkier 15 and 16-inch gaming laptops.

We'll have to wait until we can put the Nitro V 14 through its paces during our thorough lab tests to see how well it actually performs. However, I walked away with a positive first impression after my hands-on experience following Acer's keynote presentation.

The keyboard feels smooth and snappy with well-spaced keys, including full-size arrow keys. The touchpad is roomy and features a smooth matte finish that doesn't feel sluggish or laggy. There's also a good variety of ports including an HDMI port, two USB Type-A ports, a USB Type-C port, a headphone jack, and even a MicroSD card reader, which will be especially appealing to creators.

The white chassis shouldn't be as uncommon as it is, but it looks great and sets the Nitro V 14 apart. The Nitro branding isn't over the top, either. If you're looking for a gaming laptop without the excessive "gamer" design details, the Nitro V 14 is a great option.

It features a blue-tinted Nitro logo on the lid, but otherwise, the chassis is plain white with a slight metallic shimmer. It's clean, polished, and a little more stylish than most other gaming laptops.

If you want a portable gaming laptop with a sleek design (that isn't black or gray) paired with powerful specs, the Acer Nitro V 14 deserves your attention. It's exactly the kind of gaming laptop I hope to see more of.

Laptop Mag 's IFA Berlin 2024 Issue celebrates one of the world's longest-running consumer tech expos, Germany's own Internationale FunkAusstellung Berlin.

Our on-the-ground team will bring you all the news emerging from the showroom floor of Messe Berlin and highlight the best in consumer tech as we announce our inaugural Laptop Laurel winners for best-in-show products.

Head over to Laptop Mag 's IFA Berlin 2024 Issue for more coverage.