The Acer Nitro Blaze 11 Is the Anti-Nintendo Switch

Acer is proposing to gamers that they may want a handheld PC that’s so big it could be a full laptop. The Acer Nitro Blaze 11 is a supersized handheld based on the design of the Nitro Blaze 7 we saw at IFA last September—a device that hasn’t yet made it to market. Because the Blaze 11 is so big, it’s better to think of it as a Windows tablet with attached controllers.

Like the Lenovo Legion Go, the Nitro Blaze 11 lets you remove the controllers from the screen to set up as your own small gaming suite. Instead, you could prop it up on its built-in stand, connect a mouse and keyboard, and use it as a Windows workstation. It’s running on the AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS, the same processor that was powering the Nitro Blaze 7 when we checked it out last year. The APU is equivalent to the popular AMD Ryzen Z1 extreme found in the Legion Go and Asus ROG Ally X. Otherwise, it’s packing a relatively standard 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 2 TB of storage.

© Image: Acer

To put it into perspective, the handheld is so large you can clutch the bottom of each controller grip toward the bottom and not reach any of the sticks or face buttons. The handheld clocks in at 2.3 pounds. Compare that to the Steam Deck at 1.4 pounds or the heavier MSI Claw 8 AI+ at 1.75 pounds. It’s closer to a full laptop PC and even includes a front-facing webcam. It’s better to think of Acer’s 11-inch handheld as a large Windows tablet with built-in controller support. We may never see the concept Dual Play laptop with its touchpad that transforms into controllers, but this may be the next best thing.

The Blaze 8’s smaller, 8.8-inch display (we’re not sure why it’s not called the Nitro Blaze 9) is still large, but the two handhelds seem more manageable. Either way, you get a 2560 by 1600 IPS LCD touch display with a 144 Hz VRR refresh rate. Both handhelds have Hall effect sticks and face buttons to hopefully reduce drift. Each device also uses the Acer Game Space UI to help you access your games and settings around Windows 11’s clunky design on smaller screens.

© Acer

If 8 or 11-inch screens seem like too much, then you may prefer Acer’s upcoming mobile controller, the Nitro Mobile folds down a seem in the center, which may make it more compact than a typical Backbone One or Razer Kishi. It still supports screens up to 8.3 inches, so we’d like to see if it may support foldable phones. The Nitro Mobile should be coming down the pike in Q2 for $70.

Both the 8-inch and 11-inch handheld should go on sale in Q2 this year. The Nitro Blaze 8 will go for $900 while the Nitro Blaze 11 is a eye-popping $1,100. The Nitro Blaze 8 and Blaze 11 will struggle to stand out among 2025’s slate of handhelds. MSI’s Claw 8 at $900 eclipses the performance of most other handhelds at top TDP, but only to a marginal degree. We’re still waiting to see how the rumored AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme may perform compared to its predecessor.

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