Quick answer: Best Buy is taking orders for the Acer Predator Atlas 8 with Intel's Arc G3 Extreme, 24GB of LPDDR5X and a 512GB SSD for $1,299.99, the same price as the ROG Xbox Ally X20.
Acer's first Predator handheld is now on sale at Best Buy in the US. The retailer started taking orders for the Predator Atlas 8 on October 23 at $1,299.99, with early reports saying orders are shipping right away. That's the same price as ASUS's ROG Xbox Ally X20.
The Best Buy model is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme version with Intel Arc B390 graphics (12 Xe-cores), 24GB of LPDDR5X memory and a 512GB Gen 4 SSD. It's an M.2 2280 drive, and Acer's own answer on the listing says it can be upgraded to 1TB. The 8-inch IPS touchscreen runs at 1920 x 1200 and 120Hz with VRR, up to 500 nits, under Corning Gorilla Glass Victus with DXC.
Controls include TMR joysticks and dual-mode Hall effect triggers that switch between a short micro-switch click and full analog travel, plus rear macro buttons and a dedicated PredatorSense button for performance modes and monitoring. Cooling is a dual-fan setup with one of Acer's AeroBlade metal fans.
For ports you get two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports with DisplayPort 2.1 and 65W charging, a microSD reader and a headphone jack, plus Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. The battery is 80Wh, which Best Buy's listing rates at up to 9 hours of gaming in the MobileMark 2030 test. It runs Windows 11 Home and comes with two months of Xbox Game Pass Premium, a protective case, an anti-glare screen protector and a 65W USB-C charger.
Linux support is also starting to show up. Bazzite recently began testing early Atlas 8 support, with basic button mapping working and the gyro and M1/M2 buttons still to come.