1 min readAcer is looking to light the gaming world on fire with its first gaming handheld PC.
Announced at this year’s IFA conference in Berlin, the new Acer Nitro Blaze 7 is built around a 7-inch FHD screen clocked at a 144Hz refresh rate. Under the hood, the handheld runs on the AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor. It’s got 16GB of RAM, plus up to 2TB of SSD storage.
While the unit doesn’t feature a Steam Deck-style trackpad, it does feature two USB ports plus a MicroSD slot for expandable storage. There’s also a 50.04Whr battery, support for up to 65W charging via an AC adapter and a free three months of Xbox Games Pass.
Design-wise, the Acer Nitro Blaze 7 is very much what you’d expect from the brands. It’s got a black-and-red color palette, a design that sits somewhere between the Nintendo Switch and the Steam Deck and a more recent AMD chipset than anything else on the market. The processor found here isn’t something built for the handheld form-factor, but high-end gaming laptops like the HP Pavillion 16.
Courtesy of that chipset, a big part of the sell here involves AMD’s FSR upscaling. However, it does run on Windows 11 rather than SteamOS. While the more recent components might make for better performance on some fronts, the lack of optimisation might mean compromises on other ones. Battery life, for instance, remains a big unknown.
No word yet on Australian pricing and availability for the Acer Nitro Blaze 7. However, if and when it does arrive, it’ll face no shortage of competition. Check out the table below for a round-up of gaming handhelds available in Australia.
