Why does my Acer Nitro 5 (brand new) feels sluggish? Is this normal behavior?

I am posting because I am kind of at a lost. I recently bought a new laptop and am having a bit of problems with it. The laptop is an Acer Nitro 5 (https://www.thesource.ca/en-ca/computers-tablets/laptops/gaming-laptops/acer-nitro-5-an515-53-55h5-15-6%E2%80%9D-gaming-laptop-with-intel%C2%AE-i5-8300h%2C-1tb-hdd%2C-8gb-ram%2C-nvidia-gtx-1050-windows-10---black-red/p/108076417). It's model number is AN515-53-55H5.

When I first got the laptop, I plugged it in and pressed the power button to turn it on. The keyboard lite up, I waited a few seconds and nothing happened, so I proceeded to hold the power button again. After a couple of times of doing this, I decided to look at the manual again and noticed it said something along the lines of the first start up taking a bit as it is setting things up or something. So, I pressed the button, keyboard lite up, waited a bit longer and it started setting up windows.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly. Once the setup was done, I was able to go to my desktop. This is when I noticed apps were taking a few seconds to open, Right click anything seemed to be taking longer then it should, the start menu was taking a bit to open, I couldn't pin anything to the start menu, and clicking the system tray "show hidden items" button was taking longer as well.

So, I restarted the machine and installed all of the windows updates. I was now able to pin items to the start menu. Around this point, I noticed, in task manager, the disk usage was 100%. I googled it, and people were mentioning some tricks. So, I disabled the "SuperFetch", adjusted my windows performance options to best performance, and set the power settings to High performance. Disabling "SuperFetch" did cause my disk usage to drop down significantly, and the system was more responsive; however, apps were still taking long to load, right click was still slow, start menu was slow, and so was the system tray.

I did manage to install Chrome, FFXIV, Skyrim, and Vympr. I was shocked that the games played flawlessly; no stuttering and able to play Skyrim on very high, FFXIV on laptop high, and Vympr on medium high. Gaming works perfectly and better then the desktop that I own.

My biggest concern is the sluggishness. I just don't feel it should be acting how it is (considering I found this video and he is able to use Cortona and mine is sluggish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O5QxVw1AXU). I am concerned that during the initial install of the OS something went wrong...

As I said, gaming on it is amazing it is just the sluggishness with the OS. Would using windows to "Reset this PC" be a good idea? This is the only thing I haven't tried... Or is this just normal behavior for this laptop?

Thanks in advance for any help and support.

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andylb

I would do a battery reset. Charge battery to 100% then disconnect the power and let it sit for 2 hours to let the battery cool. Now put a paper clip in the small pin hole on the underside and press and hold it for 30 sec. Wait 5 minutes then plug in the power.

BIOS default: After power drain is done, power on the unit, but as soon as you power on the unit keep pressing the F2 key so that it take you to BIOS page. Press F9 and press Enter than press F10 and press Enter. the unit will restart
This is a catch all remedy that fixes many weird things. Finally go to your product support page and make sure you have the latest BIOS installed. It should be
V 1.26 you can find it here
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/7571?b=1

smartinez281

I noticed about the same thing as well. I have the 2018 version. What worked for ME : upgraded to a SSD.

tobimaru

Post the specs of the 1TB HDD that is included with the laptop. My guess is it is 7200RPM (or slower?). If it's not an SSD of some variety, it is going to feel "sluggish".

andylb

True SSD'S are faster but my 1tb HDD is far from sluggish so this us not the problem here

Buckles

I have performed the battery reset this morning, and it doesn't seemed to have changed. The computer still feels sluggish. Opening start tasks a second or two, right clicking on the desktop also takes a second or two, and open apps is slow. However, as stated, games run amazingly.

I am on bios version 1.22. Could upgrading it solve the issue? I am not that far behind...

I am attaching a harddrive benchmark I did.
I also am sharing a link to my speccy: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AkxGxGwMn-gkh5ZzAGJc-8sxJkl3hg?e=yvuB0B

I believe I have a 5400RPM Drive... Could the sluggishness I am feeling be because of the read times from the HDD? Cause it is only sluggish when opening apps, the start menu, task menu, right clicking, etc...

Also, thank you everyone for all the help and suggestions! Really appreciate it!

CDM_20190629215424.txt

andylb

That drive would be slower loading programs but you still shouldn't feel slugishness when right clicking etc. Please update your BIOS, some of the BIOS updates address performance, let us know

Buckles

Alright, just updated my bios to the latest version, and it still feels slow to respond. She takes a bit when logging in. I have recorded a video of it to hopefully help:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_ys70rpR38

Mind you, after a few moments of waiting, the drive drops from 100% to 0-10%

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/d6/a62qo9bo6oud.png

And clicking starts feels okay, so does right clicking, etc. It really seems to only be sluggish when the HDD is above 60%... However, as soon as I start opening apps she becomes sluggish again (and the drive becomes active again).

andylb

OK. disable your anti virus and report back. I assure you that this is not because you have an HDD, this is not normal behavior even for the slower HDD
How many gb of RAM do you have?

Buckles

I have 8gb. I don't believe RAM is an issue. I have a a desktop with 8GB and it runs windows 10 flawless. I am just using windows defender.

andylb

Buckles said:

I have 8gb. I don't believe RAM is an issue. I have a a desktop with 8GB and it runs windows 10 flawless. I am just using windows defender.

RAM that should be OK and Windows Defender was what I was going to suggest. That video is good and it's taking way too long to login. Got to say I'm stumped, my HDD is really fast

Buckles

andylb said:

Buckles said:

I have 8gb. I don't believe RAM is an issue. I have a a desktop with 8GB and it runs windows 10 flawless. I am just using windows defender.

RAM that should be OK and Windows Defender was what I was going to suggest. That video is good and it's taking way too long to login. Got to say I'm stumped, my HDD is really fast

Thanks for all the help! I really appreciate it!

I went out and bought an SSHD and it seems to have solved the problem. Even while it is updating windows, it feels really snappy.

Going to give this a try.