We’re live at IFA 2024, and our first port of call was to check out the Acer Nitro Blaze 7. Acer only announced the handheld PC this week, but it’s already drawing a lot of attention thanks to its flamboyant design and impressive specs. In our experience, not both of those features are selling points.
Let’s start with the positives. The form factor is lovely and lightweight. It’s more compact than a lot of the best portable gaming consoles, including the Steam Deck OLED, and its triggers feel better, too. I’ve adjusted to the chunk of my Steam Deck, but I can’t lie; it’s nice to play on something a little less wide. I tested the Nitro Blaze 7 by playing a bit of Rise of the Tomb Raider, hitting a relatively impressive 86fps and offering a smooth visual experience thanks to its 144Hz refresh rate display. I’m not going to get into the specs too much here, but if you want to know more, check out our article covering the Acer Nitro Blaze 7’s big reveal.
However, while the display is dreamy and the specs sheet is mighty impressive, I just can’t get on with the design of the Nitro Blaze 7. It’s on the garish side and feels like the handheld equivalent of those shirts that 11-year-old boys wear, with cartoon flames covering the bottom half of the torso.
It’s peculiar that at a time when the best gaming phones are leaning away from these sorts of outlandish designs – take the ASUS ROG Phone 8, for instance – Acer is seemingly leaning into it, with red and white patterns all over the chassis, including crosshairs around the analog sticks. It’s fair to say I’m not a fan of how it looks, but let’s be honest, you don’t buy a console for how it looks, or the GameCube would have sold even fewer units back in the day.
If you read my ASUS ROG Ally X review, you’ll also know I’m not the biggest fan of Windows 11 on a handheld, and that’s what you’ve got once again with the Acer Nitro Blaze 7. From the short time I had, it seemed to be implemented relatively well, but it’s still not as seamless as the Steam Deck’s custom Linux operating system. As I’ve experienced with other Windows 11 handhelds before, the on-screen keyboard tended to just pop up whenever it felt like it, and not all the buttons wanted to play ball all of the time.
All in all, I’m still quite excited about the Acer Nitro Blaze 7, though slightly perplexed about some of the design decisions. It’s certainly got the performance power, form factor, and display specs to offer a solid bit of competition to the rest of the Steam Deck alternatives and the Deck itself, but I’m holding out hope that Acer releases the Nitro Blaze 7 with some interesting skins, as I’m not a big fan of having to look at it as it is.