- Not wanting to be left out of the recent handheld gaming console craze, Acer has revealed its own offering in the form of the Nitro Blaze 7.
- Acer has leaned on AMD for the silicon, with a Ryzen 8040 Series processor present.
- Official pricing and availability are yet to be shared, so it’s unclear if it will come to South Africa.
You can now count Acer among the gaming hardware manufacturers making handheld gaming consoles these days. This as the Taiwanese company showcased its Nitro Blaze 7 device at the Next@Acer event earlier today.
At the time of writing it’s unclear why the Blaze 7 calls under the Nitro lineup and not Acer’s more dedicated gaming moniker, Predator, but the new offering is touting many of the elements we have seen in other handheld consoles of late.
To that end, an AMD Ryzen 8040 Series processor with up to 39 total AI TOPS. Added to this up to 2TB of storage, and 16GB LPDDR5x memory, depending on the specification that consumers opt for. AMD has been leaned on the graphic elements too, with a Radeon 780M Graphics, Radeon Super Resolution, and AMD FreeSync all supported on the Blaze 7.
As for other design aspects, a 7″ FullHD (1920×1080) IPS display is present up front with touch interface, along with a 144Hz refresh rate.
According to Acer, “This allows players to experience enhanced visuals and responsive controls while playing their favorite AAA titles. The system runs on Windows 11 and features the new Acer Game Space application which supports the addition of games from multiple platforms.”
“Users can effortlessly navigate through the Windows 11 gaming handheld’s library of games thanks to the new Acer Game Space feature. Gamers gain quick access to the space and can curate it with their most beloved game titles. It is also fully compatible with mainstream gaming platforms and includes 3 months of PC Game Pass for access to hundreds of high-quality PC games,” it added in a press release shared with Hypertext.
Other elements worth highlighting include WiFi 6E from a connectivity perspective, and a 50.4Wh Lithium-Polymer battery. Acer has not detailed the expected battery life of the Nitro Blaze 7, which will prove a determining factor if it is to compete against other handheld consoles on the market.
As for when the Nitro Blaze 7 will be available to purchase, and how much it will retail for, both details have yet to be confirmed by Acer. As such, it is unclear if this specific device will land on our shores.
With the likes of ASUS, Lenovo, MSI, and others having done so, hopefully Acer does the same.
Full specifications for the Nitro Blaze 7 are as follows:
| Product Name | Acer Nitro Blaze 7 |
| Model | GN771 |
| Operating System | Windows 11 Home |
| Processors | AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS (8-Core, 16-threads, 24 MB cache, up to 5.1 GHz max boost) AMD Ryzen AI, Supports up to total 39 AI TOPS |
| Graphics | AMD Radeon 780M (Up to 2.7 GHz, AMD RDNA 3 12 CUs) |
| Screen | 7″ FullHD (1920×1080) IPS Display, 144 Hz, 500 nits, 10-point touch panel, 7ms response time, 100 percent sRGB, AMD FreeSync Premium |
| Memory | 16GB LPDDR5x SDRAM, 7500 MT/s (onboard) |
| Storage | Up to 2TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4 Gen 4 SSD |
| I/O Ports | 2 x USB4 (Type-C 40 Gbps), Micro SD Card (SD 4.0) |
| Control and Input | A B X Y buttons, D-Pad, LB/RB Bumpers, LS/RS Sticks, LT/RT Hall effect triggers, Power button with fingerprint reader, volume button, view button, menu button, Acer Game Space button, Pop-up keyboard button, Acer quick menu button, Mode switch button, |
| Audio | Speaker: 2 x 1W; Microphone: 2 x D-Mic; Audio Jack: 3.5mm |
| Battery, Battery life | 50.04Wh Li-Polymer battery |
| Power Supply | 65W Type-C AC Adapter |
| WLAN and Bluetooth | Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Software | Acer Game Space, PC Game Pass (3 months) |
| Dimensions | 25.6(W) x 11.35(D) x 2.25(H)cm |
| Weight | 670 g |
