GPD Win Max 2 Scores Strix Point Update Along With a Price Bump

[GGforever]

GPD recently updated its Win 4 gaming handheld with Strix Point APUs, and has now seemingly turned its attention to the Win Max 2. The system is available on Indiegogo, with an estimated shipping time set for sometime this December. The Strix Point update will not only bring improved performance to the table, but also enhance overall energy efficiency, which is crucial for such compact form factors.

The Win Max 2 is now available with AMD's latest Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APU "Strix Point" APU, although a "Hawk Point" variant with a Ryzen 7 8840U is also available. The Strix Point APU outperforms the Hawk Point APU in almost every possible way, with the 12-core HX 370 pulling ahead of the 8-core 8840U by almost 45% in multithreaded benchmarks. In graphics performance, the story is much the same, with the Radeon 890M iGPU leading the 780M by almost 25% in synthetic benchmarks.




The Win Max 2 rocks up to 64 GB of LPDDR5X memory, and up to 2 TB of NVMe storage. As for the display, the system gets a 60 Hz 10.1-inch QHD panel with a peak brightness of 450 nits. Thanks to the tiny screen size, pixel density is rather impressive at 299 PPI. Connectivity options include a bunch of USB4 ports, HDMI 2.1, SD card slot, and USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports. The system also boasts OCuLink support, allowing for fast eGPU connections. Unsurprisingly, the Win Max 2 (2025) is quite pricey, coming in at $1,462 for the Strix Point variant with 64 GB of memory and 2 TB storage.

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[AcE]

This is basically a small laptop with some inbuilt controllers, hence the price. Doesn’t make much sense for me personally, too big for a handheld and too small for a laptop. Too pricey in general. The screen isn’t great with no HDR support.

 

[JIWIL]

That's an absolutely bizarre decision; 10" 1440p/60hz?

 

[Cheeseball]

That's an absolutely bizarre decision; 10" 1440p/60hz?

Unfortunately no other display OEMs who make panels that are 10", 1600p and portrait. I wish it had VRR and higher refresh rate too.

 

[Vayra86]

So you buy a special laptop for gaming and its got the ergonomics of a weird marriage between a clamshell phone and a bar of chocolate.

Fantastic.

 

[HOkay]

Same thoughts as everyone else here, this sounded almost enticing until I saw 60Hz, & the price. 60Hz on a device primarily meant for gaming is idiotic.

 

[Caring1]

Or as the second picture shows, connect to a high refresh rate monitor via Occulink or the HDMI 2.1

 

[Veseleil]

Same thoughts as everyone else here, this sounded almost enticing until I saw 60Hz, & the price. 60Hz on a device primarily meant for gaming is idiotic.

But, but it's the future of gaming! Don't you understand? Realtime everything at 30FPS, or 60FPS with AI upscalers and fake frames insertion!

 

[HOkay]

Or as the second picture shows, connect to a high refresh rate monitor via Occulink or the HDMI 2.1

Sooo...get a laptop or desktop then? I don't just want high refresh rate when sitting at a desk, I want it all the time! I'll be first to argue that a handheld + an eGPU dock gives you the best of all worlds for the lowest overall cost, but I'm not sacrificing my high refresh screen on the handheld! Yes you won't be playing AAA games >60fps, but older games or indie games you absolutely can.

 

[AcE]

60Hz on a device primarily meant for gaming is idiotic.

In this case not even the main problem. 1) too heavy / too clunky to hold in hands, possibly over hours, but even minutes this looks painful for the hands, simply unergonomic, like a device from 30 years ago, 2) too expensive, 3) possibly the issue with no HDR support on display which I brought up, but it's not a big issue tbh. 60 Hz is plenty for such a machine with weak GPU, you will even be happy to hit 60 fps in all games on this device, so it doesn't need more than 60 Hz *at all*, it's simply irrelevant here cause the GPU can't provide more than 60 fps consistently anyways - maybe only in old/some indie games.

 

[HOkay]

In this case not even the main problem. 1) too heavy / too clunky to hold in hands, possibly over hours, but even minutes this looks painful for the hands, simply unergonomic, like a device from 30 years ago, 2) too expensive, 3) possibly the issue with no HDR support on display which I brought up, but it's not a big issue tbh. 60 Hz is plenty for such a machine with weak GPU, you will even be happy to hit 60 fps in all games on this device, so it doesn't need more than 60 Hz *at all*, it's simply irrelevant here cause the GPU can't provide more than 60 fps consistently anyways - maybe only in old/some indie games.

It does need to be more than 60Hz because as I & others have said that's a deal breaker for us, & we're probably not the only ones. We're agreed that it's not going to run above 60Hz for AAA games, but there's PLENTY of games that will, & on a handheld you're probably more likely to be playing more non-AAA games.

 

[kondamin]

Why is it that expensive?is the apu like 800usd?

 

[AcE]

on a handheld you're probably more likely to be playing more non-AAA games.

It will have a hard time running *anything* higher than 60 fps other than outdated stuff. 60 Hz for such a device is sufficient, worry about more important things such as battery + processing power first.