GPD Win Max 2 Reviews: A Smoother Suns Township Company which is coupled with a game game computer

From Neuromance Assaults the world of science fiction in 1984, the IT nerds gave a boost for a “cyberdeck” – the ultimate on personal and laptop PCs to surf and hack the world. Usually they are DIY business. But the 10 -inch Win Max 2 GPD is the closest that I saw a standard cyberdeck which is worth buying.

It is far from the best laptop or the playing pocket. It is an ergonomic compromise in Five waysAnd the webcam is a trash can! It is also a portable computer dream. It is coupled with a game laptop, with joys and smuggling buttons in hidden compartments. He possibly triple as a office game PC, with a rare Oculink port which Allows you to connect a Costaud EGPU. It has more full -size ports than most small laptops cannot dream, twin SSD locations and a minimum of 32 GB of RAM.

Perhaps even more important, it has the most competent keyboard that I used on such a small computer, with a learning curve near zero. I write each word that you read at the moment, at my normal speed, on the Max 2 victory. I spent many full days working from this 10 -inch notebook, and he approached everything. I even edited A recent today I play with video on this small PC.

GPD has been building tiny laptops for about a decade, and it is close to something for which I could really pay – if I could not convince the business to change a few key things.

On paper, the GPD Win Max 2 seems to be in the upper level of pocket computers. You get your choice of “Strix Point” HX 370 from AMD or its Ryzen 7 8840U chip, up to 64 GB of memory, up to 4 to storage, a Gorilla Glass 5 screen with high-resolution for durability, and a larger IPS Corning screen, the Watt-Hour de Corning battery to supply everything.

But to use it on the sofa, in bed and on flights to and from Japan, the game was more annoying than what I expected.

For once, I’m not talking How terrible windows can be! With a large 10.1 inch touch screen and a full keyboard, it is the rare pocket computer where the Microsoft operating system is easy to manage, easy to press the touch screen buttons and drag the windows. (He always finds it difficult to sleep.)

I am not talking about the weight of 2.2 pounds either – while my arms TO DO Be tired hold it like a Nintendo switch, I can usually open the hinge of the laptop, support it on my chest or place it on my knees for a little.

Even game pad commands are decent, as awkward as possible! You get two analog sticks which feel almost identical to the Nintendo switch, except the room effects resistant to the drift below. The translucent D-PAD in PSP style is reactive, as is the tiny Abxy facial pimples. You get clicky micro-switches under each bumper. Only triggers feel a little weak.

No, the main problem is that for socket These pavement controls, you must enter the rigid aluminum chassis and the laptop resin, which has no real damping to isolate my hands from the growing computer guts. I can feel each fan vibration traveling through my fingers, in my wrists. It is indescribably bizarre and bad! I asked GPD, but the company’s suggested fans adjustments did not fix it. A replacement unit had the same problem.

The second point of pain is the screen. 2560×1600 is far Too many pixels for AMD portable tokens to grow in still moderately intensive games – and because GPD has chosen a 60 Hz fixed screen, nothing seems as fluid as on VRR labor computers at 90 Hz and 120 Hz like the Oled steam bridge,, Asus Rog Ally XOr Ayaneo 3. It is a good display for productivity or watching movies, in particular given the improvements in DTS sound: x digital of Win Max 2, but I will no longer buy a computer hand with a fixed refresh screen at 60 Hz.

And, at least with the model of $ 1,100 AMD 8840U and 32 GB that I tested, it is not always faster in games than $ 800 Asus Rog Ally X. Although it seems to have a performance advantage at 15 W, the battery life is always Meh, because it has a smaller battery inside.

With the Ally X, I obtained more than eight hours of magic poker game ScalesMy best case scenario test for these pocket computers because it is not intensive; The Max 2 victory only managed five hours and 22 minutes in charge. I also saw only two hours of Armored core 6Tied with the steam bridge, but the ally X can obtain almost three hours. In addition, you can empty Win Max 2 battery in an hour and a half with more intense games if you try.

Contrary to Other pocket computers, however, you can play flat on a tray table, as I did on my flights. Joysticks and buttons are always accessible, plus an entire keyboard. During the last month, I almost beaten Lorelei and laser eyes Playing exclusively on the Max 2 victory, in transition between laptop and portable, wireless and spun modes.

And it is before considering that You can really connect an RTX 5090 external graphics card quay in this thing. Just know that OCULINK products, unlike USB-C, are not made to be exchanged hot. They must be fully powered before shooting the cable, or you risk damage.

It is therefore the Win Max 2 as a game machine. As a portable computer, it is largely the same story: intriguing only until you came across ugly gaps.

Do not even think of buying a Max 2 victory for your zoom and team calls, because it has one of the worst webcams that I had the dissatisfaction to use – and I say that after having suffered years with the Nosehair webcam on a Dell XPS 15. (We have written a whole story When Dell has corrected this error.) The victory of Hinge-Cam of Win Max 2 is tilted so low that the strike appears to your colleagues as giant spider fingers invading the conference call.

In addition, the camera perspective is simply bad. “You are a charming person, but it is actively unpleasant to see you through this webcam,” said a colleague; Another called the “shit” microphone.

If you plan to solve this problem with an external webcam, you can also add a travel mouse to repair the other big gap. The touchpad measures only 2.7 inches (70 mm) wide and 1.6 inches (40 mm) deep, And Pleasantly placed above the keyboard rather than below, making me stretch each time. He clicks physically, but it’s terrible in Clic-et-Dragl. I never met a laptop that needed A Nub Thinkpad more.

The good news: the Max 2 a victory a lot Ports for almost all the devices you want to add.

Should GPD had to sacrifice some of these ports to make the Stout winning max 2 thin? I do not think, although you know that it will not fit well in many laptop sleeves. But GPD could abandon modular SSD and modern bays for additional battery capacity. I only do 5 to 6 hours of work on a load, not enough for a full day of work, but a larger battery is possible with some design adjustments.

So: the battery, the webcam, the best submission, the damping of vibrations and a variable refresh rate screen. Then GPD could have a small computer that I can recommend with all my heart.

Photography and videography by Sean Hollister / The Verge