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Handheld consoles have become somewhat of a premium market. That's because the hardware that powers them is often capable enough to stand in for a budget PC build, while avoiding the headache of setup and space. The Steam Deck is a good example: It is built using a custom AMD processor, 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and an M.2 2230 NVMe SSD inside. Other manufacturers, like Lenovo, MSI, and Asus have their own premium lineup for PC handheld hardware.

The next big PC manufacturer to jump into the mix is Acer, which is set to release its Predator Atlas 8 (one model only) , available exclusively at Best Buy on November 1st, 2026. It's priced at $1,300, which is a little hefty for a PC handheld, but not totally outrageous considering the 2026 price hikes and the rising costs for components.…