The first handheld gaming PC with AMD Strix Halo will sell for $1448 and up during crowdfunding ($1599 retail)

AMD’s Strix Halo processors are nominally mobile chips designed for use in laptops, tablets, and other portable devices. But so far most of the computers to ship with these high-performance chips have been small desktop computers rather than mobile devices.

And that’s what makes the GPD Win 5 a fascinating device: it’s a mobile device that’s not a laptop like the HP ZBook Ultra 14 G1a or a 2-in-1 tablet like the Asus ROG Flow Z13. Instead it’s one of the first handheld gaming PC with AMD’s discrete-class graphics baked in. But putting that kind of power in a handheld form factor comes at a cost – both literally and figuratively. GPD had to make some interesting hardware compromises. And the company is charging a lot of money for this handheld.

The GPD Win 5 is expected to hit the streets in November or December, and retail prices will start at $1599 for a model with an AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 processor featuring a 32-core RDNA 3.5 GPU or $1850 for a model with a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip that has 40-core graphics.

Folks looking to save a little money will be able to reserve the GPD Win 5 for discounted prices during an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign set to begin on September 25. But even then the prices will be pretty high:

In other words, the cheapest GPD Win 5 will cost about as much as four entry-level Steam Decks, or more than twice as much as a top-of-the-line Steam Deck.

That said, the Win 5 has a much more powerful processor, the ability to dedicated up to three quarters of the system’s memory to the GPU, a 120 Hz display, support for PCIe 4.0 x4 storage, a 40 Gbps USB-C port, and a whole bunch of other features to help set it apart from Valve’s Steam Deck.

The Win 5 will also be one of the first devices to support the new Mini SSD format: Backers of the crowdfunding campaign will be able to add a 1TB Biwin Mini SSD to their cart for about $93 (marked down from a $103 retail price). These removable storage cards offer SSD-like speeds up to 3700MB/s, but they’re just a tiny bit larger than microSD cards.

But, as I mentioned, GPD has also made at least one major compromise in order to pack AMD’s most powerful mobile processors into a handheld form factor: the GPD Win 5 does not have a built-in battery. Instead it comes with an 80 Wh battery pack that can be clipped to the back of the device. There’s also a battery extender cable that will let you keep the battery in your pocket if you want to reduce the weight of the handheld.

The good news is that this means you could buy a spare battery or two and swap them out on the go. The less good news is that this solution makes the handheld a little bulkier and less portable than most.

Spare batteries are also expected to sell for $93 during crowdfunding or $103 at retail, as is an optional GPD Win 5 docking station. So expect the full price for a GPD Win 5 + a full suite of accessories (Mini SSD, Dock, and spare battery) to run $279 (during crowdfunding) or $309 (retail).

via @softwincn