With the RAMpocalypse doing its very best to ruin PC gaming, with memory and storage now ludicrously expensive, the handheld market has struggled to keep things affordable. Acer’s solution to all this is simple: bin everything needed to play games locally, and just make a streaming device instead.
Officially called the Nitro Blaze Link, Acer’s newest handheld joins the rest of the Blaze lineup. But where they’re all packed with a punchy little AMD Ryzen 8000-series APU, lots of NVMe storage and fast DRAM, the Blaze Link is essentially a ‘dead’ box. You won’t be playing any games locally, because it only has 1 GB of memory and 8 GB of eMMC storage for its Linux operating system, according to PC Mag.
Naturally, with such little gubbins in the Link, there’s not much to say about specifications. The display is a 7-inch touchscreen with a 1920 x 1200 resolution, though there’s no word on its refresh rate. I can see no word as to what chip is powering the device, but that doesn’t really matter, and at least it has Wi-Fi 6E support.
Since there’s no APU with lots of fast DRAM, nor a speedy SSD, power demands are pretty low, hence why it only has an 18 Wh battery. This also explains its 464 grams (16 ounces) weight, but it should also hopefully mean the fans are near-silent for the most part.
So far, so good, but there is one major caveat with the Blaze Link: It will only work with a compatible Acer laptop and the company’s own streaming ecosystem. Apparently, it will use Sunshine and Moonlight to handle the streaming. It might work with other streaming systems, but Acer is unlikely to help you out in that respect.
(Image credit: Sony)
Since you can only use the Blaze Link on the same wireless network that your main Acer gaming PC is connected to, you won’t be using the new handheld on your travels. However, for a sneaky bit of gaming in bed, or on the couch away from your den, it could actually be quite nice to use.
After all, the fact that Sony’s PlayStation Portal is streaming-only didn’t exactly hurt its sales, and it’s obvious that Acer is hoping for the same kind of success. Naturally, it will all come down to what Acer sets the price tag at, and we won’t know that until we’re nearer the device’s launch window towards the end of the year.
