ONEXPLAYER has announced its latest gaming handheld, which is powered by Intel’s Arc G3 Extreme processor featuring B390 graphics. For those not following recent gaming handheld announcements, it’s becoming a standard trend for models to be priced between $1,000 to $2,000 now, and given the present component shortage, price hikes are more likely to occur before the yr is over. For instance, MSI recently announced its MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, which also features the identical Intel processor and 32 GB SSD / 1 TB of memory, for $1,799 on its store, but could possibly be found for $100 less on Newegg (via VideoCardz).
The ONEXPLAYER 3 is currently in a pre-order stage on the manufacturer’s Indiegogo page in three configurations. The bottom priced model comes with 24 GB LPDDR5X (7,467 MT/s) and 512 GB NVME for $1,399, and for a $100 more, storage could be upgraded to PCIe 4.0 1 TB. The $1,699 flagship model gets faster 32 GB LPDDR5X memory at 8533 MT/s and likewise 1 TB of storage. All models use an 8.8″ AMOLED HDR display with as much as 1100 nits brightness, with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 supporting variable refresh rates of 30Hz – 144Hz, supporting 100% DCI-P3, and a 1000000:1 contrast ratio for what should be a really sharp and vividly colourful display.
The Intel Arc B390 graphics is alleged to supply performance comparable to an NVIDIA RTX 4050 and supports Intel XeSS 3, including frame generation. PR materials state that the Arc G3 Extreme also includes an NPU, which is able to as much as “50 TOPS of NPU AI performance and 180 TOPS of total platform AI compute power.”
While the times of low-cost, but powerful, gaming handhelds appear to be riding off into the sunset, these recent PCs on the go (let’s face it, they’ve truly reached that status now) are raising the bar on what could be packed right into a mobile device smaller than most laptops. The ONEXPLAYER 3 has an 85 Wh battery, but its controllers detach, and it also comes with a magnetic backlit keyboard, allowing it to operate in a tablet/laptop configuration as well.
Details regarding ports are absent from current PR materials, but 1x USB3 and 2x Type-C ports could be seen in marketing images. If either of the Type-C supports DP, then this gaming handheld could truly offer competition to Valve’s recently announced Steam Machine with what could possibly be a way more powerful processor and added options.