One of the big questions surrounding x86 handhelds was whether other big players would join the mix. Valve kicked things off with the Steam Deck, with ASUS and Lenovo following suit. Then, MSI joined the fray with the Claw, and now Acer is getting involved as the Nitro Blaze was just announced.
Acer Nitro Blaze 7: Power and Specs
The Nitro Blaze 7 is equipped with a 7-inch FHD display, complete with a 144hz refresh rate. Speaking to The Verge, Acer confirmed that, unlike some other handhelds, the Nitro Blaze uses a native-landscape panel.
At first glance, the reliance on the Ryzen 7 8840HS might seem like a big deal. And it is, but only to a certain extent. That’s because Acer’s first handheld is using the Radeon 780M for graphics. This is the same GPU found in many other Windows handhelds, so performance won’t be the killer feature.
- Display: 7-inch IPS / 1920×1080 / 144Hz / 500 nits / Touchscreen
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS
- Graphics: AMD Radeon 780M
- RAM: 16GB LPDDR5x
- Storage: Up to 2TB M.2 NVMe
- Ports: 2x USB-4 Type-C
- Battery: 50Wh w/ 65W Charging Speeds
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E / Bluetooth 5.3
- Buttons: ABXY / D-Pad / LB & RB / LS & RS / LT & RT Hall-effect Triggers / Power with Fingerprint Reader / Volume / View / Menu / Acer Game Space / Pop-up Keyboard / Quick Menu / Mode Switch
Other specs for the Nitro Blaze were provided, as the device includes 16GB of RAM, along with supporting up to 2TB of NVMe storage. Presumably, this means that we’ll have an M.2 2230 slot, as opposed to the 2280. Battery life should be decent, thanks to the 50Wh battery, paired with 65W fast charging.
Acer Nitro Blaze 7: Ports and Buttons
As for ports and buttons, we’ve got a lot going on here. First, there are two USB-4 Type-C ports, with one on the top and one on the bottom. Much like the ROG Ally and MSI Claw, the Nitro Blaze lacks any touchpads, instead, relying on dual joysticks to navigate the system.
From there, we have all of the usual suspects for buttons on the front, including mode switch buttons, and even a button that will automatically bring up the on-screen keyboard. Surprisingly, you won’t find any buttons on the back, but it’ll remain to be seen whether this is an oversight or if people just don’t really care.
Unfortunately, Acer didn’t provide any details regarding the price and a potential release date. However, given the timing of the announcement, we won’t be surprised if the Nitro Blaze arrives in time for the 2024 holiday season.
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