The GPD WIN 5 Is A True Next-Gen Device That Starts To Lose Its Identity As A Handheld

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Ever since I can remember, I have always been a fan of handhelds. The Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, 3DS, PSP, PS Vita, and the Nintendo Switch made me feel like taking video games on the go was the way to go, but it wasn't until the Steam Deck that I saw the potential for AAA games on the go. It got me prioritizing portable gaming for AAA over my desktop or console setup. It's been awesome seeing other handhelds push the boundaries even further, with ASUS's ROG Ally, Lenovo's Legion Go, and AYANEO's AYANEO 3. Now, GPD is going even further with their GPD Win 5, but now we are getting to a point where it's starting to lose its identity as a handheld.

Ahead of their official launch, which is going to be at Chinajoy next month, YouTuber The Phawx obtained the full specs of the upcoming device, and it's a beast. It uses the new AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, which has an insane amount of power. It's based on the Zen 5 architecture, has 16 cores, and uses the Radeon 8060S graphics with 40 GPU cores on the RDNA 3.5 architecture. This, coupled with a base 32GB RAM and 1TB storage space, makes this the most powerful handheld to release that blows every other one out of the water. It will also have a 7-inch 120Hz display with AMD FreeSYNC Premium support, which means we will have VRR.

However, there are two main problems I see that stop me from being fully on-board. First, price. This sounds like an extremely powerful, unmatched handheld, but that means it's going to be expensive. The current GPD WIN 4 offering with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APU, 32GB RAM, and 2TB storage is currently $1,162 on Indiegogo. While prices have changed, the fact that the GPD WIN 5 is using an even more powerful APU while the HX 370 is still fairly new means we could be seeing an even higher price point. I would love to be surprised here, but I can't see it being cheaper than the Win 4.

But my main problem is the battery. There is no internal battery for the GPD WIN 5, moving towards an external battery that can be mounted on the back. On one hand, this can be seen as a good thing. Detaching the battery could make the actual device lighter to hold, and could be perfect for docked setups. It can also be easily replaced if something is wrong, and we may even be able to substitute it with other types of batteries. There are definitely some positives here, and I can see how I would use it. It also makes the device about 4mm thinner compared to the WIN 4, but it is wider and taller due to the larger screen.

But because the battery is no longer integrated into the device, it loses part of what makes it a handheld. Handhelds have been known to be all-in-one, allowing us to just take the device and that's all. It has everything included, and while there are extras like a dock and even external power bank, it is all optional. With the GPD WIN 5, we will no longer be able to only take the handheld and will need to also carry this battery along with it.

In a new post on Twitter/X, The Phawx, whose real name is Cary Golomb, was able to share how the battery is secured onto the GPD WIN 5. From how it looks, the battery may be thinner than I expected, but it also appears to block the vents on the back. There appear to be some vents at the bottom, which may supplement the battery blockage, but that's still pretty major. Cary also confirmed that there's no sliding physical keyboard here, which was one of the features I liked about the GPD WIN 4.

To me, the battery situation makes the GPD WIN 5 lose some of its identity as a handheld and feel more like a laptop or desktop, though even Laptops have their batteries inside of them. So, because of the external battery, it feels like we have to take a backpack or a carrying case to bring it around, which I would usually do already. However, I have also liked just bringing my Deck with me instead of worrying about anything else.

I am going to try staying optimistic and hope this battery isn't as big as I am thinking. I look forward to seeing the announcement and would love to be proven wrong.

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