Acer announces Nitro V 16, first AMD Ryzen 8040 series gaming laptop, just ahead of Intel’s Meteor Lake Launch

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Announced, but not expected to ship until March.

Acer 8040
(Image credit: Acer)

Acer has dropped the details (or, at least, some details) on its upcoming Nitro V 16 gaming laptop, the first system we've heard of with AMD's Ryzen 8040 series processors. The system will launch in North America in March 2024 and other markets in April, starting at $999 or €1,199.

The announcement, which comes from Acer, says very little about the 8040 series "Hawk Point" chips, other than that the Nitro 16 will go up to a new Ryzen 7 8845HS running on the Zen 4 architecture. In 2022, AMD shook up its naming, so while that first 8 in the 8845HS means a 2024 model, the third number, "4" means it's on the same process node as last year's most advanced AMD processors. 

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Acer 8040
(Image credit: Acer)

Acer and AMD are pointing out that the laptops will utilize Ryzen AI technology, similar to the 7040 series. The announcement comes just ahead of Intel launching its "Meteor Lake" chips on December 14, which will be its first with a neural processing unit.

The AMD processors will be paired with Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series graphics cards, up to an RTX 4060. The 16-inch, 16:10 screen panel will come in 2560 x 1600 or 1920 x 1200 resolution options, with up to 165 Hz refresh rates. Other specs include up to 32GB of DDR5-5600 RAM and up to 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage.

Ports include USB 4 Type-C, a pair of USB 3 Type-A ports, HDMI and a microSD card reader. For wireless, the laptop will work with Wi-Fi 6E (Acer didn't name a specific Wi-Fi card).

"We do not have any final US or Canadian models/configurations to share at this time," an Acer spokesperson said in an email. So while we know this is all planned to start rolling out in March, it may be a bit until we learn the details. Perhaps that's something that Acer and AMD are holding onto for CES in January. 

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Andrew E. Freedman
Andrew E. Freedman

Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and Mastodon @FreedmanAE.mastodon.social.

7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • -Fran-
    All I want is all laptops from 2024 and onwards to only use USB-C connectors and just ship a few adapters if needed. Including for power duty, as USB-4, as I understand it, can do up to 240W charging. That is more than enough for a friggen laptop.

    On the more specific spec list: I'd like it if they all include a friggen MUX switch for the video outputs. That is such a basic thing to add on any gaming laptop with a discrete GPU that is embarrassing not seeing it in all mid and higher tier offerings. Then for them to populate the two RAM slots. I mean, come on. And I don't want the stupid RAM soldered onto the motherboard for the sake of it being slim. Add the stuppid extra mm or two and let the slots be there.

    There may be a few more things I'd add, but those are the really basic things I really need to see in new laptops from 2024 onwards. There's absolutely no excuse.

    Regards.
    Reply
  • ManDaddio
    AMD Ryzen laptop chips with exception of the high end ones always seem to be a bottleneck to high end laptop GPUs. Heck maybe even midtier GPUs.
    People don't seem to understand that low wattage chips can only do so much.
    Of course I'm coming from a gaming perspective. Not school or Minecraft mindset.
    And AMD igpus are blah no matter how people try to spin it.
    Reply
  • gggplaya
    -Fran- said:
    All I want is all laptops from 2024 and onwards to only use USB-C connectors and just ship a few adapters if needed.

    I hope this never happens. I prefer thumb drives in USB-A form and there are too many accessory dongles in USB-A form. You need at least 1-2 USB-A ports for all laptops.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    gggplaya said:
    I hope this never happens. I prefer thumb drives in USB-A form and there are too many accessory dongles in USB-A form. You need at least 1-2 USB-A ports for all laptops.
    You get way more out of using a USB-C to USB-A (and other stuff) and USB-A to whatever else. Plus, it uses less space, so you can put more of them, in theory.

    Regards.
    Reply
  • gggplaya
    -Fran- said:
    You get way more out of using a USB-C to USB-A (and other stuff) and USB-A to whatever else. Plus, it uses less space, so you can put more of them, in theory.

    Regards.

    USB-C to A adapters don't always work because the USB 2.0 and USB 3.1 protocols are on different pins in a USB-C connector. Trust me, I know as I've bee in the field, trying to make adapters work trying to connect USB-C on my laptop to a USB-A 2.0 port on a device I was trying to update. I thought a straight USB-C cable on one end, to USB-A cable on the other would wor. It ruined my day.

    Also, if a device has a USB-A dongle, you don't want to have that hanging off your laptop with an adapter.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    gggplaya said:
    USB-C to A adapters don't always work because the USB 2.0 and USB 3.1 protocols are on different pins in a USB-C connector. Trust me, I know as I've bee in the field, trying to make adapters work trying to connect USB-C on my laptop to a USB-A 2.0 port on a device I was trying to update. I thought a straight USB-C cable on one end, to USB-A cable on the other would wor. It ruined my day.

    Also, if a device has a USB-A dongle, you don't want to have that hanging off your laptop with an adapter.
    Fair. I didn't know even within USB adapters there were compatibility shenanigans. I can't say I'm surprised, but I didn't know.

    As for the dongles. Well, I have to say is the lesser evil going forward when a lot of things are starting to use USB-C more and more. Specially now that USB-C allows you to use proper docks, so it wouldn't just "hang", but it is a secondary thing you'd need to carry around, like a power brick.

    Regards.
    Reply
  • helper800
    ManDaddio said:
    AMD Ryzen laptop chips with exception of the high end ones always seem to be a bottleneck to high end laptop GPUs. Heck maybe even midtier GPUs.
    People don't seem to understand that low wattage chips can only do so much.
    Of course I'm coming from a gaming perspective. Not school or Minecraft mindset.
    And AMD igpus are blah no matter how people try to spin it.
    Do you have any references to backup your claims, or are they anecdotal experiences? Either way it would be interesting to me to get into the details off those claims.
    Reply