Acer Unveils Nitro Blaze 7 Gaming Handheld

Acer is the latest PC maker to launch a Windows-based gaming handheld with the Nitro Blaze 7. The device has a 7-inch screen and an AMD Ryzen 7 chip under the hood, but Acer isn’t sharing pricing and availability details yet.

Most gaming handhelds on the market today use AMD chips, except for the MSI Claw which uses an Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU. The AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor in the Acer Nitro Blaze 7 is slightly newer, and Acer emphasized how AMD’s Ryzen AI “optimizes performance and responsiveness across a wide range of games and applications.”

The display on the Acer Nitro Blaze 7 is a Full HD IPS 144Hz touch-enabled display that supports AMD’s Freesync Premium technology. The gaming handheld also offers 16GB of memory, up to 2TB of SSD storage, and a 50Wh battery. On the connectivity front, the device comes with 2 USB4 Type-C ports, a micro SD card slot, and Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 support.

All manufacturers of gaming handhelds usually offer their own special software on top of Windows 11, and the Nitro Blaze 7 is no exception. The new Acer Game Space feature will let gamers access games from all mainstream gaming platforms in a single place, and the device comes with a dedicated Acer Game Space button providing instant access to users’ game libraries.

There’s now a lot of choice for people interested in gaming handhelds. Valve’s Steam Deck remains a top choice thanks to its optimized SteamOS software and new OLED display option. Moreover, a device like the Lenovo Legion Go comes with detachable controllers similar to the Nintendo Switch’s JoyCons. Acer promises a “compact and lightweight design” with its Nitro Blaze 7, but it will be interesting to see how much the device will actually cost.