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- Acer launches the Nitro Blaze 11 starting at $1,099 (around £1,000 / AU$1,740)
- It will utilize AMD’s Ryzen 8840HS Processor with 8 cores and 16 threads
- Uses a huge 10.95-inch 1600p 120Hz screen
Acer is set to breathe new life into the handheld gaming PC scene with the Nitro Blaze 11 – which will feature AMD’s Ryzen 8840HS processor, using the Radeon 780M integrated GPU packed with 12 RDNA 3 cores, starting at $1,099 (around £1,000 / AU$1,740).
With a huge 10.95-inch 1600p 120Hz display, the Nitro Blaze 11 will compete with the likes of Asus’ ROG Ally and more notably the Lenovo Legion Go. The Legion Go is well known for its 8.8-inch screen, a large display size for a handheld – now, the Acer Nitro Blaze 11 takes it a step further with a bigger screen and detachable controllers similar to the Legion Go or Nintendo Switch.
Thanks to the 8-core Ryzen AI Processor, players will be able to enjoy games at higher frame rates using AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (potentially FSR 4, once that gets revealed). Acer’s new device also promises fast-charging capabilities, allowing you to dive back into action in no time via a USB 4 Type C port. This will come in handy considering the 55Wh battery – smaller than some competitors, and a potential point of concern given the comparatively massive display.
It doesn’t stop there, as the Blaze 11 comes with up to 2TB of Gen 4 NVMe storage, alongside a front video camera for calls and streaming – this will be ideal for Discord users and content creators, also pushing the device’s capabilities towards work usage.
Launching alongside the Nitro Blaze 11 is the Nitro Blaze 8, with the same processor, and a smaller 8.8-inch 144Hz screen starting at $899 / around £800 / AU$1,590.
Is an 11-inch screen too big for a handheld gaming PC? Is it too expensive?
Considering the Lenovo Legion Go’s 8.8-inch 1600p display, the 10.95-inch screen (at the same resolution) from Acer’s Nitro Blaze 11 is set to blow it out of the water. As I’ve stated previously, besides the Steam Deck OLED, the Lenovo Legion Go was the best handheld gaming PC looking purely at display quality and size.
While we wait for Lenovo’s successor to the Legion Go (rumored to feature an OLED screen), I believe Acer has undoubtedly taken the lead in this department. Acknowledging this, an 11-inch display surely has to be the limit as far as handheld gaming PCs go. Any bigger and you’re effectively breaking into the territory of laptop screen sizes. After all, 13-inch laptops are commonplace, and the Blaze 11 certainly looks a bit comically oversized in Acer’s promo shots.
The only concern here is whether the Ryzen 8840HS processor will be able to handle the 1600p resolution – the same issue was present with the Legion Go, with downscaling to 1200p or lower a necessity for great performance in most games with the Z1 Extreme chip found in Lenovo’s handheld.
While I might be happy to see such a massive display for a handheld device, the price is certainly not something to boast about – $1,099 for a handheld gaming PC will likely make many potential buyers wonder why they shouldn’t just opt for a gaming laptop desktop PC instead. Personally, I’m just hoping the performance and battery life live up to the price tag.
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