On Monday, Acer announced at CES 2025 that the company is expanding its handheld gaming options with the Acer Nitro Blaze 8, delivering a larger size for those who prefer a more immersive display.
The company also unveiled the Nitro Blaze 11, but that's another story considering its ridiculous size makes it seem more like a small gaming laptop than a handheld device.
At the very least, the new Nitro Blaze 8 appears to be within the realm of reason, as it's built with an 8.8-inch display, which mirrors the successful Lenovo Legion Go, making it the moderately larger successor to the original 7-inch Acer Nitro Blaze 7.
An upgrade in size isn't the only change with this new model, as the display will be at 2,560 x 1,600-pixel resolution rather than the 1,920 x 1,080p panel on the 7-inch model. The Nitro Blaze 8 will also feature a new USB Type-A port alongside a 55Wh battery, making it a little better than the original's 50Wh battery.
Beyond that, the two models are similar, featuring an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor, AMD Radeon 780M integrated graphics, 16GB of 7500MT/s RAM, and up to 2TB of M.2 SSD storage.
The Acer Nitro Blaze 8's price and launch date is still in the air in North America, but it will be released in March in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at a starting price of €999.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Acer Nitro Blaze 7 | Acer Nitro Blaze 8 |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS | AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS |
| GPU | AMD Radeon 780M | AMD Radeon 780M |
| Display | 7-inch, 1,920 x 1,080p, IPS, 144Hz, 500 nits, 100% sRGB | 8.8-inch, 2,560 x 1,600p, IPS, 144Hz, 500 nits, 97% DCI-P3 |
| Battery | 50Wh | 55Wh |
| RAM | 16GB 7500MT/s | 16GB 7500MT/s |
| Storage | Up to 2TB M.2 SSD | Up to 2TB M.2 SSD |
| Size | 25.6 x 11.4 x 2.2 centimeters | 30.5 x 13.4 x 2.2 centimeters |
| Weight | 670 grams | 720 grams |
| Ports | 2 USB Type-C, microSD slot | 2 USB Type-C, 1 USB Type-A, microSD slot |
Back when the original Acer Nitro Blaze 7 was unveiled, we worried that it was diving into shark-infested waters due to its small 50Wh battery that is currently being outdone by competition like the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus and Asus ROG Ally X with their 80Wh batteries.
It seems like the Acer Nitro Blaze 8 isn't quite solving that problem, as it's only upgrading to a 55Wh battery, even though it now has a 2K display, which will surely drain battery life faster.
For context, we saw amazing battery life on both the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus and Asus ROG Ally X in our longevity tests. On the Laptop Mag battery life test, which involves continuous web surfing over WiFi at 150 nits, the Asus ROG Ally X lasted 8 hours and 19 minutes.
However, the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus absolutely crushed it at 13 hours and 31 minutes. On the PCMark 10 Gaming battery life test, which emulates how long the device will last while playing, both devices lasted a little over 3 hours.
This is in no small part thanks to the 80Wh battery, and we could see Acer's gaming handheld fall behind if the company isn't careful in how it manages the device's limited battery size.
Regardless, we're looking forward to getting our hands on the Acer Nitro Blaze 8 and getting a sense of what exactly the device can offer to the world of Windows gaming handhelds. If you'd like more of the latest news in the world of technology, check out our CES 2025 page.
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