Strix Halo, AMD's beefy power slurping APU, has been crammed into a handheld from GPD. If you're wondering how GPD counteracts the battery and thermals needed, the answer is that it has slapped the battery on the side for you to cram into a backpack, or, as shown off recently, a pocket.
GPD uploaded a video to YouTube this week that shows not only how the battery connects but how pocketable the battery actually is. My first instinct is to say 'not very'. It certainly fits into a fairly baggy pair of trousers, but the battery pokes out in the demonstrated video.
There is perhaps someone a bit braver than me who would play the device just fine with the battery poking out, but I get a little cautious of dropping my phone if it's not fully in my pocket, so I'd be rather afraid of moving a little strangely or sitting down, and hearing the crash of a battery pack on the floor in response.
Given the size, it seems like very much a setup you use while standing, and I don't know if I fancy ominously hovering near people with electrics sticking out of my pockets. It would be a good way of getting a space all to myself in the library, though.
GPD does highlight a benefit of the detachable battery, with the device being just 500 grams. The Lenovo Legion Go weighs more than 700 grams, and the Steam Deck weighs just under 700 grams. We don't yet have a weight on the battery, and we can assume some of the difference between 500 grams and the 700 grams many handhelds come in at is due to the lack of a battery. You do snap the battery onto the back of the Win 5, so it's very rare you will use it in its raw 500-gram form.
The battery is 80.4Wh, which is more than some laptops, and it connects via a white extension cable. That cable clips onto the bottom of the battery and then the device. The cable comes with screws on each side, so you don't accidentally wobble the device and lose all your progress.
In the YouTube comments section (a place I'd never recommend you go) for the latest GPD video, the company confirmed the battery is not hot-swappable, which suggests there is no battery in the device at all. GPD instead suggests turning off the device before changing the battery. There being no on-device battery also presumably means that you'll have to use this thing with a cable attached at all times, detracting from that light and free gameplay people usually want out of a handheld.
One commenter asked, "How soon is soon for preorder and pricing[?]", to which GPD answered, "End of this month".
The device does have some nice features, though, and ones that interest me more than the strange battery setup. For instance, it has capacitive joysticks, which means no stick drift. It can get up to 128 GB of RAM and up to 4 TB of storage. It also supports 180 W fast charging, and that APU delivers similar performance to an RTX 4060 mobile.
The presence of a chip super high in VRAM does mean it could be good for running AI locally, but I'd have my eye on the Framework Desktop PC instead, in that case.
It just requires a few too many compromises to get that performance, and given the pricing of the chip and other Strix Halo devices, I don't much like the idea of paying upward of $2,000+ for a device where I have to lug around my own battery and never play cable-free. We'll have more information on at least this front by the end of the month.
1. Best overall:
Lenovo Legion Go S SteamOS ed.
2. Best budget:
Steam Deck
3. Best Windows:
MSI Claw 8 AI+
4. Best big screen:
Lenovo Legion Go
5. Best compact:
Ayaneo Flip DS
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