Acer Tells Gamers to Blaze It With Its New Handheld PC That Looks like a Toy Race Car

As in any airstream , being behind the battalion has some advantages . It means you’re able to look at your competitors and capitalize on their mistakes before you swoop up in for the winnings . Acer think its best fortune to take on theSteam Deckis the Nitro Blaze 7 . It ’s coming in with a uncanny race car - heavy pattern and the most 4/20 - friendly name we ’ve seen for the still - burgeoning domain ofhandheld gaming microcomputer . Besides the odd design , the gadget ’s big claim to renown as a Windows 11 hand-held gaming rig is the full 2 TB of SSD store .

First , we have to talk about its flavor . It has a form broker like anAsus ROG Ally Xcrossed with aLenovo Legion Go . It has a flat face , and a 7 - inch IPS LCD touch screen at 1920 x 1080 resolve . Instead of some more ergonomic handheld ’s we ’ve used , there ’s a steep dropoff that leads into the grips , almost like the Legion Go . Its backplate feature two rounded vents that look like a car ’s speed caliber . The front plate also has a issue of decals that seem to be ripped out of a sport cable car ’s fascia , as if the“Nitro ” monikerwasn’t enough to stir the focal ratio of a hot rod .

Both the Legion Go and Asus ROG Ally top out with the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme CPU , but Acer ’s take a slightly different saddlery with the Hawk Point earned run average AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS . Specs - wise , the two fries are neck and neck opening . Both support the same RDNA 3 integrate graphics . The 8840HS underpin up to 30 W TDP , like the Z1 Extreme . Acer also boasts the chip has 39 full TOPS for AI performance in its CPU , though I ’m wracking my brain trying to find a use pillowcase for AI processing on such a low , gaming - centric machine .

I don’t know how many gamers were asking for a handheld with a racing motif, but the Acer Nitro Blaze has more than enough race car decals to go around.

I don’t know how many gamers were asking for a handheld with a racing motif, but the Acer Nitro Blaze has more than enough race car decals to go around.Image: Acer

Other than its CPU , the equipment run on 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM . The 7 - column inch display supports up to 144 Hz refresh rates and AMD FreeSync . It will be hard to amaze Valve ’s OLED exhibit on its latest handheld , but at least it ’s a good baseline . As for battery life , it has a 50Wh battery . It ’s equivalent to the Steam Deck OLED , but it pales compared to the Ally X ’s 80Wh battery .

The controls are what you expect , from the facial expression button to the d - diggings and left and right hall upshot spark off . There ’s no trackpad ; queerly enough , there are no rearward bumpers as you get on most other big - name PC makers ’ handhelds . or else , there ’s a specific button to bring up Acer Game Space . It ’s a new app like Lenovo ’s Legion Space or Armoury Crate that allows users to bypass Windows and quickly access their games .

The hand-held clocks in at 670 Gram , or 1.4 pounds . That ’s just a ghost lighter than the Ally X and a lilliputian heavier than theoriginal ROG Allyor Steam Deck OLED . It ’s far light than the Legion Go with its attached controllers , but then again , so are most handhelds . At a little over 10 inches wide , it ’s run to be slimly more stocky than an Ally or Deck , which may be a point in its favor for utter portability .

Acer Nitro Blaze 7 Lifestyle 2

At least this guy looks excited. Image: Acer

Otherwise , it does have two USB - degree centigrade port and a microSD bill of fare time slot on top of that whopping 2 TB of storage at the high end . My common suggestion for somebody give away for a handheld is to snap up the minimum SSD you call up you ’ll require to play your game on the go , then grab a punk microSD card on sales agreement for your less - intensive title or for emulation . You commonly will see 2 TB on the higher goal stake laptop computer or screen background form for gamers who need to have to uninstall a plot as seldom as possible .

Acer previously toldTom ’s Guideit was “ watching ” the gaming handheld distance . That seems a petty on the nozzle , considering the Nitro Blaze looks very comfy without any standout feature film save for the bigger SSD . I ’m hope more time with its racecar blueprint will endear me more to it , but I ’m just wondering if the specs are hiding something more profound .

AcerAcer Nitro Blazehandheld pcsIFA 2024

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