Acer Nitro Blaze 7 Goes Official - A New Handheld In The Block!

The handheld gaming market is becoming increasingly crowded, with yet another contender stepping in to challenge the Steam Deck. Following the entries from Valve, Asus, Lenovo, and MSI, Acer has now joined the race with its Nitro Blaze 7. While the device doesn't introduce any groundbreaking changes, it’s built to rival its competitors closely.

At the heart of the Nitro Blaze 7 is AMD’s Ryzen 7 8840HS processor, which closely mirrors the specs of the Z1 Extreme found in the ROG Ally (X) and Legion GO. In contrast, the Steam Deck, even in its OLED iteration, continues to rely on an older chip.

The Nitro Blaze 7 features a seven-inch Full HD display with a 144Hz refresh rate. It also offers support for Variable Refresh Rate (VRR). However, it utilizes a traditional LCD IPS panel, which doesn't offer a huge leap over similar devices. The battery capacity is 50 watt-hours, aligning with the Steam Deck OLED, but noticeably less than the beefier ROG Ally X.

In terms of memory, Acer has equipped the Nitro Blaze 7 with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM. It runs at 7,500 MT/s, matching the new ROG Ally X’s speed. The Storage options include a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, which can be configured up to 2TB. However, it's likely that multiple models will come with varying capacities.

For connectivity, the device offers dual USB4 ports with speeds of up to 40Gbps, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3. It also includes an SD card slot for additional storage. Audio is handled through built-in speakers, along with a microphone and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Weighing 670g, the Nitro Blaze 7 comes pre-installed with Windows 11 Home and includes a complimentary 3-month subscription to PC Game Pass. However, Acer has yet to reveal the device’s pricing or release date, which will be crucial factors in its competition against the crowded field of handheld gaming PCs.