Support NeoGAF

[Shogmaster]

Remember when Pather Lake came out they be all like INTEL IS BACK BITCHES! AMD is screwed! and all that?

There were good reasons. B390 equipped Panther Lake x7/9 laptops were matching or even beating Strix Halo 395+ performance down in 30W region with much smaller SoC. And then Intel took the opportunity to hype up their upcoming handheld SoC with B390.

Well..... prepare to pay out the nose for sweet B390 action... GMKtec just put out a mini PC with x7 358 on their website:

https://www.gmktec.com/products/intel-core-ultra-x7-358h-x9-388h-evo-t2-ai-mini-pc

They charging $1899. That's only $100 less then their AI MAX 395+ Mini PC with similar configuration:

https://www.gmktec.com/products/amd-ryzen%E2%84%A2-ai-max-395-evo-x2-ai-mini-pc

So be ready for ~$2500 Panther Lake handhrld PCs in few months.

 

[SScorpio]

A lot of that cost is all the RAM. You can get a B390 laptop with 32GB for $1,299 which gives you a solid 1440p gaming experience. But if you are just gaming even 16GB would be enough as you could allocate 10-12GB to the GPU and rest to the OS and game. When you don't have a billion Chrome tabs open, you don't need much RAM.

 

[Tobimacoss]

Next gen MSI Claw handheld is going to be truly something to behold. Hopefully they go with more ergonomic shape, less pointy edges.

 

[riko]

Yea this is a nothing burger. 64GB of ram is expensive in 2026. Water is wet. Not a Panther Lake thing.

 

[Shogmaster]

A lot of that cost is all the RAM. You can get a B390 laptop with 32GB for $1,299 which gives you a solid 1440p gaming experience. But if you are just gaming even 16GB would be enough as you could allocate 10-12GB to the GPU and rest to the OS and game. When you don't have a billion Chrome tabs open, you don't need much RAM.

First of all, $1299 B390 laptop was a fevered dream. They are averaging $2000 right now.

Also, I was comparing like for like here. Both GMKTec mini pcs has 64GB. 395+ handheld PCs are right now almost $3000. So B390 handhekd PCs wont be far behind.

 

[64gigabyteram]

Yea this is a nothing burger. 64GB of ram is expensive in 2026. Water is wet. Not a Panther Lake thing.

64gb of ddr5 is 800 which is just upsetting. However if you removed that these would still be really overpriced at 1700.

Give it a couple years. By steam deck 2 these would have cratered in price hopefully

 

[Shogmaster]

Yea this is a nothing burger. 64GB of ram is expensive in 2026. Water is wet. Not a Panther Lake thing.

Look up AI Nax 395 handhrld PCs with 32 or 48GB of RAM right now. They are like $2500 and up. And venders ate charging Panther Lake X7/9;nearly the same as Syrix Halo.

This most definitely is a Panther Lake thing. Specifically, it's Intel 18A thing.

 

[bender]

It will cost me nothing.

 

[paolo11]

Remind me, how powerful is panther lake on gaming compared to AI max 395? Is it equal?

 

[Singular7]

Can't wait to get back to Intel later this year for a build of some sort. Been on AMD for probably a decade now.

 

[buttnuggett]

Handhelds are higher than giraffe pussy. Do you want it cheap or portable? Take your pic. Well cheap isn't an option. Just portable.

 

[nowhat]

Remind me, how powerful is panther lake on gaming compared to AI max 395? Is it equal?

I dunno. On one hand we have a lake, quite powerful in itself. If it is full of panthers, more powerful still. On the other, we have AI. And lots of investors, because AI. Also, Max. Max is obviously better than without.

So I'm guessing it boils down to whether the panthers will be scared of the investors.

 

[KiteGr]

They are going to release a Jaguar next...

 

[Shogmaster]

Remind me, how powerful is panther lake on gaming compared to AI max 395? Is it equal?

At and above 60W, 395 and 385 kicks it in the nuts. At 30W? They are pretty much same, or B390 takes the edge.

 

[Hoddi]

Am I missing something? It's $1500 at Costco with 32GB + OLED monitor + 2TB SSD which seems pretty normal for a laptop with these specs.

It's not just RAM that has blown up in price but storage as well.

 

[Shogmaster]

Am I missing something? It's $1500 at Costco with 32GB + OLED monitor + 2TB SSD which seems pretty normal for a laptop with these specs.

It's not just RAM that has blown up in price but storage as well.

I'd jump on that. But then again, not everyone has Costco membership. Check BestBuy prices for x7/X9.

 

[paolo11]

I dunno. On one hand we have a lake, quite powerful in itself. If it is full of panthers, more powerful still. On the other, we have AI. And lots of investors, because AI. Also, Max. Max is obviously better than without.

So I'm guessing it boils down to whether the panthers will be scared of the investors.

Rawrrr!!!

Thanks my friend . This made me laugh hahaha

 

[paolo11]

At and above 60W, 395 and 385 kicks it in the nuts. At 30W? They are pretty much same, or B390 takes the edge.

Ah ok. 60w for 395 is so good. You got to plug it in though

 

[Shogmaster]

Ah ok. 60w for 395 is so good. You got to plug it in though

Definitely

 

[riko]

Ah ok. 60w for 395 is so good. You got to plug it in though

60W would be miserable in your hands, thats a lot of heat.

 

[Killer8]

What kind of a fucking codename is Panther Lake?

 

[Minsc]

60W would be miserable in your hands, thats a lot of heat.

60W plugged in is still about the same amount of heat though. Ever feel near the top of your monitor or back of your desktop? The heat generated regardless of if the watts come from inside the console or outside, both cases it is using the same wattage.

Just saying if you plan on using it portable but plugging it in so you can still have all that power on the go, you're also still going to have all the heat as well.

 

[Tobimacoss]

60W would be miserable in your hands, thats a lot of heat.

Would be nice for winters with snowy weather.

 

[Tobimacoss]

What kind of a fucking codename is Panther Lake?

Intel code names have been some sort of Lake for a while now.

 

[Shogmaster]

Intel code names have been some sort of Lake for a while now.

Mofos really love lakes!