WIN Max 2021: Handheld Game Laptop for AAA Games

 

“Handheld Game Laptop” is a concept proposed by GPD and GPD is the only practitioner. It has been proved that WIN Max is an excellent choice for users who like large-screen handheld devices. The concept of all in one enables it not only to be used to play games but also to replace laptops for office work.

But the needs of users are endless!

For example, users who focus on productivity will think that AMD Ryzen 7 4800U is more suitable for WIN Max. After all, the performance of 8C/16T in multitasking parallel processing is obvious to all. Especially when the program is compiled, 16 threads are fully opened, the performance is comparable to Intel Xeon E5-2630 v3, and the power consumption is only 1/4 of the latter. On the other hand, gameplayers prefer Intel Core i7-1165G7 or 1185G7 with stronger core display performance. This is also understandable since the program can call multi-threads when compiling, the full core runs at full speed, and the efficiency is higher, but the key to performance on games is usually the single-core frequency and core display performance.

To meet the needs of different users, we have made a comprehensive upgrade to WIN Max. The new version will be renamed WIN Max 2021. There are not only two versions, i7-1165G7 and i7-1185G7, but also support for AMD Ryzen 7 4800U for the first time. This is the world’s first handheld game laptop with an AMD processor. Users who have the older WIN Max (1035G7) can obtain a new motherboard through this crowdfunding, which can be used to replace the old motherboard and experience a more powerful WIN Max 2021.

 

As the main game product, it has higher requirements for the robustness of the body. The upper cover of WIN Max 2021 is made of CNC process magnesium-aluminum alloy, the body is LG-DOW 121H aerospace-grade impact-resistant ABS synthetic resin, the thickness of the shell is 1.3mm with flame and high-temperature resistance and conforming to the V-0 grade fire protection specification, with a Rockwell hardness of 109R. The bending strength is as high as 26,000kg/cm2, and after the 5m drop test, the intact rate is as high as 92%.

The D has an arc-shaped edge, the hollowed-out air inlet area accounts for up to 49.7% of the area, and the 3mm high foot pad makes the air intake at the bottom smooth.

Trigger buttons L1/L2, R1/R2 are distributed on both sides of the back. The middle interfaces are 2×Thunderbolt 4 (2×USB 3.2 Gen2 Type C for the 4800U version), 2×USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A, HDMI, and 9 heat airports at the bottom. There is no need to worry about blocking the heat from the outlet!

• The world’s first Handheld Game Laptop based on AMD Ryzen™ 7 4800U.
• Intel Core™ i7-1165G7 / 1185G7 version is also provided, the single-core performance exceeds that of the desktop flagship i9-10900K.
• Iris Xe Graphics core display, with comprehensive performance that surpasses MX350.
• Placed on the desktop, it is the world’s smallest gaming notebook. held with both hands, it is a handheld.
• Newly designed game handle, one-piece arrow keys, rocker cap recessed + non-slip design, support for pressing down to achieve L3/R3 function.
• The latest AAA-level game masterpieces, most of which can be run with medium special effects and 60 frames.
• 8-inch H-IPS screen, 800P resolution, the best game experience.
• Dual-channel LPDDR4x 4266 memory, 16G large capacity, read/write speeds are both over 60GB/s.
• 1TB M.2 NVMe 2280 SSD, 4th generation PCIe bus technology, doubled read and write speed, surpassing Thunderbolt 4.
• Brand new dual Thunderbolt 4 ports, doubled bandwidth, natively support USB 4, with an external eGPU, the performance of the independent display can be maximized, and the number of frames increased by 300%.
• HDMI 2.0b high-definition digital interface, supports HDR and 4K/60Hz video output.
• 3×5000mAh / 57Wh high-capacity polymer lithium battery, the life span of more than 5 hours in heavy use.
• TDP adopts three gears of 20W, 25W, and 28W, which can be adjusted.
• PC-level twin turbofan + dual heat pipe cooling solution, large displacement side blowing design, 9-hole high-speed cooling channel.
• 65W super fast charge, based on PD 2.0 fast charge protocol, can charge mobile phones, tablets, notebooks, and other devices at the same time.
   

 

 

 

Users with WIN 3 should have an in-depth understanding of the performance of the Intel Tiger Lake UP3 processor during playing games. In addition to the Intel Tiger Lake UP3 version, WIN Max 2021 also has version AMD Ryzen 7 4800U. What are the performances of the two types of processors on games? The following table is the frame rate data of low special effects in the game at the 1280×800 resolution:

*Note

Testing environment: i7-1185G7 / R7 4800U, 16GB LPDDR4x 4266, 1TB NVMe SSD, 1280×800, Windows 10 Home 20H2. The above games are all of low to medium special effects.

It can be seen that the game frame rate of WIN Max 2021 based on the i7-1185G7 processor is generally much higher, thanks to the Intel Iris Xe core display!

 

WIN Max 2021 has an 8-inch H-IPS panel, the 5th generation Corning Gorilla Glass external screen, and In-Cell full bonding technology. The viewing area is 133% larger than the previous generation, with 90% DCI-P3 wide color gamut, DC Dimming, no flicker, 500-nits brightness. The pixel density is twice that of a 24-inch/1080P display, and the horizontal viewing angle is as high as 178°. It supports 10-point touch, the default resolution is 1280×800, which perfectly supports old games with 1024×768 resolution (4:3).

Is it true that the higher the resolution, the better? We will correct your misunderstanding of high resolution!

With an 8-inch screen and only a physical resolution of 1280×800, the game quality experience is the best! Any compatible resolution (reducing the resolution for the high frame rate of the game) will cause the game screen to be rough and fuzzy. The example screenshots of comparison as follows:

Figure 1: At a physical resolution of 1280×800, the game screen is visible.

Figure 2: Reducing the 2560×1600 resolution to 1280×800, the image quality is rough and fuzzy, there are jagged lines on the screen, and the pixels are grainy.

Do not be fooled by high resolution, high resolution = low FPS, low resolution = high FPS. Take Cyberpunk 2077 as an example, the frame rate performance of the game at different resolutions is as follows:

As you can see from the table above, when the resolution is 2560×1600, Cyberpunk 2077 has only 6 FPS, so it can’t be played at all!

 

In terms of built-in joysticks, WIN Max 2021 adopts the sink-in design and Xinput mode of the game controller. The ultra-durable dual 3D joysticks produced by Japan Alps, can be used as L3 / R3 buttons (support 360 ° rotation) after pressing down. In terms of working life, the potentiometer and center stack of the joystick can be used for 2 million and 5 million spins respectively. To avoid finger-slipping during gaming, the joysticks have curved rocker caps made of hard materials with strong resistance (the right joystick is in the same position as that of GPD WIN).

In terms of the D-pad, WIN Max 2021 uses the split arrow key layout of the PS4 controller to facilitate subtle precise movement. The ABXY buttons are still made with double layer silk-printing, with appropriate spacing between the buttons that facilitates comfortable pressing without errors.

The L1 / L2 R1 / R2 buttons all have highly-reliable Panasonic micro switches, with mechanical service life reaching 10 million times and electrical service life reaching 100,000 times, and operating temperature of -54 ~ 177 degrees Celsius.

Select, Start buttons are located near the top hinge to facilitate operation with left thumb. Clicking the button while streaming an game can turn on / off the joystick and activate functions such as "back to home", "long press to turn off", "screen capture", "snap to position".

 

Online game players love good keyboards and WIN 2's pan-shaped keyboard can't meet their requirements due to problems such as narrow pitches, short key stroke and lack of tactile feeling. In view of these problems, we decided to use a scissor-shaped membrane keyboard when designing WIN Max 2021, and even had to increase the screen frame for this purpose.

Especially for the two sets of keys ("QWER" and "ASDF") most commonly used by players, in order to achieve desktop-level tactile feeling, the size of the buttons cannot be reduced. Under these circumstances, WIN Max 2021 adopts a standard "QWERTY" chiclet-style full keyboard layout with backlight, making it easy to transform the machine into a perfect mini-gaming laptop by connecting an external mouse.

But what if you want to play some games but don't have a mouse with you. It's simple, just turn the “mouse / joystick” switch on the side of machine to immediately transform the joystick into a track point and L1 / R1 buttons into the left / right mouse button, so that you can use the machine as a handheld, making it fit for more usage scenarios.

Even without the mouse / joystick switch function, WIN Max 2021 also has a built-in touchpad, which supports gestures with up to three-fingers and push-down operations.

No matter games playing or office working and No matter holding by both hands or putting 
on desktop. The built-in gamepads & touchpad can meet your operation requirements.

 

To improve thermal performance, WIN Max 2021 adopts the cooling solution of PC-class twin turbo fans + dual heat pipes. With dual heat pipes + high-power turbo fans, high-displacement side-blowing design, 9-hole ultra-short-distance ventilation, WIN Max 2021 can reach a hot air exhaust efficiency 8 times higher than that of WIN 2.

When the internal temperature is between 20 ℃ ~ 80 ℃. the BIOS can dynamically adjust the fan speed from 2700 ~ 6300 RPM based on the preset 70 temperature control levels.

At the same time, the BIOS also contains three TDP (15W, 20W, 25W) schemes for gamers to choose, which helps to achieve the best energy efficiency ratio and heat dissipation effect in practical applications.

 

Under single-core performance test, i7-1185G7 / i7-1165G7 performs outstandingly, surpassing the desktop flagship i9-10900K, and the game performance is even better. Under multi-core performance test, R7 4800U has obvious advantages, after all, of 8C/16T, full-core can reach 3.2GHz, multi-task parallel processing surpasses Intel Xeon processor E5-2630 v3.

For a productivity tool, the higher the score of multi-core performance, the better. We used PCMark 10 for the benchmark test and got the following scores:

From basic function tests to productivity and digital creation, the R7 4800U scores are far ahead, while the game score is pulled down. However, the overall score is still the highest.

 

Game players know that the MX100 to MX400 series launched by Nvidia is unique, carrying the important task of enhancing the power of the game for thin and light notebooks. The next-generation core display is usually compared with the NVIDIA MX series. The picture below shows the benchmark test of the two-generation core displays and the 3DMark of the MX350. The Intel Iris Xe core display won with 768 shaders.

One of the criteria for evaluating the performance of a graphics card is floating-point computing capability, which includes half-precision (FP16), single-precision (FP32), and double-precision (FP64). The following table is a comparison of floating-point operations on three mobile graphics cards:

Intel Iris Xe core display’s performance is the strongest; AMD Radeon Vega 8’s half-precision and single-precision floating-point computing capabilities also surpass MX350.

 

WIN Max 2021 excellent heat dissipation design enables the TDP to stabilize at the peak level for a long time under high power consumption, giving full play to the 86GB/s memory bandwidth advantage of LPDDR4x 4266 under dual channels. The following table is the memory benchmark test done by TDP under 35W power consumption:

* The three scores of read, write, and copy of the test, the corresponding products are all dual-channel.

 

Due to the integrated PCIe 4.0 bus specification, the bus bandwidth is doubled. The WIN Max 2021 with a built-in Intel processor perfectly supports PCIe Gen 4 SSD and is backward compatible with PCIe Gen 3 SSD. The theoretical read and write peak is as high as 7.877GB/s. The system's virtual memory’s speed is doubled at the same time, and the game’s smoothness is greatly improved.

The following table shows the actual read/write test of WIN Max 2021 and WIN 3 with PCIe Gen4 SSD built-in, and compared with Surface Pro 7, it can be seen that the sequential read of Samsung 980 Pro 500GB exceeds 5000MB/s, and the sequential write is over 3300MB/s. The read speed even exceeds Thunderbolt 4!

* Test software: AS SSD Benchmark;
* Test environment: 1185G7 / 1165G7, LPDDR4x 4266, Samsung 980 PRO 500GB;
* Different versions of the AS SSD benchmark test results are slightly different, and the heat dissipation will severe;y affect the read/write speed;
* The standard configuration of the mass-produced machine is PCIe Gen3 SSD. If you need the speed of the SSD in the chart, please purchase and replace it with the PCIe Gen4 SSD by yourself.

On the other hand, AMD’s WIN Max 2021 is also designed to be compatible with PCIe Gen4 SSD. Although R7 4800U is the PCIe 3.0 bus specification, you can still buy PCIe Gen4 SSD and enjoy the peak speed of 3.938GB/s (due to the PCIe 3.0×4 interface bandwidth limit, theoretical throughput upper limit is 3.938GB/s).

*Note

WIN Max 2021 only supports M.2 NVMe 2280 SSD single-sided device layout, such as Samsung 980 PRO, while Lenovo NGFF SL700 cannot support it. Please note the distinction when replacing the SSD.

Since the design is compatible with PCIe Gen4 SSD protocol, WIN Max 2021 will no longer support M.2 SATA3 2280 SSD of AHCI protocol.

 

Another highlight of WIN Max 2021 is the integration of dual Thunderbolt 4 interfaces (the 4800U version of WIN Max 2021 is dual Type C and does not support Thunderbolt 4). Through the external graphics dock, whether it is using the main screen or an external monitor, the number of game frames is increase by 300%.

In addition, Thunderbolt 4 natively supports USB4, HDMI, DisplayPort, RJ-45 network port, audio port, charging, and other protocols, and is backward compatible with early USB 3.x, 2.x, and 1.x devices.

*Note

eGFX device is a standard defined by Intel, which includes a complete set of external graphics solutions, including power supply, motherboard, graphics card, interface, etc. The eGPU term only represents the graphics card. At present, retail platforms do not call eGFX uniformly. There are eGPU, graphics card dock, external graphics card box, external graphics card dock, etc., which refer to eGFX. When connecting to an external graphics dock, the frame rate depends on the performance of the external graphics card.

In addition to external eGFX devices, the Thunderbolt 4 interface of WIN Max 2021 supports power adapters based on PD 2.0 protocol and 15V or 20V voltage, which is very scalable. For instance:

1. Any PD2.0 protocol power adapter with a charging voltage of 15V or 20V on the market can charge WIN Max 2021.

2. Through the Thunderbolt 4 interface, while outputting high-definition video signals to any monitor, the monitor can charge WIN Max 2021 in reverse!

3. Through Thunderbolt 4 interface, WIN Max 2021 supports connecting 2 4K monitors or 1 8K monitor output.

4. In the future, PCIe Gen 4 SSD external mobile hard disk or USB4 flash disk can be connected from external to provide convenience for professional photographers to transfer large m2ts video files!

In addition to games, in industrial applications, WIN Max 2021, based on powerful processor performance and multi-interface support, is the best productivity tool. In particular, there is the AMD R7 4800U version of WIN Max 2021. With its 8C/16T multi-threaded parallel processing capability, whether you are doing program compilation, IT operation, and maintenance, image design, or basic office editing, it can bring you high efficiency and productivity.