I see you PC avid gamers trying longingly at your Nintendo Switch wishing it was a tiny, miniature gaming PC. I do know I do, and that’s partly why I’m hopeful / excited / vaguely optimistic about Dell’s Alienware UFO doodad, which they unveiled earlier within the 12 months. But whereas the UFO was only a ‘concept’ machine, the mad folks over at GamePad Digital, or GPD, have really gone and made a correct 8in handheld gaming laptop computer. Sure, the GPD Win Max appears to be like like a type of jumbo Nokia Communicator telephones from the mid-90s, however inside it packs one in every of Intel’s new 10th Gen Comet Lake CPUs, Intel’s Iris Plus graphics, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, an 8in show and the disembowelled stays of an Xbox 360 controller. It’s completely nutty, however I additionally type of dig it.
The 8in show sounds significantly intriguing. Its decision of 1280×800 means it doesn’t have a standard 16:9 facet ratio, however cramming that many pixels onto an 8in display screen does really give it the next pixel density than most laptop computer shows. A 15.6in 1920×1080 show, for instance, has a pixel density of 141 pixels per inch, however the GPD Win Max bumps that determine as much as 189 PPI. That’s not fairly as sharp because the Nintendo Switch’s 6.2in show, admittedly, whose 1280×720 decision offers it a PPI of 237, however that’s nonetheless fairly good going all the identical.
The remainder of the Win Max’s show specs tick lots of bins, too. According to GPD, it could hit a peak brightness of 500cd/m2 (as vivid as any good gaming monitor) and its H-IPS panel covers 90% of the HDR-grade DCI-P3 color gamut, which ought to imply it has prime notch picture high quality and beautiful wealthy colors. It’s additionally bought 10-point contact assist and is flicker-free, so shouldn’t pressure your eyes throughout lengthy gaming periods.
Quite how lengthy you’ll have the ability to comfortably play games on the GPD Win Max, nevertheless, is one other matter. While its appropriated Xbox 360 controller parts are a novel contact to assist make it extra appropriate for handheld gaming, it additionally appears to be like like immensely unwieldy. The analogue sticks remind me of the squat analogue pad on the Nintendo 3DS, for instance, and its sharp edges appear like they’ll begin digging into your hand after about 5 minutes. It does have USB ports to plug in a correct controller, fortunately, however that additionally defeats the thought of it being a handheld gaming laptop computer.
Still, the gaming benchmarks GPD checklist on their web site sound fairly spectacular all the identical. They don’t checklist precisely what graphics settings they examined them on – solely their “default settings”, regardless of the hell which means – however the mixture of its Intel Core i5-1035G7 CPU and Intel Iris Plus 940 graphics chip was capable of hit over 60fps in Fortnite, Overwatch, DOTA 2, League Of Legends, Rainbow Six Siege, FIFA 20, Resident Evil 2, World War Z and Code Vein. Far Cry: New Dawn, Borderlands 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, the Halo Reach alpha and Apex Legends all got here throughout the 50-60fps vary as properly.
That’s spectacular for such a titchy machine, though I do marvel how its twin followers and twin cooling pipes shall be ready cope throughout longer gaming periods. Still, when GPD state you can too modify the CPU’s thermal design level or TDP from 15W to 25W within the BIOS, right here’s hoping it gained’t get too toasty within the course of.
There’s no phrase on how a lot the GPD Win Max will value but or when it’s going to go on sale, however GPD’s Twitter account appears to counsel we’ll see a correct launch announcement someday subsequent month.
