Not one to shy away from the latest trends, Acer took the IFA stage in Berlin to present its new range of PCs. Besides new versions of its “AI” PCs with AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm chips, the company showcased its challenger to the heated handheld gaming PC market and the Project DualPlay: A concept Predator laptop with detachable gamepads.
Project DualPlay for local multiplayer
The Predator branding is already established among gaming PCs, particularly with big laptops. Project DualPlay makes good use of the generous dimensions of traditional gaming laptops by simply embedding a full-size gamepad in the trackpad area.
Along the sides of the traditional trackpad, the company designed a gamepad with analog sticks, a directional pad, and the usual four action buttons. The whole gamepad can be easily detached with a release button, and that action not only frees the controller but also pops out two 5-watt speakers to better immerse the players in the action (and we presume the neighbors as well).
We specifically mentioned “players” because, true to its name, the Project DualPlay controller can be further separated into two halves—similar to the Nintendo Switch’s Joycons, but with slightly better ergonomics.
Acer did not disclose the laptop specifications such as graphics card or processor, but was quick to point out that it features a “customizable 360-degree dynamic RGB lighting”. And that applies not only to the keyboard but also the screen bezels, the backside cover, the gamepad, and the trackpad area (and the wrist support region according to the images).
Nitro Blaze 7 for the lone wolfs
For more immediate gaming needs, the Taiwanese company launched its own handheld gaming PC: The Nitro Blaze 7. Following in the footsteps of the SteamDeck, Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and MSI Claw (not to mention the dozens of alternatives from China that predate all of them), the Blaze 7 integrates the 7-inch FullHD display between the gamepad for gaming on the go.
Different from the Predator, the Nitro Blaze 7 was presented with its main specifications, showing that it is ready to reach store shelves. It is powered by an 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor, with integrated Radeon 780M graphics. Memory configuration is 16 GB of LPDDR5x-7500 RAM with up to 2 TB of NVMe storage.
While its rivals are pushing the limits of portability with bigger screens, Acer opted for a 7-inch IPS LCD touch screen as mentioned. That should be more than enough for the 1080p resolution of the panel, and while those specs may seem on par with other handheld PCs, the Nitro Blaze 7 features a 144 Hz panel, with variable refresh rate and FreeSync Premium certification, which should avoid judder and screen tearing.
Other features of the Acer Nitro Blaze 7 include Windows 11 Home with a customized interface optimized for touch, 2 USB-C 40 Gbps ports, a micro SD card slot, four action buttons (ABXY), two bumpers (LB/RB), two hall-effect analog triggers (LT/RT), fingerprint reader on the power button, and six additional buttons (select, start, Acer Game Space, onscreen keyboard, quick menu, and mode switch).
The Li-Po battery is rated at 50.04 Wh and can be charged with the included 65 W USB-C charger. Connectivity duties are fulfilled by the Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E standards, and last but not least, the Blaze 7 measures 25.6 x 11.35 x 2.25 cm, with 670 grams of weight.
The Nitro Blaze 7 still doesn’t have an availability date or pricing information yet, but be sure that my resident gamer colleagues will battle to death to be the first to test it.
