Acer Nitro 16S AI Lands in Nepal: A Budget Name with Flagship Power

The Acer Nitro series has always been one of the most affordable gaming laptop lineups, especially in Nepal. However, with memory prices being sky-high right now, even the most budget-friendly gaming laptops have seen a significant price bump. That said, the new Nitro 16S AI comes with some impressive specs that aim to justify this increase in price.

Alongside the Nitro 16S, Mercantile, the official distributor of Acer laptops in Nepal, is also bringing in the Acer Nitro V16S. This is another 16-inch laptop that offers slightly lower specs for those looking for a more affordable option. But here, we will just discuss the Nitro 16S AI.

What is the Price of Acer Nitro 16S AI in Nepal?

The Acer Nitro 16S AI price in Nepal is Rs. 3,04,999 for the variant with Ryzen AI 7 and RTX 5070TI. The laptop comes with 16GB RAM, which is paired with a 1TB SSD.

The pricing is a bit on the expensive side, and paying the full amount upfront might be difficult for some buyers. That’s why Mercantile is also offering EMI options, with down payments starting as low as 20%.

On top of that, buyers also get freebies worth Rs. 15,000, including a gaming headset, mechanical keyboard, mouse, and a laptop bag.

The Acer Nitro has always been known as a true budget gaming laptop for gamers. And budget gaming laptops usually mean cheap plastic materials, a thick chassis, and a body that weighs a ton, well, at least for a laptop. And that’s exactly what comes to mind when I hear the name Acer Nitro.

But the Acer Nitro 16S AI seems to fall into a different category. At least, that was my first impression when I saw the device.

It looks surprisingly similar to Acer’s more premium Helios lineup, specifically the Helios Neo 16S AI. And the internals look pretty interesting as well.

Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty and see what the Nitro 16S AI is really made of.

Acer Nitro 16S AI Overview

Design and Display

As I said, the metal design closely resembles the Helios Neo 16S AI, which is quite interesting. The design now looks very premium, and Acer has even managed to slim it down to under 20mm. It’s still about 1mm thicker than its inspiration, the Helios Neo, but I like that Acer has tried to make its budget offering feel more premium.

That said, it’s not an all-metal build. The keyboard deck and display housing are still plastic, so once you open the lid, the laptop might give off a slightly plastic feel.

To distract you from that, Acer has equipped the laptop with a massive 16-inch 2.5K IPS display. It’s also a matte panel, what Acer calls ComfyView, so glare shouldn’t be much of an issue. And even if there is some glare, the 400 nits of brightness should be enough to view the screen clearly indoors.

The display also supports up to a 180Hz refresh rate, which is more than enough, especially if you’re into competitive gaming.

Hardware and Others

To handle all these games, the laptop runs an RTX 5070 Ti with 12GB of VRAM. The desktop RTX 5070 Ti is more than capable of handling AAA titles at 1440p @ 60FPS with ease. However, the mobile version of this chip, like the one used in the 16S AI, can be thermally constrained and may not reach similar performance levels.

The RTX 5070 Ti here is paired with the Ryzen AI 7 350 chipset, which is a great match at a 2.5K resolution, and you’re unlikely to face any bottlenecks. That said, if you plan on gaming at higher resolutions via a secondary monitor, you may need to lower in-game settings or enable DLSS.

The AI processor features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a max clock speed of up to 5GHz and 16MB of L3 cache. It’s an AI-focused chip with an NPU capable of handling up to 50 TOPS (trillion operations per second). The CPU also includes the Radeon 860M iGPU, which comes in handy if you want to run GPU-related tasks while on battery power.

In terms of memory, the laptop ships with a single 16GB DDR5 RAM stick and a 1TB NVMe SSD. For gaming, 16GB is pretty much the bare minimum these days. Thankfully, there’s an extra SO-DIMM slot if you plan to upgrade the memory later. Just keep in mind that the laptop only supports up to 32GB of total RAM.

Port selection is also quite generous. The laptop offers a total of five USB ports: three USB Type-A ports and two USB Type-C ports at the back that support USB4 speeds and PD charging. You’ll also find a DC-in port and an HDMI port at the back, which is great if you prefer a cleaner desk setup. On top of that, there’s an Ethernet port, a headphone jack, and a memory card reader.

On the software side, the laptop boots into Windows 11 Home and comes bundled with a handful of AI-powered features like Acer PurifiedVoice, PurifiedView, ProCam, and more. To power it all, the 16S AI requires a 230W AC power brick and a 76Wh battery unit.

ALSO READ: ACER Laptops Price in Nepal (February 2026 Updated)

Overall, the Acer Nitro 16S AI makes a strong case for itself if your priorities include smooth 1440p gaming, heavy video editing, or even running AI workloads locally. It comes with a capable processor and a very solid GPU, and while the 16GB RAM does feel a bit limiting considering the rest of the hardware, it’s still enough for most real-world tasks, and can be upgraded later.

That said, despite the top-tier specs, the Nitro branding can be a bit misleading at this price point. When you’re spending over Rs. 3,00,000, the word “Nitro” still carries a budget perception, even though this laptop is anything but budget. In fact, at this price range, you could also consider alternatives like Acer’s own Helios Neo 16s AI lineup.

So, the Nitro 16S AI is a powerful and well-rounded machine, but its biggest challenge isn’t performance; it’s positioning. If you can look past the Nitro name, you’re getting a premium-performing laptop that comfortably steps beyond the traditional budget gaming category.

What are your thoughts on the Acer Nitro 16S AI? Let us know in the comments below!