Should you’ve been maintaining with the wave of handheld gaming PCs hitting the market following the success of the Steam Deck, you’ll know that the majority of those transportable wonders make the most of AMD GPU expertise. Whereas Valve’s console is probably the most notable instance, each Lenovo and Asus have additionally used AMD processors of their handhelds, with the computing juggernaut main the road within the rising market. Effectively, it appears prefer it would possibly lastly have some actual competitors, with Intel formally committing to stepping up its sport within the transportable PC battle.
In an interview with Laptop computer Magazine, Intel’s VP and Normal Supervisor, Shopper AI and Technical Advertising, Robert Hallock, instructed the publication, “Intel is beefing up its workers to assist gaming ISVs who wish to do handhelds.” In regular language, ISVs are Impartial Software program Distributors, so meaning corporations Asus and Lenovo.
Admittedly, it’s not like there aren’t any Intel-powered Steam Deck options in the marketplace; there are the likes of the OneXPlayer X1 and the brand new MSI Claw 8 AI+, which left fairly the impression after we tried it out at IFA 2024 final 12 months. Nonetheless, Hallock’s phrases appear to level to Intel leveling up its method to the hand held market and, particularly, builders within the handheld house.
Elsewhere within the interview, Hallock means that Intel can also be planning on making it simpler for sport builders to check titles on consoles using the model’s processor expertise by “arming them with extra handhelds as prototype units. Getting them dev kits main into Panther Lake.” We are able to’t say for certain, however this method makes it seem to be it’s much less seemingly for future Intel-powered handhelds to disappoint on arrival, very similar to the unique MSI Claw did round this time final 12 months. The much less stated about that, the higher.
By way of what this implies for the hand held gaming PC market, it might solely be a superb factor that one other large model is taking the shape issue extra critically, as competitors usually results in innovation. With Intel stepping up its sport, AMD can’t afford to relaxation on its laurels as the 2 manufacturers compete for the eye of the big-name producers. Positive, the Steam Deck OLED, Asus ROG Ally X, and Lenovo Legion Go all depend on AMD for now, however given the early evaluations we’ve seen highlighting the stellar efficiency energy of the MSI Claw AI+ and its Intel Lunar Lake processor, who is aware of what the longer term holds?
With all this in thoughts, we’ll be holding a watch out to see if any new transportable PCs utilizing Intel tech pop up over the following few months, and in that case, whether or not they’re worthy of our information to one of the best handheld consoles. If you wish to seize some new gaming {hardware} immediately, make sure to take a look at our picks for one of the best gaming telephones and one of the best gaming tablets when you’re right here. Or, in the event you’re on the lookout for one thing slightly extra old-school, see our checklist of one of the best retro handhelds.