The wait is over. A handheld gaming PC equipped with Intel's new Intel Arc G3 Extreme graphics is now available at a price that's going to give Z2 Extreme handhelds a run for their money. Starting October 23, Best Buy is accepting orders of the new Acer Predator Atlas 8 handheld gaming PC. As of this post, orders are shipping out immediately. Best of all, the launch price is pegged at $1,299.99. That makes it a hugely competitive alternative to the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X20, which costs the same price, and the Legion Go 2, which costs $700 more.
New Release: Acer Predator Atlas 8 Handheld Gaming PC
Let's get this out the way first: the Intel Arc G3 Extreme is powerful. It's built on the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 Panther Lake platform and features 14 cores, 14 threads, and a max turbo frequency of 4.7GHz. In real world usage, it's significantly more powerful than the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme. We haven't yet reviewed the Acer variant, but Jacqueline Thomas did review the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ handheld, which is also equipped with the Arc G3 Extreme. That handheld "blew every Z2 Extreme-powered device out of the water," with performance improvements by as much as 40%. It was powerful enough to run most games at up to 60fps on the 1200p display. The only problem? The MSI Claw 8 EX cost $1800. Fortunately, the Acer Predator Atlas 8 is much, much less expensive.
As for the rest of the specs, the Acer Predator Atlas 8 features a spacious 8" IPS screen with 1920x1200 resolution, up to 120Hz refresh rate with VRR, 500nits of peak brightness, and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus with DXC protection. The CPU is supported by 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a 512GB internal SSD with MicroSD card expansion. The controls have been updated with TMR non-contact drift-resistant joysticks and dual-mode Hall Effect triggers.
Connectivity options include two USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C ports supporting DisplayPort 2.1 and Thunderbolt 4 with 65W of Power Delivery, MicroSD expansion slot, and a headphone jack. On the wireless front you get Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.
At this price I don't know how long the Acer Predator Atlas 8 will stay in stock. Since it's priced very aggressively at a time when most gaming PCs trend the other direction, and with the holiday shopping season fast approaching, I wouldn't be surprised if this handheld gets hard to find quickly.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.