Acer Nitro Blaze 7 gaming handheld with Ryzen 8040 revealed at IFA

Acer Nitro Blaze 7 at Acer's booth at IFA 2024.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Acer brought a brand new Nitro lineup to IFA, including its first attempt at a PC gaming handheld (an increasingly crowded field) and two new laptops — one each with Intel and AMD  processors.

The Acer Nitro Blaze 7 differs from the best PC gaming handhelds we've seen so far in a number of ways. For starters, it's using an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS, rather than a Ryzen Z1 Extreme like the Asus ROG Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go. But the chips are pretty similar, as both chips have 8 cores on AMD's Zen 4 process and a max boost clock of 5.1 GHz, as well as 12 RDNA 3 compute units.

With a 7-inch, 1920 x 1080p screen, Acer is going with the same resolution as Asus, but with a higher refresh rate of 144 Hz. 

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Header Cell - Column 0 Acer Nitro Blaze 7
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 7 8840HS
GraphicsAMD Radeon 780M
Display7-inch, 1920 x 1080, 144 Hz, IPS, FreeSync Premium
Memory16GB LPDDR5x-7500 (soldered)
StorageUp to 2TB PCIe Gen 4 M.2 NVMe SSD
Battery50.04 WHr
ConnectivityWi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
Starting PriceRow 7 - Cell 1

As other OEMs have done with their Windows 11-based gaming handhelds, Acer is putting its own handheld-friendly UI over the desktop. Acer's is called Game Space, which the company describes as a one-stop launcher that can interact with most gaming platforms.

The general hardware appears pretty similar in spirit to other Windows handhelds. The controls are in an Xbox-style layout, with the joysticks offset. Acer has some options buttons near the display, but others are down below the D-Pad and lower joysticks, which may be a bit of a reach. There's a microSD card reader to expand the 2TB of storage, and two USB 4 ports for charging and peripherals. Tom's Hardware managing editor Matt Safford saw the Blaze at IFA, and reports back that he was surprised by how thick it was.

The 50.04 WHr battery is about the same size as the cell in the Steam Deck OLED and ever-so-slightly larger than what you'll find in the Legion Go, but it pales in comparison to the 80 WHr unit in the more expensive Asus ROG Ally X.

Acer hasn't yet set a price or release date, but we hope to find out about that soon.

Nitro V Laptops

Acer's got two mid-priced gaming laptops as well. The two new Nitro V machines come in a 14-inch size and a 16-inch size. They have some pretty big differences beyond their screens.

The V 14 is an AMD system, pairing either the Ryzen 5 8645 HS or Ryzen 7 8845HS with Nvidia graphics. The options are pretty low-end, ranging from an RTX 2050 up through an RTX 4050. In contrast, the V 16 uses 14th Gen Intel CPUs (either a Core i5-14450HX or Core i7-14650HX), with GPU's ranging from an RTX 3050 up through an RTX 4060. The Nitro V 14 comes in a stylish white, while the V 16 is in a more standard black. And while the Ryzen-based laptop uses Wi-Fi 6E, the Intel-based V16 is on the older Wi-Fi 6 standard. 

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Header Cell - Column 0 Acer Nitro V 14Acer Nitro V 16
ProcessorUp to AMD Ryzen 7 8845HSUp to Intel Core i7-14650HX
GraphicsUp to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060
MemoryUp to 32GB DDR5Up to 32GB DDR5
Display14.5-inch, 1920 x 1200, 120 Hz, or 2560 x 1600, 120 Hz16-inch, 1920 x 1200, 165 Hz or 2560 x 1600, 180 Hz
StorageUp to 2TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMeUp to 2TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD RAID 0
Battery57 WHr57 WHr
ConnectivityWi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4Wi-Fi 6 AX201, Bluetooth 5.1
Release DateSeptember 2024October 2024
Starting Price$1,099.99$1,299.99

The two systems do share a number of specs. Both go up to 2TB of storage (though the Nitro does it in RAID0), and they use the same 57 WHr battery.

The Nitro V 16 will launch in October starting at $1,299.99, while the Nitro V 14 will come in September, starting at $1,099.99.

Update September 4, 10:53 a.m. ET with hands-on photos and impressions.

Andrew E. Freedman

Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and Mastodon @FreedmanAE.mastodon.social.

With contributions from
TOPICS
  • watzupken
    Looking at the specs, specifically the 16GB RAM and 60WHr battery, I think this one is dead on arrival. The new Ryzen chip is technically no different from the Z1 Extreme.
    Reply
  • kealii123
    watzupken said:
    Looking at the specs, specifically the 16GB RAM and 60WHr battery, I think this one is dead on arrival. The new Ryzen chip is technically no different from the Z1 Extreme.
    Given the specs, it will need to compete on price . If its not under $600, whats the point
    Reply
  • thestryker
    This seems like a very questionable late entry into the handheld market. AMD's Zen 5 APUs have already launched and the market is fairly saturated with Zen 4 APU handhelds. This one appears to be about as generic as it gets as well.

    Seems like the handheld space isn't going to get interesting until CES (at least from the larger manufacturers).
    Reply
  • Notton
    8840HS in a 7" handheld? Well that's certainly different.
    IDK why Acer would use an HS chip in that size.
    It's not like Acer couldn't get their hands on the 8840U variant, as they have plenty of laptops using it.
    Reply
  • cheetah2kk
    Notton said:
    8840HS in a 7" handheld? Well that's certainly different.
    IDK why Acer would use an HS chip in that size.
    It's not like Acer couldn't get their hands on the 8840U variant, as they have plenty of laptops using it.
    The HS can hold higher clocks for longer.. But sacrifices minimum TDP as a result.. I just wish they went 8" instead of 7"
    Reply
  • cheetah2kk
    watzupken said:
    Looking at the specs, specifically the 16GB RAM and 60WHr battery, I think this one is dead on arrival. The new Ryzen chip is technically no different from the Z1 Extreme.
    Yep. Asus learnt 16Gb Ram was technically useless.. I have the Ally X, and using a 4tb Samsung 990 Pro. in the Ally X playing Starfield, the drive never peaks over 60 deg with that extra Ram - meaning the extra Ram reduces constant read/writes to the drive under load.. I had the same drive in the Legion Go, and it struggled to stay under 80deg even with custom graphene cooling heat transfer pad..... 16 Gb is just not enough
    Reply