CES 2025: Acer Nitro Blaze 11 Gaming Laptop Is an Absolute Unit
Hot on the heels of Lenovo’s announcement that it will miniaturize its Legion Go gaming laptop with the Legion Go S, fellow PC maker Acer is going in the complete opposite direction with the largest portable gaming PC I’ve ever seen. Acer’s seven-inch Nitro Blaze laptop, which the company showed off in September, isn’t even available for purchase yet, but it already has a much larger brother.
As part of its CES 2025 announcement, Acer announced new 11-inch and eight-inch versions of the Nitro Blaze. They will have the same internals as the previously announced seven-inch version, i.e. an AMD Ryzen 8840HS laptop chip, 16GB of RAM, up to 2TB of storage and Hall joysticks/triggers, but what sets them apart are their screens and huge size.
While the seven-inch and eight-inch versions aren’t too different from the Steam Deck, I can’t look at this 11-inch model and think anything other than “boy.”
All three Nitro Blazes have a 2560 x 1600 IPS display, and the smaller models also run at 144Hz, but this 11-inch model has a lot of screen real estate. Oddly enough, the screen refresh rate is a little slower at 120Hz, but that doesn’t stop it from looking like the most luxurious version available.
Honestly, this is the largest gaming laptop I’ve ever held in my hands, which expands the definition of “handheld.” I’ve seen some people on Reddit refer to it as the “final boss of handhelds”, which I think is quite appropriate.
But while it’s not technically the first gaming laptop with an 11-inch screen, it certainly feels like the most advanced considering what the competition offers . When I picked it up, I was immediately stunned by how light it was: It weighs just 2.3 pounds, which is a pound heavier than my Steam Deck, but about on par with Asus’s new lightweight Copilot+ laptop, leading the your category . This immediately made it surprisingly easy to use, despite how intimidating it looked on the stand.
I was able to easily pick it up with one hand and almost toss it with the Acer staff, and while I’m not sure I’d want to put it in my everyday carry bag, it definitely still works as a more convenient, portable alternative to a gaming laptop.
Even more convenient to use is one addition that is unique to the 11-inch model, although it has been seen before. Like the current first-generation Lenovo Legion Go , the Acer Nitro Blaze 11 has detachable controllers.
They can be used in conjunction with a board game stand, or in a move that really gives Legion Go an edge, you can flip them to your side and use them as separate controllers for two-player play. It’s a no-brainer, Nintendo made it synonymous with detachable controllers when they introduced the Joy-Con with the Nintendo Switch, so it’s nice to see someone else finally get their hands on this ball.
Honestly, I’m not sure there’s room in my life (literally) for a Nitro Blaze 11, and with Legion Go S set to bring my beloved SteamOS to a smaller footprint for third-party gaming portables, I don’t think so that I would choose one of his younger cousins.
But all this would involve a different, younger and clearly gamer me. There’s a certain maximalist pride in a gaming handheld with a screen that reaches double digits in size, and while that will always involve some compromises, the Nitro Blaze 11 strives to do that concept as justice as possible. While I was happily lugging a five-pound gaming laptop from class to class, I would have no problem leaving it with me.
However, you’ll have to pay four figures for the privilege of finding a way to carry this absolute device with you. The Nitro Blaze 11 will cost $1,099 when it launches in the second quarter of this year, although the Nitro Blaze 8 will cost a more affordable (by comparison) $899. Acer reps told me the Nitro Blaze 7 will be released around the same time and will cost $799.