Acer‘s finally thrown its hat into the handheld gaming PC arena, and it’s looking pretty slick. They’ve just unveiled their first crack at a Steam Deck rival – the Acer Nitro Blaze 7. From what we can tell, this bad boy is aiming to give last year’s Asus ROG Ally a run for its money, while maybe eyeing up the newer ROG Ally X too.

So, what’s the deal with this new contender? Well, for starters, Acer’s gone with a sweet 7-inch 1080p screen with 500 nits. It’s not just any old display though – we’re talking variable refresh rate IPS goodness that can hit a smooth 144Hz. Nice move, Acer. They’ve also packed in the latest Ryzen 7 8840HS chip, though they’re sticking with the same Radeon 780M integrated GPU that most other Windows handhelds are rocking.

Memory-wise, we’re looking at 16GB of the speedy 7500 MT/s variety. That’s a step up from the original Ally’s 6400 MT/s. And get this – they’ve squeezed in a beefy 50-watt-hour battery. Storage options go all the way up to a whopping 2TB SSD.

The $800 Asus ROG Ally X is still the beast to beat in the Windows handheld world, with its massive 24GB of memory and 80Wh battery. Acer’s got some catching up to do there.

Now, here’s where things get a bit weird. The Nitro Blaze 7 is ditching the touchpads, which isn’t too shocking. But get this – no back buttons either. That’s pretty unusual these days, as most PC handhelds are rocking at least a couple of macro keys on the rear. But hey, maybe Acer’s onto something here.

One thing that might make up for it? This bad boy’s got two USB4 ports, with one conveniently placed on the bottom. That’s actually pretty cool, especially if you like options for charging or docking your portable gaming rig.

Don’t expect any fancy new Windows UI tricks though. Acer’s flying solo on this one without Microsoft as a wingman. They have thrown in a bunch of dedicated mode switch buttons though, including one just for pulling up the virtual keyboard. So, there’s that.

Now for the million-dollar question – when can you get your hands on one, and how much will it set you back? Well, Acer’s keeping that info close to the chest for now. No word on the price or release date yet. But stay tuned, gamers.