One other CES, one other new handheld gaming console. Besides Acer’s Nitro Blaze 11 is not your common Steam Deck competitor.
The Taiwanese tech firm introduced the moveable PC Monday forward of the large annual commerce present in Las Vegas, a brand new entry in its Nitro sequence of handheld gaming gadgets. It is large in dimension however shockingly gentle, with a removable controller design that makes it really feel an terrible lot like a Nintendo Swap on steroids — with the added twist of some laptop computer performance.
Mashable obtained to go hands-on with the Nitro Blaze 11 simply earlier than launch, and whereas it swings a bit towards “who is this for?” territory, it is an extremely cool and versatile gadget for the proper of consumer with money to burn.
How the Acer Nitro Blaze 11 feels to make use of
That is the smaller, also-new Acer Nitro Blaze 11 within the background on the suitable.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
It merely have to be stated: At over 14 inches vast and practically seven inches tall, this factor is gigantic — huge, hulking, jumbo, beefy, majestic even. It offers Apple’s largest iPad Professional a run for its cash. It dwarfs my fingers, and these puppies used to have the ability to stretch a full octave on a normal piano.
But, the Nitro Blaze 11’s dimensions are barely misleading. Selecting it up for the primary time is a disarming expertise: It weighs only one,050 grams, or about 2.3 kilos. I can not imagine how gentle it’s; it is surprisingly comfy to carry. A giant win for avid gamers’ wrists in every single place.
It is particularly spectacular when you think about the quantity of energy the machine packs. Inside, there is a laptop-tier AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor with 16GB of RAM and an NPU that may hit as much as 39 trillion operations per second (TOPS) in AI duties. That is coupled with AMD Radeon 780M graphics and as much as 2TB of storage. I ought to notice that it obtained fairly scorching on the again simply sitting on its pedestal in Acer’s media showroom.
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
The Nitro Blaze 11 is not rated for battery life simply but, however an Acer rep informed me there’s in all probability a motive for that: “It’s not something to boast about.” Not completely shocking, all specs thought-about.
Mashable Gentle Velocity
The machine’s show is an immersive 10.95-inch touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh price and a decision of 2560 x 1600 pixels. It is an IPS show, not OLED like those on the most recent Steam Deck and Swap, nevertheless it appears fluid and lots vibrant in particular person. (It is rated at 500 nits of brightness.)
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
On both facet of the display screen are two removable controllers, which slide simply out of their slots and click on satisfyingly again into place. Each of them have a joystick with a colourful lit-up border; there is a D-pad beneath the left one and motion buttons above the suitable. They really feel a bit plasticky however well-made general, and the joysticks’ motion is silky clean. They characteristic magnetic Corridor Impact know-how (as are their triggers), so the long-term stick drift points that plague the Swap must be a non-issue right here.
In a Nintendo similarity, the bottom of the Nitro Blaze 11 has a kickstand that allows you to swap (!) to enjoying it in tabletop mode. It is sturdy and stays in place when not in use. After I identified the Switchiness of the Nitro Blaze 11’s design, Acer’s rep remarked, “It works.”
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
This is the place we begin veering away from Swap territory: The Nitro Blaze 11 runs on Home windows 11 and comes with some fixings that make it usable as a laptop computer various. There is a entrance digicam located on the very prime of its show, for example, and customers can join it to peripherals like a keyboard by way of Bluetooth or its USB-A port. It does not really feel like a complete laptop computer alternative, but when you could hop on a fast Zoom name or write up an electronic mail and it is the one machine you have got on you, you are not SOL.
Acer Nitro Blaze 11 worth and launch date
Credit score: Haley Henschel / Mashable
Acer’s rep informed me that the corporate hasn’t fairly outlined its audience for the Nitro Blaze 11 simply but, however youthful commuters in Asia who need a discreet option to play PC video games on the go are prime of thoughts.
I am form of caught on the identical problem. With a beginning worth of $1,099, I feel a normal gaming laptop computer can be a wiser buy for most individuals. On the similar time, I need one. It is sick. It is slick. And typically awesomeness trumps practicality.
The Nitro Blaze 11 launches in Q2 2025 alongside the smaller new Acer Nitro Blaze 8 ($899), which has an 8.8-inch 144Hz show; it omits its larger sibling’s removable controllers, kickstand, and digicam. Keep tuned for our full evaluate.
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