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Acer’s first handheld gaming PC is the Nitro Blaze

Draugoth

Gold Member
Acer_Nitro_Blaze_7_right_facing.jpg


Source

Acer has so far stayed out of the handheld gaming PC race, but that’s about to change. It’s just announced its first Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally competitor, the Acer Nitro Blaze 7, which looks like it fits somewhere between last year’s Asus ROG Ally and the newer ROG Ally X.
Like Asus — but unlike most rivals — it features a 7-inch 1080p variable refresh rate IPS screen to keep things smooth, one that refreshes slightly faster at 144Hz. (Acer tells The Verge it’s a landscape-native screen.) It’s also got a newer Ryzen 7 8840HS chip, albeit with the same Radeon 780M integrated GPU as most other Windows handhelds.

With 16GB of 7500 MT/s memory and a 50 watt-hour battery, it’s a step ahead of the original Ally’s 6400 MT/s memory and 40Wh pack, and it comes with up to 2TB worth of SSD storage. But with 24GB of memory and an 80Wh pack, the $800 Asus ROG Ally X is currently the Windows handheld to beat, so I suspect this Acer will need to cost quite a bit less to com

acer_nitro_blaze_7_specs.jpg

 
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HogIsland

Member
It's great to see all these OEMs jumping into the scene so quickly. I'd never buy this one, but hopefully HP/Omen, Alienware, Samsung, and even Sony come through with their own PC handhelds.

Another big wildcard is Nvidia. AMD overwhelmingly dominates the space right now. Intel at least has a competitor. Nvidia is shut out for the moment. Obviously they're going to have the Switch 2, but it won't show off the high end performance that people expect from team green.
 
The gamer aesthetic is so fucking gross lol.
My problem is how these companies are just making “Steam Deck but _____” in terms of form factor. This one feels like someone took the Lenovo legion, modded it with handles, and put a gamer skin on it.

To anyone wondering “well what else can they do”, look at the variety of handhelds from companies like Ayaneo, Abernic, Miyoo, and Odin to see better creativity and form factor.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
My problem is how these companies are just making “Steam Deck but _____” in terms of form factor. This one feels like someone took the Lenovo legion, modded it with handles, and put a gamer skin on it.

To anyone wondering “well what else can they do”, look at the variety of handhelds from companies like Ayaneo, Abernic, Miyoo, and Odin to see better creativity and form factor.

Acer is just checking boxes that have already been checked by other handheld manufacturers. Why simply make copies of existing stuff that looks better? I mean....I'm looking at this thinking "great another 7" LCD". That isn't going to stand out in what is becoming a crowded market.
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
To anyone wondering “well what else can they do”, look at the variety of handhelds from companies like Ayaneo, Abernic, Miyoo, and Odin to see better creativity and form factor.
Why? It's all specs, it's supposed to play games, not look innovative. Or are you advocating for stupid gimmicks like Lenovo Legion Go?
 
My problem is how these companies are just making “Steam Deck but _____” in terms of form factor. This one feels like someone took the Lenovo legion, modded it with handles, and put a gamer skin on it.

To anyone wondering “well what else can they do”, look at the variety of handhelds from companies like Ayaneo, Abernic, Miyoo, and Odin to see better creativity and form factor.
I agree with that as well. I don't know why companies haven't tried harder to make an actual "handheld" outside of Ayaneo and some of the retro handhelds.

Not only are the vast majority of these extremely ugly, but the form factor is just too big IMO. Ayaneo actually makes very nice looking handhelds but the problem is the price combined with the fact they release new hardware like every single day lol.
 
Why? It's all specs, it's supposed to play games, not look innovative. Or are you advocating for stupid gimmicks like Lenovo Legion Go?
Because when more and more portables are made, the question then becomes ‘why should I buy your product?’ when it has a near identical design from a brand that not many care to stand behind.

Thus it could use something more to stand out, such as a better form factor.
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
I'd be interested in a Legion Go with that big screen if they made one without the removable controls.
The rumor is that it’s coming. Maybe with the new AMD chipset.

MSI Claw 8 is coming with Intel Lunar Lake chipset early next year as well and that is supposed to have a GPU around 15-20% faster vs the new AMD one.
 
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Topher

Identifies as young
The rumor is that it’s coming. Maybe with the new AMD chipset.

MSI Claw 8 is coming with Intel Lunar Lake chipset early next year as well and that is supposed to have a GPU around 15-20% faster vs the new AMD one.

Nice to know. I'd be fine with Legion Go staying with Z1 Extreme if it helps keep the cost down. Or at least include that option with the newer, less complicated form factor.
 

kevboard

Member


- Processors AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS (8-Core, 16-threads, 24 MB cache, up to 5.1 GHz max boost)
- AMD Ryzen AI, Supports up to total 39 AI TOPS
- Graphics AMD Radeon 780M (Up to 2.7 GHz, AMD RDNA 3 12 CUs)
- Screen 7" Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS Display, 144 Hz, 500 nits, 10-point touch panel, 7 ms response time, 100% sRGB, AMD FreeSync Premium
- Memory 16GB LPDDR5x SDRAM, 7500 MT/s (onboard)
- Storage Up to 2 TB M.2 NVMe PCIe® 4.0 x4 Gen 4 SSD
- I/O Ports 2 x USB4® (Type-C 40 Gbps), Micro SD Card (SD 4.0)
- Control and Input A B X Y buttons, D-Pad, LB/RB Bumpers, LS/RS Sticks, LT/RT Hall effect triggers, Power button with fingerprint reader, volume button, view button, menu button, Acer Game Space button, Pop-up keyboard button, Acer quick menu button, Mode switch button,
- Audio Speaker: 2 x 1W
- Microphone: 2 x D-Mic
- Audio Jack: 3.5 mm CTIA
- Battery, Battery life 50.04 Wh Li-Polymer battery
- Power Supply 65 W Type-C AC Adapter
- WLAN and Bluetooth Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3
- Software Acer Game Space, PC Game Pass (3 months)
- Dimensions 25.6 (W) x 11.35 (D) x 2.25 (H) cm
- Weight 670 g

ok, so if my math is mathing correctly here (12*64*2*2.7) we might have a portable on our hands (unintended pun, but I'll take it) that will be more powerful than the Xbox Series S.

if it can run the full 2.7 GHz and if I am not completely messing up my math (if I do blame Red Gaming Tech where I stole that equation from)
this GPU should reach 4.1 TFLOPS of FP32 and that is without dual issue FP32.

and on the CPU side it should wipe the floor with all current consoles as they use crappy laptop ZEN2 cores, while this is ZEN4
 
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Roxkis_ii

Banned
Those stats don't look like this has very good battery life. Actually the fact the bottom promotional picture doesn't mention battery life gives it away.



Maybe I'm not intune with current handheld trends, but is battery life not concidered on a portable device anymore?
 
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My biggest problem with these handhelds is the screen size. Even using Moonlight to remote play to an iPad I find small to read and enjoy.

A 15” laptop is the minimum I would go. Hard to imagine I used to play on a Gameboy as a kid, maybe it’s just my age, maybe I’ve been spoiled by massive OLED screens, but I just can’t game on a tiny display anymore.

I also find today’s UI’s are bad in general, and compressing all that even further just makes for an awful experience.
 

kevboard

Member
Those stats don't look like this has very good battery life. Actually the fact the bottom promotional picture doesn't mention battery life gives it away.



Maybe I'm not intune with current handheld trends, but is battery life not concidered on a portable device anymore?

most people use these handhelds either at home to play stuff in bed or on the side while the TV is occupied. or they use it on the plane.
in both cases there usually is an outlet near and so the battery life is often not important to people.
 

Holammer

Member
I wonder how big the market for PC handhelds actually is if everyone keeps throwing themselves in there with such wild abandon.
Valve needs to release a console form factor device already to get the ball rolling there too.
 
most people use these handhelds either at home to play stuff in bed or on the side while the TV is occupied. or they use it on the plane.
in both cases there usually is an outlet near and so the battery life is often not important to people.

Might as well just get a gaming laptop if it’ll be plugged in all the time.
 

kevboard

Member
Might as well just get a gaming laptop if it’ll be plugged in all the time.

laptops are less easy to play on while in bed or just chilling on the couch.
they are also harder to transport and less easy to use on the go should you want to.

additionally these handhelds usually offer different power modes. this allows you to massively limit power draw from the battery while playing less demanding games.

I recently played through Axiom Verge on my Steam Deck, and was able to severely down clock the GPU without any performance impact. which basically doubled my battery life compared to playing demanding 3D games
 
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GHG

Member
Maybe I'm not intune with current handheld trends, but is battery life not concidered on a portable device anymore?

Yes it is, just not with all these shitty derivative windows OS handhelds.

Did a 5 and a half hour flight with the deck OLED the other day and it lasted the whole flight playing a mixture of Balatro and Xcom 2.
 
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laptops are less easy to play on while in bed or just chilling on the couch.
they are also harder to transport and less easy to use on the go should you want to.

additionally these handhelds usually offer different power modes. this allows you to massively limit power draw from the battery while playing less demanding games.

I recently played through Axiom Verge on my Steam Deck, and was able to severely down clock the GPU without any performance impact. which basically doubled my battery life compared to playing demanding 3D games

Don’t you keep both in a bag? I guess each use case is different.
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
Nice to know. I'd be fine with Legion Go staying with Z1 Extreme if it helps keep the cost down. Or at least include that option with the newer, less complicated form factor.
I really want OLED VRR, 24GB+ RAM and preferably faster GPU plus a bigger battery. Trackpads would be nice but not a deal breaker.

Otherwise it doesn’t make sense to buy a new device since I already have OG Ally and Steam Deck.
 

kevboard

Member
Don’t you keep both in a bag? I guess each use case is different.

sure, but try pulling out a gaming laptop in the backseat of a car and play something on it. you'll need a controller, and it's gonna be really cramped back there.

for light gaming even a power hungry handheld can be dialed back to get decent battery life. who knows how much battery life you can get out of this when playing something like Axiom Verge or maybe older 3D games like XIII (which I also recently replayed on my Deck with severely reduced gpu clocks at 90fps full res, max settings)

so with something like this it's more comfortable to play games on the go, on the sofa, and in bed. and while you're out away from a power source you play less demanding games while increasing your battery life. when you're at home or near an outlet you crank it to max clocks and suddenly have an Xbox Series S in your hands
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
Yeah, should’ve gotten with 32 GB for extra cost and no tangible difference other than a better spec sheet.
There is a big benefit for newer games. You really want to assign 8GB to GPU which only leaves 8GB to the rest of the system. That’s why 24GB or 32GB device is preferable.
 
sure, but try pulling out a gaming laptop in the backseat of a car and play something on it. you'll need a controller, and it's gonna be really cramped back there.

for light gaming even a power hungry handheld can be dialed back to get decent battery life. who knows how much battery life you can get out of this when playing something like Axiom Verge or maybe older 3D games like XIII (which I also recently replayed on my Deck with severely reduced gpu clocks at 90fps full res, max settings)

so with something like this it's more comfortable to play games on the go, on the sofa, and in bed. and while you're out away from a power source you play less demanding games while increasing your battery life. when you're at home or near an outlet you crank it to max clocks and suddenly have an Xbox Series S in your hands

Yeah, they both have their positives in the end. I contemplated getting one but decided I’d rather play most games on other hardware. I see them really picking up even more in the future.
 
There is a big benefit for newer games. You really want to assign 8GB to GPU which only leaves 8GB to the rest of the system. That’s why 24GB or 32GB device is preferable.

You’re not going to be gaming at more than 1080p so it won’t make any difference. Most of the time you’ll be at 720p or less.
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
You’re not going to be gaming at more than 1080p so it won’t make any difference. Most of the time you’ll be at 720p or less.
It does make a difference even at 1080p (not as much on 720-800p though). And especially with faster SoCs coming up with both AMD and Intel, that will matter even more.
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
In what games would you see a difference at 1080p? Can you show me?
Take a look at some of the more detailed Ally X reviews on YouTube. It’s not going to make a massive difference, but every bit helps.

And we should see even better results with more RAM for the new AMD chipset and upcoming Intel one.

If you already have a device, it’s not worth it currently to trade up, but if buying a nee one, personally I would go for more memory.
 

kevboard

Member
Yeah, they both have their positives in the end. I contemplated getting one but decided I’d rather play most games on other hardware. I see them really picking up even more in the future.

I love them. ever since I got my Steam Deck OLED I actually started playing some of the hundreds of free Epic Store games that have been collecting dust for years 🤣

which is kinda ironic... took the STEAM Deck for me to play my Epic Store games... but thanks to Heoric launcher it's actually a way nicer experience too lol.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
In what games would you see a difference at 1080p? Can you show me?

It's been shown on the Ally X to help with minimums quite a bit.

Plus it helps tremendously with Windows itself. Windows is not happy with 16GB of RAM.

It's just a terrible purchase IMO, especially with the Ally X having 24GB and being on the market.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Extra RAM won’t save that experience.

Not sure why we're complaining about that game when it runs on average 60-80fps, and has battery life on the X of over 3 hours if you lock it to 60fps. From watching a few people who have recorded gameplay on youtube and have said to have played over 1/3 of the game on the X, they had no complaints about performance.

Does it look exactly the same as the PS5 or desktop? I'd hope not, for the Ally X is going to be using 30W and the PS5 over 200W. But that's the advantage of handhelds, regular 1080p stuff looks great on them, where the console needs all the extra power to get 4k or upscaled 4k.
 
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