I'm currently in the process of testing and reviewing the Acer Predator Atlas 8 gaming handheld, and when I checked the pricing this morning, I was surprised to see that it has left its initial $1,299.99 tag behind.
At Best Buy (the only major retailer I can see that's offering the hardware), the price jumped to $1,449.99 overnight. That's more than a 10% hike for a gaming handheld that's only been on the market for about 10 days.
It's back to being listed as Unavailable at Best Buy, and it doesn't look like you can buy one directly from Acer, either. This price hike might not stick. It could be an error on Best Buy's page.
I've reached out to Acer to clarify the situation, and I'll update this article with any new information I can glean.
Why did Acer just raise the price of its Predator Atlas 8?
Keep in mind that on October 28, a few days before the US launch, Best Buy pulled down the Atlas 8's preorder page. I surmised that there might be a price hike coming at launch, but Acer assured me that the handheld would be returning on November 1 at its initial $1,299.99 price.
It did indeed return at the promised price, but it seems like it didn't stick around too long.
Assuming the worst, the Predator Atlas 8's $150 jump in price puts it closer to the competing MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, which lands at $1,799.99.
This makes the comparison a lot muddier, for the Atlas 8 and the Claw 8 EX AI+ share a lot of similarities.
They have the same Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside. They both have an 8-inch IPS display with 1920x1200 resolution, 120Hz variable refresh rate, and 500 nits brightness. They both have Hall Effect triggers and sticks, and both use an 80Wh battery.
The difference that makes the most impact on pricing, especially in today's constrained markets, is RAM and storage. The Claw 8 EX AI+ comes with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD to hit that $1,799.99 tag, while the Atlas 8 has 24GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.
Is $350 still a discount worth considering when you get half as much storage and three-quarters of the RAM? That's up to you to decide. I'd certainly still lean towards the Atlas 8 — it's been nothing but fun to use so far — but for those with a bigger budget, the Claw 8 EX AI+ just became a lot more attractive.
The more affordable Predator Atlas 8 is out there ... somewhere
The Acer Predator Atlas 8 configuration with the baseline Intel Arc G3 (non-Extreme) chip inside still doesn't appear to have launched in the US.
When it does (if it does), it will cost less than the G3 Extreme version. In the UK right now, for example, the G3 model with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD costs about £999, climbing to £1,099.99 for 24GB of RAM.
Although I haven't tested the standard Arc G3 chip myself, an early report on Reddit seems to suggest that it's not a big downgrade over the Extreme version.
In games like Forza Horizon 6, Gears 5, and Hogwarts Legacy, there was only about a 5-10% difference between the G3 and G3 Extreme. This is good news, especially as prices continue to climb.
Windows Central's take
We've come a long way from the early days of the $399 Steam Deck. More power, more features, and more hardware are going into these devices, inflating prices along the way. But it's really the ongoing RAM and storage crisis that's wreaking the most havoc.
Unfortunately, the recent price change for the Atlas 8, whether it sticks or not, leaves buyers with limited options: buy at the new price, wait for the cheaper model, or find an alternative.
One of the Atlas 8's biggest strengths was its price, so it will be interesting to see how public opinion changes in the coming days.
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