The only real giveaways that it's a gaming notebook are its red keyboard backlighting and touchpad border. I wish Acer would have switched to blues as it has started doing on its Predator laptop lineup, though. The red-and-black combo is overused in the gaming-notebook world, especially among budget models.

The Nitro 7's metal construction gives it a vault-like rigidity that should stand up reasonable roughhousing; I could barely budge the palm rest or twist the chassis with force I wouldn't normally apply. The gotcha is that all that metal adds up to a 5.5-pound carry weight, or almost a pound more than I'd like to lift in a notebook sporting a 15.6-inch screen. At least it's reasonably thin, at 0.9 inch, and the 14.3-by-10.2-inch chassis is trim enough thanks to a thin-bezel display. The Razer Blade 15 Base Model is lighter and smaller in every direction, but you'll have to spend several hundred bucks more to get it.

The other quibble I have with the Nitro 7's design beyond the heft is that the fit and finish lack polish. On my tester, I see noticeable gaps along the front edge where the pieces fit together, and the corners of the chassis and the lid are too pointy.