In the event 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 know-how. 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. Properly, it appears prefer it would possibly lastly have some actual competitors, with Intel formally committing to stepping up its recreation within the transportable PC battle.
In an interview with Laptop computer Magazine, Intel’s VP and Normal Supervisor, Consumer AI and Technical Advertising, Robert Hallock, advised the publication, “Intel is beefing up its employees to assist gaming ISVs who need to do handhelds.” In regular language, ISVs are Unbiased Software program Distributors, so meaning firms 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 once we tried it out at IFA 2024 final 12 months. Nevertheless, Hallock’s phrases appear to level to Intel leveling up its strategy to the hand-held market and, particularly, builders within the handheld house.
Elsewhere within the interview, Hallock means that Intel can be planning on making it simpler for recreation builders to check titles on consoles using the model’s processor know-how by “arming them with extra handhelds as prototype gadgets. Getting them dev kits main into Panther Lake.” We are able to’t say for certain, however this strategy makes it look like it’s much less probably 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 will probably solely be a great factor that one other huge model is taking the shape issue extra critically, as competitors usually results in innovation. With Intel stepping up its recreation, 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 opinions 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 maintaining an eye fixed 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} straight away, you should definitely take a look at our picks for one of the best gaming telephones and one of the best gaming tablets whilst you’re right here. Or, when you’re searching for one thing a bit of extra old-school, see our checklist of one of the best retro handhelds.
