CES 2025: The Acer Nitro Blaze 11 Gaming Handheld Is an Absolute Unit

Hot off the heels of Lenovo’s announcement that it’s miniaturizing its Legion Go gaming handheld with the Legion Go S, fellow PC manufacturer Acer is going in the complete opposite direction with the biggest handheld gaming PC I’ve ever seen. The seven-inch Acer Nitro Blaze handheld the company showed off in September isn’t even available for purchase yet, and already it’s getting a much bigger sibling.

As part of its CES announcements for 2025, Acer has announced new 11-inch and eight-inch versions of the Nitro Blaze. They’ll have the same internals as the previously announced seven-inch version, meaning an AMD Ryzen 8840HS laptop chip, 16GB of RAM, up to 2TB of storage, and Hall Effect sticks/triggers, but what sets them apart is their screens and sheer size.

While the seven-inch and eight-inch versions don’t look too dissimilar to a Steam Deck, I can’t look at that 11-inch model and think anything other than “beeg boy.”

All three Nitro Blazes have a 2560 x 1600 IPS display, with the smaller models running at 144Hz as well, but that 11-inch model just has so much screen real estate. Weirdly, its refresh rate is a slightly smaller 120Hz, but that doesn’t keep it from feeling like the most luxurious version available.

Frankly, it’s the biggest gaming handheld I’ve ever held, stretching the definition of “handheld.” I saw some folks on Reddit calling it the “final boss of handhelds,” which I think is pretty appropriate. 

But while it’s not technically the first PC gaming handheld with an 11-inch screen, it definitely seems like the most put-together, going by what the competition is offering. When I picked it up, I was immediately taken aback by how lightweight it felt—it’s just 2.3 pounds, which is a pound heavier than my Steam Deck, but about on par with Asus’ new category-leading lightweight Copilot+ laptop. This immediately made it feel surprisingly usable, despite how intimidating it looked in its stand.

I was easily able to pick it up one-handed as well as nearly toss it around with Acer employees, and while I’m not sure it’s something I’d want to pack in an everyday carry bag, it definitely still works as a more portable alternative to a gaming laptop.

Also making it more usable is one addition unique to the 11-inch model, although it’s been seen before. Like on the current, first-gen Lenovo Legion Go, the Acer Nitro Blaze 11 has detachable controllers.

These can be used paired together with a kickstand for a tabletop play experience, or in a move that actually gives it an edge on the Legion Go, you can turn them on their side and use them as separate controllers for two-player play. It’s a no-brainer, something Nintendo made synonymous with detachable controllers when it introduced the Joy-Con with the Nintendo Switch, so it’s nice to see someone else finally get their hands on that ball.

Speaking frankly, I’m not sure there’s space (literally) for the Nitro Blaze 11 in my life, and with the Legion Go S about to bring my beloved SteamOS to the smaller third-party PC gaming handheld space, I don’t think I’d opt for one of its younger cousins.

But a different, younger, more explicitly gamer-y me would have been all over this. There’s some maximalist pride to be taken in a gaming handheld with a screen that reaches into the double digits, and while that’s always going to come with some compromises, the Nitro Blaze 11 is looking to do that concept about the most justice possible. In a time when I was happily lugging a five-pound gaming laptop from class-to-class, I would have had no issue throwing this in with it.

That said, you’ll need to pay four figures for the privilege of finding a way to tote this absolute unit around. The Nitro Blaze 11 will cost $1,099 when it launches in Q2 of this year, although the Nitro Blaze 8 will be a more affordable (by comparison) $899. Acer representatives told me the Nitro Blaze 7 will launch around the same time as well, coming in at $799.