Since Intel’s announcement of its Arc G3 platform earlier this year, only a couple of handhelds have actually been released with the chip. The first of which was the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, followed by the OneXPlayer 3, with the former being next to impossible to actually buy. Alongside those two handhelds, the Acer Predator Atlas 8 with its G3 Extreme SoC was also announced, however, it’s only been available in select countries.
That’s all about to change, as the Predator Atlas 8 will officially be released at Best Buy starting on November 1. Acer quietly launched pre-orders last week, and were quickly sold out, wondering if we had another MSI situation on our hands. Thankfully that doesn’t seem to be the case, with the Atlas 8 scheduled to officially launch in just a few days.
| Acer Predator Atlas 8 Specs | |
|---|---|
| Hardware | |
| CPU | Intel Arc G3, Intel Arc G3 Extreme |
| GPU | Intel Arc B370, Intel Arc B390 |
| RAM | 24GB LPDDR5X |
| Cooling | Two fans (one Predator AeroBlade metal fan / one plastic fan), Vortex Flow |
| Display | |
| Screen Size | 8-inch |
| Resolution | 1920 x 1200 |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:10 |
| Refresh Rate | 120Hz |
| PPI | 283.02 |
| Additional Details | Supports VRR |
| Storage | |
| Internal Storage | 1TB M.2 2280 NVMe |
| External Storage | microSD |
| Additional Details | UHS-II, SD 4.0 |
| Battery | |
| Battery Capacity | 80Wh |
| Charging Speed | 65W |
| Connectivity | |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 7 |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.4 |
| Ports | 3.5mm Audio Jack, microSD, 2x Thunderbolt 4 |
| Video Out | Yes |
| Controls | |
| Sticks | Analog |
| Triggers | Analog, Hall Effect |
| Shoulder Layout | Stacked |
| D-Pad | Bottom Left |
| Additional Details | XBOX Game Bar Widget, PredatorSense, L/R Macro, L/R Trigger Switches |
| Audio | |
| Speakers | Stereo |
| Headphone Jack | Yes |
| Physical | |
| Dimensions | 299 x 127.4 x 28.5/58.37mm |
| Weight | 810g (80Wh) | 770g (60Wh) |
| Form Factor | Horizontal |
| Software | |
| Operating System | Windows |
| Additional Details | PredatorSense |
What helps the Atlas 8 stand out from the Claw 8 EX AI+ and OneXPlayer 3 isn’t anything revolutionary in the design, or a subset of features that you won’t find anywhere else. Instead, it’s that Acer’s first x86 handheld launch in the U.S. undercuts the competition by a significant margin.
The Atlas 8 will set you back about $1300, which is $500 cheaper than the latest MSI Claw, and $300 less than the OneXPlayer 3. With that, Acer’s handheld includes 24GB of RAM and 512GB of user-expandable storage, which is the same base configuration as OneXPlayer’s offering. Meanwhile, MSI’s Claw 8 EX AI+ includes 32GB of RAM and 1TB as the base, which does explain a bit of the higher price tag.
Acer’s coming in at the same price as the recently-released ASUS ROG XBOX Ally X20, which is powered by AMD’s Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme. However, at the time of this writing, the X20 is not currently available for purchase from either Best Buy or direct from ASUS.
Although we suspect the standard ROG Xbox Ally with its $599 price tag will be a favorite this holiday season, it’ll be interesting to see whether Acer’s first handheld will make an impact.
