We first heard about Acer’s Nitro Blaze branding last year when it debuted the Nitro Blaze 7 handheld. Now, at CES 2025, Acer has unleashed two new handhelds — Nitro Blaze 11 and Nitro Blaze 8. Both of these handhelds will release sometime in Q2 2025, and the prices start at $900 for the relatively smaller unit of the two. More details of these handhelds are ready and waiting for you down below.
Acer’s new Nitro Blaze gaming handhelds are now official
Acer has unveiled two new PC gaming handhelds as a part of its Nitro Blaze lineup. The new Nitro Blaze 11, as the name implies, sports a massive 10.95-inch WQXGA screen. This massive display makes the Nitro Blaze 11 a giant handheld unlike any other we’ve seen so far. The 11-inch panel on this unit can top out at 500 nits brightness, and it supports up to 144Hz refresh rate for gaming. It is equipped with AMD’s Ryzen 8040HS processor and is paired with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and up to 2TB of storage.
One of the highlights of this PC gaming handheld is that it comes with detachable controllers, similar to the ones you get with the Nintendo Switch and the Lenovo Legion Go. It also comes with a built-in kickstand and has Hall effect joysticks with two back buttons.
The Nitro Blaze 8, on the other hand, is a relatively smaller unit sporting an 8.8-inch screen. It shares many of the same specifications as its giant sibling, but it ditches the detachable controllers and the built-in stand. Neither of them are deal-breakers as you can always pick up a dock or a dedicated stand for your handheld and also connect external gamepads. The screen size will definitely make a huge difference, so keep that in mind. The 11-inch screen of the Nitro Blaze 11 sounds comically big for a gaming handheld, though it remains to be seen how it looks and feels in the real world outside the press material.
As far as the pricing and the availability details are concerned, the Nitro Blaze 11 will start at $1,099.99 shipped, while the Nitro Blaze 8 will retail for $899.99 shipped. Acer says these handhelds will hit the scene in Q2 2025, meaning you still have quite a bit of time until they land on the shelves for a closer look. If you don’t want to wait until these new handhelds show up, then consider checking out the Lenovo Legion Go handheld which also comes with detachable controllers and is going for $649 shipped right now.
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