Acer unleashes Nitro Blaze 7 gaming handheld to compete with Steam Deck

New/release

Acer just unveiled a ton of new hardware as a part of its IFA lineup, with one of them being the Nitro Blaze 7. This is Acer’s first handheld gaming console that’ll go head-to-head with the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally X, and it runs Windows 11 out of the box with Acer’s new Game Space app to support titles from multiple platforms. Acer isn’t ready with pricing or availability details yet, but you can continue reading to find other details including its features and specifications.

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The Nitro Blaze 7 is Acer’s first gaming handheld

The Acer Nitro Blaze 7 is powered by AMD’s Ryzen 7 8840HS processor coupled with Radeon 780M integrated graphics. It sports a 7-inch 1080p IPS panel with 144Hz variable refresh rate support, and packs 16GB of 7500 MT/s memory, a 50Wh battery, and up to 2TB SSD. The Nitro Blaze 7’s memory and battery pack are no match to ROG Ally X’s 24GB RAM and an 80Wh battery, we expect Acer to price it accordingly.

This particular handheld has the usual set of buttons on the front along with Hall effect triggers, but it doesn’t have touchpads or even any buttons at the back like most other handhelds on the market do. You get support for Wi-Fi 6E and storage expansion via a microSD card, and Acer says the Nitro Blaze 7 will come three months of PC Game Pass as well. Other highlights of the Acer Nitro Blaze 7 gaming handheld include two USB4 ports, a fingerprint reader, a dedicated button to bring up the virtual on-screen keyboard, and more.

Acer hasn’t announced the pricing and availability details for the Nitro Blaze 7 gaming handheld just yet, so stay tuned for more info. If you don’t want to wait for the Acer Nitro Blaze 7 handheld, then consider grabbing the ASUS ROG Ally X for $800.