Maybe giant gaming handhelds are where it’s at

If you think a Steam deck is big, let alone Acer’s Nitro Blaze 11, get a load of this Frankenstein’s PC gaming handheld monster I’ve cobbled together. This is a pre-production version of Asus’ upcoming ROG Flow Z13 tablet combined with the GameSense G8 Plus clamp-on mobile controller; The Z13’s AMD Strix Halo processor makes it possibly the most powerful handheld gaming device you can play with. Unless, of course, your hands buckle under its weight.

It’s completely ridiculous, I love it, and I’m starting to think that big screens are the future.

I’m not the first one to try this unique experiment, as I got the idea from Redditors who had done something similar with an older version of the same tablet. But after trying it myself, I’m starting to reconsider what gaming handhelds could possibly become. The recently announced Nintendo Switch 2 reportedly increases its screen to eight inches, and Acer’s handheld bumps it to 11; Maybe portability isn’t as important as a lethal dose of pixels straight into my eyes?

Let’s make one thing clear: You probably shouldn’t pair this specific controller and tablet like I did. The Z13 isn’t really designed to be clamped by a pair of controllers, and I had to extend the GameSir G8 Plus more to make it fit — it’s designed to work with anything larger than an iPad Mini. Not done, and the hyperextended springs can do this aggressively if you accidentally remove the gamepad while it’s in use. Once it happened to me, I lost my fingers, but it was a surprisingly close call. Consider yourself cautious.

Why risk my soft, easy-to-bruise hands with a setup like this? When I got the Acer Nitro Blaze 11 at CES and compared it to the Steam Deck, I was immediately confused. The angel on my shoulder told me, “This is totally too big and, frankly, a little rude” while the devil on my other shoulder thought, “Oh yes!” Like I always do with my Steam Deck, sit me down on the couch and let me burn your retinas with as many screens as I can hold!

When some of you nice commenters later seemed to agree with my ID’s broad understanding, I realized that the ROG Flow Z13 I was wheeling around the show floor might satisfy my fiendish desire.

this is obvious No A review – Since the Flow Z13 is a pre-production unit – but the AMD Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 “Strix Halo” chip, with its 40 awesome graphics cores, is the driving force in today’s gaming handhelds. i was able to play hell diver 2 And Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Play at the tablet’s native 2560 x 1600 resolution with a mix of low and mid settings and easily maintain 50+ or ​​60+ fps at each, respectively. Can you do this with a laptop? Absolutely! But I did it with the entire computer placed between two halves of the gamepad.

I have spread “managed democracy” quite a bit hell diver 2 On the Steam deck, and while it’s certainly playable, you shouldn’t mind seeing this game from the PlayStation 3 era. By comparison it sings on the Z13 – at least until it shuts down due to low battery warnings. I couldn’t sit too far from the power cable, as the Z13’s battery went from 100 to 10 percent in about 90 minutes. But, frankly, it’s not terrible compared to the original Steam deck, and perhaps scaling it down to a more modest 1920 x 1200 resolution or reducing the chip’s TDP might help.

But what surprised me most was how much I enjoyed using Windows on this “handheld”. The jumbo-sized screen makes touch targets actually bearable in Windows 11. For the first time in the PC handheld space I didn’t immediately moan, “Boy this thing needs SteamOS or Bayezit.” I may still like them, but I can live with Windows in this format, especially since its a tablet that also works as a laptop. And A The handheld is an interesting triple-threat. (This is something I currently only see OneXPlayer attempting with its quirky X1 line.)

As far as portability goes, well… this combination is definitely an acquired taste, as it weighs in at 3.6 pounds according to my kitchen scale, which is about 1.3 pounds heavier than Acer’s bulky Blaze 11 and Steam Deck. 2.2 pounds more than. , It’s like having two Steam Decks and a Nintendo Switch with Joy-Cons in one package.

Don’t even dream of playing this way in bed, unless you intend to slip into dreamland via concussion if the heavy tablet slips off its controller bookend. You don’t even need to work against gravity to risk the tablet slipping, as the highly protruding GameHead controller can twist and pivot around the Z13’s side rails during use.

The Z13’s large, sturdy kickstand helps a lot with all this weight, letting you place it on your lap or on a table for support. But if you’re planning on taking this device anywhere other than the couch, clamp-on controllers aren’t entirely convenient; You’ll have to decide whether your definition of “portability” includes the setup and breakdown process every time you change locations.

I’ll admit, despite how much fun it was to try out the Z13 this way, it makes a lot more sense to stand the tablet on a table or desk and play with a traditional controller. The GameSaver isn’t built to hold that much weight, and after a few hours of continuous play I had some pain in both my hands that probably wouldn’t happen with a larger gamepad built for this setup.

But this ridiculous little experiment showed me that there’s definitely something to a larger-sized handheld. Maybe Acer’s Blaze 11 will be the first step in the door to the bigger trend of home-based handhelds, a market where Sony’s PlayStation Portal has already gained a foothold. If Asus ever put a proper controller add-on on its Z13, fitted to balance the size and its weight, perhaps the company could even sell it as a 13-inch handheld gaming PC.

I used to think the Switch or Steam Deck were the ideal size, but after trying out this jumbo-sized experiment and seeing that the Switch 2 will also be larger than before, I’m comfortable saying there’s no better solution for these devices. No size. I’m excited to see handhelds of all sizes enter the space, even if they are giants.

Photography Antonio G. By Di Benedetto/The Verge