OneXPlayer 3 Packs Intel Arc G3 Extreme Into A 144Hz OLED Gaming Handheld

When Intel announced its Arc G3 series handheld gaming system processors yesterday, it vaguely mentioned OneXPlayer alongside the names of Acer and MSI as companies that would be launching devices based on the chips. Well, now we know what that OneXPlayer devices is: the OneXPlayer 3. Contrary to the Acer Predator Atlas 8 and the upcoming MSI Claw, though, OneXPlayer's machine features detachable controllers and is usable in both tablet and laptop modes.

You already know that, because you've seen the pictures at the top, but it bears mentioning because these handhelds aren't specialized gaming devices like a Nintendo Switch. In fact, the Arc G3 processors feature fourteen bleeding-edge 18A CPU cores. These are powerful processors and using them strictly for gaming is almost a shame. Having the option for a little folding keyboard makes it attractive to digital nomads and other folks who desire ultra-mobile computing for both work and play.


We don't know the full specs of the OneXPlayer 3 yet, but what know is both incredibly enticing and also deeply concerning for the value proposition of this portable PC. It's going to be based on the Arc G3 Extreme, the higher-end model with the full 12-Xe3-core GPU, and it's going to use an 8.8" OLED screen that is both native landscape (meaning no weird rotated subpixel issues) and also supports variable refresh rates up to 144 Hz. That's huge, because OLEDs often miss VRR support, like with the MSI Raider laptop we just reviewed.


It's also going to come with an absolutely enormous 85-Watt-hour battery, beating even the ASUS ROG Ally X, and it will have Hall-effect joysticks, which we'd normally jump for joy about, but at this point we'd actually rather see TMR instead. Hall-effect is still better than physical switches, though. Storage expansion includes both MicroSD and the BiWin Mini SSD, like the GPD Win 5, and external I/O is decently robust, with both USB4 and USB Type-A supported as well as a 3.5mm audio jack.


One nifty feature is that the "controller connector", which is equivalent to what Nintendo calls the "joy-con grip", actually features a trackpad on it. That will definitely make mousing easier when using the gamepad, but it doesn't look too comfortable for gaming use. We'd love to be wrong though.


Unfortunately, we don't know how much RAM will come in the device, nor at what speed it will run. These are critical specifications for a gaming handheld, because they use integrated graphics, which means that the speed of system memory is also the speed of graphics memory. We also don't know how much it will cost. Most likely, OneXPlayer will be offering numerous configurations, with the top end likely being more than $2,000, but we wouldn't expect this machine to bottom out below $1500.