(Credit: Acer)
Acer is launching a new handheld gaming PC. But instead of competing with expensive, high-spec options such as the Steam Deck or the Lenovo Legion Go like the rest of the handheld Nitro line-up, Acer's lightweight upcoming device will look a lot more like the PlayStation Portal and be built entirely to stream games from another device.
The upcoming Acer Nitro Blaze Link has just 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, but it will be able to stream games from compatible devices such as Acer's Predator or Nitro gaming laptops. The device comes with a 7-inch, 1920 × 1200 touchscreen display at a travel-friendly weight of just 1 pound (464g). It is set to run on the open-source operating system Debian Linux, using Sunshine and Moonlight software to handle the streaming.
It's still unclear whether or not users will be able to link the handheld to devices made by other companies. An Acer spokesperson told CNET that the company is "not currently making any claims that it will work on systems outside of the Acer ecosystem."
Though they did note that "the Linux operating system has broad hardware compatibility," the upcoming handheld is solely built to work with Acer Predator and Nitro gaming laptops.
The Acer Nitro Blaze Link is set to launch in North America in Q4 2026, and Acer did not mention a launch price.
The company didn't explain exactly why it decided to launch such a device now, but the news of the launch comes as prices for handheld gaming PCs seem to be skyrocketing amid an ongoing chip and memory shortage. The price of the Steam Deck OLED 1TB rose $300 earlier this week when it came back into stock.
Acer is not the only firm to try its hand at launching a streaming-centric handheld device. Logitech launched the G Cloud in October 2022, though the $349.99 device had significantly higher on-board specs than the upcoming Nitro Blaze Link. The G Cloud could also play Android games natively, as well as stream games from services such as Nvidia's GeForce Now. With the Link's mere 1GB of RAM, it looks unlikely that it could play many popular Android titles.
The Acer Nitro Blaze Link also represents a markedly different approach from Acer compared to the Nitro Blaze 11, announced this January, which featured a huge 10.95-inch display, 16GB of RAM, and the AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor, a CPU used in gaming laptops.