The Acer Nitro Blaze 7 is the latest addition to the world of gaming handhelds, with Acer being surprisingly slow off the blocks in this new sector. The Blaze 7 isn’t exactly packed full of unique features, which makes it a tough sell when it’s arriving so late, but with the right price it could be a solid option for those that still haven’t yet taken the plunge.
With its eyes clearly set on gaining a spot on the best handheld gaming PC guides of the world, this new Acer handheld is based on a 7-inch screen and houses a slightly different CPU to most other Steam Deck rivals. Instead of the Z1 Extreme of the Asus ROG Ally X and Legion Go, it uses the Ryzen 7 8804HS. It has the same level of GPU power, but some differences elsewhere. We got our hands on the new Steam Deck rival at the IFA trade show where it was launched, to see how it’s shaping up.
To all intents and purposes, the Nitro Blaze 7 is the epitome of a generic gaming handheld by today’s standards. Its 7-inch 144Hz screen, its overall size and shape, and its choice of an AMD processor with a Radeon 780M GPU combine to make it a familiar-feeling and solidly capable unit. However, there are some unique pros and cons to this device.
The most obvious con has to be its styling. The addition of red and white dial-like graphics around the controls and on the back of the device, along with the words “dynamic” and “powerful” written on the back utterly cheapen the look, making it feel more like a toy than a trusted gaming device. It would be a different matter if Acer had tapped into the Nintendo Switch mindset and aesthetic, with a more playful, joyous look, but that’s not the case.
It’s a shame, as the overall build quality, feel of the controls, and quality of the screen are all up there with more premium-looking devices. Acer just fluffed the landing with its choice of decals.
One useful addition to this device is the dedicated keyboard button, making it easy to bring up this essential feature without hassle. It’s not enough on its own to make the Blaze 7 feel like an essential upgrade over units that don’t have this feature, but it’s certainly a handy extra.
On the flip side, one notable missing feature is any sort of trackpad on the front face of the device. We find these features really useful for all manner of interactions with these handhelds, reducing the need to use the touchscreen.
On the rear of the Blaze 7, you can clearly see the two fan intakes that pull air in to cool the device’s innards, with hot air vented out the top edge, just like on other handhelds. The vent only covers a relatively small proportion of the top edge, though, rather than the exhaust being spread across the top. It will be interesting to see whether this ends up restricting airflow, and thus cooling capacity, when we get to test the Nitro Blaze 7 properly.
Connections include two USB-C inputs, making it easy to hook up a power source and other devices at the same time without any extra cumbersome USB hubs. One port is on the top, alongside the power and volume buttons, while the other is on the underside next to the microSD slot and headphone jack.
With Tomb Raider being the only game loaded onto the device, we didn’t really get a sense of how its screen and GPU combo coped with faster titles – especially as the section of the game loaded up had Ms Croft slowly walking around a market, rather than running around. However, the screen looked great and the game frame rate was smooth while the graphics looked decently detailed.
With no official Acer Nitro Blaze 7 price as yet, Acer has the opportunity to take stock of the competition and their current pricing. Hopefully, Acer will come in with a competitive price that undercuts the likes of the ROG Ally X. Without that, the Blaze 7 may struggle to really stand out from the crowd.
While the Nitro Blaze 7 may not be the most remarkable new handheld, then, MSI is offering something a little more different with its MSI Claw 8 AI+. The latter is powered by the new Intel Lunar Lake CPU and its powerful GPU, so check out our MSI Claw 8 AI+ preview to find out our initial thoughts on that option too.