The GPD WIN 5 Is A Powerful Beast In One Handheld Package, And I Was Wrong About The Battery - Tokyo Game Show 2025

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I love handheld gaming, and the Steam Deck has brought back my love in a way I never would have expected before. It brought my PC library with me wherever I went, and it was awesome. However, as soon as success hit for Valve, other companies started to get in, offering more powerful alternatives with more unique designs. We have seen companies like ASUS, Lenovo, MSI, and Zotac start to get in on the fun, but pricing is starting to catch up. Valve has been able to offer the Deck for as low as $400, while the new handhelds coming out soon look to be close to $1000. Even if the handheld is worthwhile for the performance, it’s still going to be a crunch on the wallet. But there’s one handheld PC that has been on my mind lately that may just blow the competition out of the water, and that’s the GPD WIN 5.

This monster of a handheld sports the most powerful APU in a handheld currently, making the ROG Xbox Ally X, Legion Go 2, and other Z2 Extreme handhelds look underwhelming. However, even though performance is significantly better, it also comes with some caveats. The price point is staggering, asking $1650 as an early bird model and $1850 at MSRP for the entry-level handheld with an AI Max+ 395 APU. It does have a similar screen to the Ally X, a 7-inch VRR 1080p screen that doesn’t look too bad, but again, the price point makes me take a step back. It also has an external battery that is mounted on the back, which I found off-putting. However, GPD is here at the Tokyo Game Show, and they are showing off the GPD WIN 5, so I decided to take a look and see it for myself. And I’m glad I did, because it showed me how wrong I was.

One of my biggest gripes with the WIN 5 when it was announced was the battery. I thought it was weird to have an external battery that is mounted on and off. It just felt weird, considering every other handheld has the battery inside. I thought this was going to be an issue for me, and I was wrong. Holding the WIN 5 with the battery attached felt comfortable around my hands, and it didn’t get in the way much either. It’s slim enough not to increase the size of the handheld, which I found interesting. Taking off the battery was pretty amazing, too. It uses a cable that screws onto the WIN 5 and battery, and the weightlessness without the battery attached shocked me. It felt unreal, but it was real. Thanks to the cable’s length, I was able to move around comfortably, and the screws kept it locked in.

It is very heavy with the battery attached, and I can see myself hating that the more I use it. But with the battery so big and able to detach, there’s some choices I have to make it more usable for longer play sessions, and I love having choices.

I also got to see the power of the handheld for the first time, and it blew me away. I played both Street Fighter 6 and the benchmark for Monster Hunter Wilds, which were mind-blowing. Street Fighter 6 was a solid 60 FPS at high settings and 1080p resolution, meanwhile Wilds’ benchmark sat at an average 45 FPS at 1080p on Ultra quality with no frame generation. I was stunned by how well it performed, and I can see it playing all of the newest AAA releases with ease.

Ultimately, I need more time with it to really get a feel, but the areas I was on the fence about before are now gone. The battery is nowhere near the issue I once thought it was, and seeing the performance first-hand was quite stunning. It’s more comfortable to hold than I expected, and I actually preferred using it with the battery detached. The price point is still quite high compared to other handhelds, but the extra couple of hundred seems more worthwhile now with the extra power it has. And compared to other devices with the same chip, it’s quite close.

All in all, I would seriously consider checking out the GPD WIN 5 and weighing options if you are getting a new handheld. It should definitely be more future-proofed compared to the Z2 Extreme handhelds and knock them out of the park.

The GPD WIN 5 can be ordered over on Indiegogo.

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