Acer Nitro 5 17.3" Gaming Laptop

I got my computer on February 1st. It had a defective screen. I sent it to Acer. It took them two days to get my a shipping label. It took seven days for it to reach them. After they had it for a week, they could not give me an ETA on when repairs would be finished. I finally got it back today, on the 25th, and immediately returned it to Amazon because I had to have a functional computer and couldn't hold onto my loaner without a solid estimate for when I'd get this one back. So it was nearly a full four weeks from when I originally got it that it was in my hands in a fully working state, and from what I've seen, this is fast for Acer. Which is a shame - this is a lot of computer for the price. To give credit where it's due, I tested the laptop when it was returned to me and it seemed like the screen problems I was having were completely fixed. Considering the price puts this solidly in the mid-range category, you're getting a lot for what you're paying. It doesn't need an additional harddrive or RAM to be completely viable out of the box. (I bought the 1TB/16GB RAM model.) If you want to add a harddrive, there's a SATA cable in the box, and it's fairly easy to get the back panel off. There's even a tutorial by Acer on YouTube on exactly how to do it. In terms of right-to-repair, though, it's mediocre. It's easy to get to the guts of the computer itself. I'd like having easy access panels for the HDD and RAM, but that's a minor complaint - it's not hard to pry this laptop open. What's disappointing is the mount for the screen. Screens die faster than anything else on a laptop. The way this thing is built, I'm not surprised my screen was defective out of the box. You'll want to always open and close the lid with both hands if you want your screen to last the lifetime of the laptop. If you ever need to change the screen out, it's clearly not designed for you to be able to do so. The bezels aren't as simple to pop open as they are on other units, and the screen is held in place by glue, making it so that you probably want to take it to a technician unless you have some experience doing these kinds of repairs yourself. I wish I could say my experience with this was stellar. I loved my Acer Predator Helios from 2018. I've loved the Aspire I've used for writing documents. I'm just completely unimpressed by Acer's service. Three weeks in and no ETA concerning when the laptop would be back in my hands was unacceptable. They only send you updates when they receive your laptop and when they're sending it back. You can't find out any further details - not even where you're at in the queue. I ended up getting a Lenovo Idea Pad 3 Gaming and so far I am loving it. I can't rate Lenovo's support because I haven't had to contact them. The machine I am using now feels rock solid; much better than I would have expected given the amount of power it has for the price. (Under $800.) With this laptop - it looks like it would be worth it if you get it and it works as intended right out of the box. But - I'm far from the only person who has had an issue with it. They've had build quality problems with the Nitro line all the way through, and there are cases where it took 5-6 weeks for people to get their machines back if they went through Acer's support. With these specs, from the testing I did when I had it hooked up to an external monitor, it performs as beautifully as you'd expect. There is a rock solid machine here if you're careful with the screen and get one that works right out of the box. If you don't? Don't deal with Acer support. Buy a third party warranty if you think you'll ever need it. Buying online, I'd go for something without a lot of reported build problems. This is the kind of laptop that I would buy in person so I could test and immediately replace a defective unit. My trust in Acer is completely shot after this experience. At this point, I'm just glad they got it back to me within the return window. I jumped in because I've had amazing experiences with Acer hardware in the past. Those will probably be my last Acer machines. It's completely unacceptable for a multi-million dollar company to mass produce a line of laptops with a high number of defects and a support process that leaves the buyer in the dark for the majority of it. So - based on build quality, it's a 3 1/2 to 4 star laptop if it works. If it doesn't? You're better off returning it and getting another computer.