While Acer has a pretty rich lineup of gaming laptops thanks to the Predator and Nitro series, the brand has now launched what it calls a “streaming-first” handheld. It’s called the Nitro Blaze Link, which is essentially its own take on a device that’s like the PS Portal. Except that it streams games from a PC instead of a PlayStation, obviously. And if you’re like me and already have preconceptions about the thing, chances are the streaming handheld is exactly as you imagined it.
And with that being said, it’s not so much a streaming-first handheld as it is a streaming-only one. The 7-inch WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200 16:10) touch screen isn’t giving anything away, but when you look at the spec sheet, then its true nature becomes clearer. The processor within the Acer Nitro Blaze Link is a Realtek RTD1619BPB, and it has 1GB of LDPPR4 RAM and 8GB of eMMC storage. Powering it is a 1-cell 18 Wh battery.
For what it’s worth, it feels very light in hand, and it officially weighs in at 464g, It does still come with two 2W speakers, and it still has all the basics that you’d expect from such items. Well, this assumes that additional back buttons are considered nice extras, because the Acer Nitro Blaze Link doesn’t have that.
Compared to many things Acer has shown off so far, the Nitro Blaze Link is one of the more limited ones in terms of availability. No pricing info, as should be expected by now, but it is also only slated to be available in North America in Q4 of this year. As with everything else, this may change as the months go by. And who knows, it may end up like the PS Portal, being a lot more well received by the market than what its nature would imply.
