Acer's Colossal 11-Inch Handheld Unveiled at CES

Acer Unveils Giant Gaming Handheld: The Nitro Blaze 11

Acer made waves at CES 2025 with the Nitro Blaze 11, its largest gaming handheld to date, alongside its smaller sibling, the Nitro Blaze 8. This behemoth boasts a massive 10.95-inch display, redefining the term "portable" gaming.

Both the Blaze 11 and Blaze 8 share impressive specs: WQXGA touchscreens with up to 144Hz refresh rates, an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor paired with an AMD Radeon 780M GPU, 16GB LPDDR5x RAM, and a generous 2TB SSD. Acer promises cutting-edge performance, immersive visuals, and versatile features in a foldable, portable design. Buyers also receive a three-month PC Game Pass subscription. The key difference? Screen size; the Blaze 8 features an 8.8-inch display.

However, the Blaze 11's substantial 1050g weight is a noteworthy consideration. This contrasts sharply with the Steam Deck OLED (approx. 640g) and Nintendo Switch (approx. 297g). While the Blaze 8, at 720g, is heavier than the Switch, it's more comparable to other PC handhelds like the Lenovo Legion Go and Asus ROG Ally.

All three devices (Blaze 11, Blaze 8, and the Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller) will launch in Q2 2025, priced at $1099, $899, and $69.99 respectively.

No Z2 Steam Deck 2, Confirms Valve

While the Nitro Blaze series utilizes the powerful AMD Ryzen 7 chipset, it missed out on AMD's newest Ryzen Z2 processors designed for gaming handhelds. AMD's promotional materials initially suggested future iterations of handhelds like the Steam Deck, Lenovo Legion Go, and Asus ROG Ally would incorporate this technology. However, Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais clarified on Bluesky that a Z2 Steam Deck is not in development, suggesting the AMD slide was a more general representation of the processor's target market. This doesn't rule out a future Steam Deck 2, but Valve indicates it will require a significant, next-generation upgrade before release.