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The GPD Win Max Powered by the Intel Core i5-1035G7 is the World’s Smallest “Handheld” Gaming Laptop

Have you ever heard of a “handheld” gaming laptop? Well, now you have. GPD is well-known for designing handheld Windows gaming PCs. Over the last few years, they’ve made multiple devices, including a Ryzen powered variant. Their latest offering is rather impressive. Packing a 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G7 “Ice Lake” under the, it should offer some serious processing power for a handheld device.

  • Based on the brand new 10nm Sunny Cove architecture, the Core i5-1035G7 has four cores and eight threads with a base and boost clock of 1.2GHz and 3.7GHz.
  • On the GPU side, the new Win Max packs the integrated Iris Plus graphics with 64 execution units. Unlike older Intel iGPUs, the Gen11 graphics are a big step up, offering performance in line with NVIDIA’s MX and AMD’s mobile Vega GPUs.
  • The Win Max is targeting 60 FPS on an 8″ H-IPS display with a 90% DCI-P3 color gamut and an impressive 500 nits brightness. On the downside, the resolution is limited to just 1280×800 pixels, most likely to meet the 60 FPS mark and keep the power draw in check.
  • GPD counters this by pointing out the higher DPI which makes the Win Max’s display sharper than any other laptops.
  • This handheld gaming laptop includes a 512GB NVMe based SSD storage with sequential read/write speeds of up to 2000MB/s with further upgrade options.
  • You get 16GB LPDDR4 RAM running @ 3733MHz with a bandwidth of 60GB/s. Like all other Intel laptops, you also get Thunderbolt 3 and an HDMI 2.0b port. Other than that, you get the standard selection of USB ports including a USB-C.
  • The GPD Win Max includes a WiFi 6 chipset with speeds of up o 300MB/s and Bluetooth 5.0 with support for up to 7 devices.
  • It has three 5000mAh polymer lithium batteries, resulting in a total capacity of 1500mAh. GPD claims a battery life of 6-8 hours when gaming and 14 hours when idle.

Like most laptops, the GPD Max also has power profiles. There’s a low-power 15W mode, a balanced 20W mode, and a high-performance 25W mode. When using the 25W profile, the Ice Lake chip can boost to nearly 4 GHz which results in a phenomenal performance output for a handheld device. Using the low-power mode, the clock speed hovers in the 1.2GHz range. The handheld laptop also has support for PD 3.0 fast charge, offering 40% faster charge times than regular Quick charge.

Thanks to the new 10nm node, cooling this chip is relatively easier. GPD has implemented PC-class dual heat pipes along with two turbo fans. As you can see in the video below, the temps under 60 degrees at all times!

If you aren’t intrigued yet, get this, it can run Witcher 3 at constant 30 FPS. More recently, it was also shown running the new Resident Evil 3 demo at 45-50 FPS at low with a power draw of just 10-12W. The GPU clock hovered around 850MHz and the DX12 API was used.

GPD hasn’t announced a price yet, but considering these specs, it’s sure to cost a lot: As high as $1,000. That alone means that the new Win Max is targeting a very specific audience, deep pockets and a thing for portable consoles. Regardless, it’s an impressive device. The launch date hasn’t been announced yet, but in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s sure to get delayed.

Areej Syed

Processors, PC gaming, and the past. I have been writing about computer hardware for over seven years with more than 5000 published articles. Started off during engineering college and haven't stopped since. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Divinity, Torment, Baldur's Gate and so much more... Contact: areejs12@hardwaretimes.com.
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