In today’s bustling market of PC gaming handhelds, Acer is setting its sights on making a notable impression with their newest entries—the Nitro Blaze 8, featuring an 8.8-inch display, and the Nitro Blaze 11, boasting a 10.95-inch screen. These devices offer some of the largest screens we’ve seen in this category yet. Both feature an impressive 2560 x 1600 resolution, with a refresh rate of 144 Hz for the Blaze 8 and 120 Hz for the Blaze 11, promising a visual experience filled with plenty of detail and smooth motion.
These high-resolution, high-refresh IPS displays are undoubtedly going to push the current tech to its limits when running modern AAA games. That said, for those anticipating groundbreaking internals, Acer sticks to a familiar powerhouse, equipping both models with AMD’s Ryzen 7 8840HS CPU, which also packs the 780M GPU found in the Z1 Extreme chip used in Asus’ ROG Ally. You’ll likely find yourself leaning heavily on AMD’s upscaling technology to keep things running smoothly.
As for battery life, both Nitro models come with a 55 Whr battery, topping the original Ally’s 40 Whr battery but falling short of the Ally X’s 80 Whr. When it comes to RAM and storage, expect a generous 16GB and up to 2TB, respectively. The screens are quite bright as well, with a rating of 500 nits. Strangely enough, Acer has been emphasizing the CPUs’ 39 total AI TOPS, but based on specs, don’t expect stand-out performance in either battery longevity or frame rates. However, what they do bring is size — and lots of it.
The Nitro Blaze 11, in particular, gets a nod for its detachable controllers, making it somewhat akin to a larger Lenovo Legion Go. However, it seems to lack the built-in mouse sensor, and there’s no dedicated cursor control, so get ready to tap and swipe your way through Windows 11 Home when not using Acer’s Game Space software.
Weight-wise, a larger screen does mean a heavier device. The Nitro Blaze 8 weighs in at a manageable 1.59 pounds, while the Blaze 11 tips the scales at a heftier 2.31 pounds.
In a quick hands-on experience with these devices, the Blaze 11 didn’t appear as cumbersome as the promotional images suggested. Still, it’s not the most portable option out there. Like with many larger gaming laptops, you might find this one mostly staying put. My primary concern is the battery life, given its power-hungry screen and size. Still, for use at home where a USB-C charger is always within reach, this might not pose much of an issue.
Acer has slated the Nitro Blaze 8 and Blaze 11 to hit the shelves sometime in Q2, with pricing reflective of their screen size. The 8-inch model is set to start at $899, while the larger 11-inch version will begin at $1,099.
