Gaming

The 8″ Handheld GPD WIN Max Powered by an Intel Ice Lake Chip Lets you Play Most Games at 60 FPS

The GPD WIN Max, an 8-inch Ultra-Portable Gaming PC, had a launch event in Japan by the Tenku Co. Ltd. It’s currently scheduled to be released on the 8th of September in Japan.

The WIN Max, currently available in a few other select countries, features an Intel Core i5-1035G7 CPU and an 11th Generation Iris Plus 940 integrated graphics chip. That’s paired with 16GB of 3733MT/s LPDDR4X RAM and a 512GB SSD to boot.

President Yamada of the Tenku Co. said, “If you think about it, 20 years ago, I was playing Final Fantasy XI by adding a video card, but now I can do more graphics quality Final Fantasy XIV in a portable way.”

A presenter holds up the GPD WIN Max at the event

The WIN 2, a predecessor, has been supported by users of online games such as “Dragon Quest X”. WIN Max has a beefier GPU allowing it to play “FINAL FANTASY XIV” at a “level that works very comfortably”.

The GPD Win Max is directly targeting the Smach Z (powered by an AMD APU) and the upcoming Alienware UFO. It has both the product beat in terms of the pricing. It’s a good step up from the former, and the crowdfunding price is nearly half as much as the latter.

Surprisingly, this 8″ tablet/gaming laptop also promises an average of 60 FPS across many modern AAA titles. Although the native resolution is set at 1280 x 800, the in-game resolution will likely be dynamic ranging from 480p to 540p.

If you’re in Japan and are looking for a handheld gaming platform that is not the Switch, you can reserve it for JPY 92,600, which is about 850 USD, excluding the taxes.

There’s also a pre-booking bonus unique to the bookings made through Tenku, which includes a dedicated pouch, original gaming gloves, tempered glass LCD protective film, USB Hub, stereo earphones, liquid crystal cleaner, USB connected SD card slot card A reader and cooling pad. Additionally, an external GPU box will be given out by lottery to a few people.

The Reservation Bonuses (Credit:pcwatch)

If you’re not in Japan, you can still get one from over here.

President Wade of the GPD’s head office was also present and provided some insight into the future of the WIN series. “WIN 3” which is a legitimate successor of WIN 2 is under development, and it will be released in 2021 if it goes according to the schedule. On the other hand, with regard to the successor to WIN Max, “WIN Max 2”, the company also indicated its intention to continue development, and revealed a roadmap that divides it into “pocket-size” and “high-performance handheld”. “There is a possibility that the keyboard will be completely translated into Japanese.” he said.

A Roadmap of the future of the GPD WIN series (Credit:pcwatch)

It will be interesting to see how the landscape of these portable gaming devices pan out in the near future, with competitors like the Nintendo Switch, Smach Z and Alienware UFO out there. President Wade is optimistic about the WIN series and said: “But since WIN Max also has a touchpad and keyboard, it can be used as a UMPC for those who are not core-gamers.”

Source
pcwatch(jp)
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