The GPD Win Max is a

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

-based

palmtop computer A handheld personal computer (PC) is a miniature computer typically built around a clamshell form factor and is significantly smaller than any standard laptop computer, but based on the same principles. It is sometimes referred to as a ''palmto ...

manufactured by Gamepad Digital (GPD). It is the successor to the

GPD Win 2 The GPD Win 2 is a Windows-based palmtop computer that is the successor to the GPD Win. It is manufactured by Chinese company GamePad Digital, and crowdfunded just as its predecessor was. Announced in first-quarter 2017, the crowdfunding camp ...

, and was

crowdfunded Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

, like its predecessor. Announced in the first quarter of 2020, the crowdfunding campaign was launched on Indiegogo on May 18, 2020, priced at $779. The campaign concluded on July 1, 2020 with more than 3,500 backers having contributed more than $2.8 million dollars in total. The GPD Win Max is rated to run AAA video game titles and emulate consoles from the sixth generation and earlier, with some support for consoles up to the eighth generation.

History

Following the

in 2018, and the larger GPD Pocket 2 in 2019, GPD announced their largest device yet as the GPD Win Max. This device is the size of a

Netbook Netbook was a commonly used term that identified a product class of small and inexpensive laptops which were sold from 2007 to around 2013. These machines were designed primarily as cost-effective tools for consumers to access the Inte ...

, and retains GPD's signature embedded controller. The Win Max was leaked and received media coverage as early as April 2019, with conclusive coverage coming in April, 2020. After the conclusion of the Indiegogo campaign on July 1, 2020 the price of the Win max rose from $779 to $800 while remaining on sale via Indemand until July 15.

Specification

Design

With the Win Max being GPD's largest gaming device as of release, there was room for additions such a scissor switch keyboard which would support

touch typing Touch typing (also called blind typing, or touch keyboarding) is a style of typing. Although the phrase refers to typing without using the sense of sight to find the keys—specifically, a touch typist will know their location on the keyboard thr ...

, similar to what is available on their

GPD Pocket GPD may refer to: Police departments * Gaithersburg Police Department, Maryland, United States * Gatlinburg Police Department, Tennessee, United States * Gladstone Police Department, Oregon, United States * Greenbelt Police Department (Maryland), ...

Range, as well as a

touchpad A touchpad or trackpad is a pointing device featuring a tactile sensor, a specialized surface that can translate the motion and position of a user's fingers to a relative position on the operating system that is made output to the screen. Touch ...

, and an 8" screen. This unit also introduces GPD's first instance of clickable

analog stick An analog stick (or analogue stick in British English), sometimes called a control stick or thumbstick, is an input device for a controller (often a game controller) that is used for two-dimensional input. An analog stick is a variation of a joy ...

s, one of which has been moved inside the ABXY buttons, as well as buttons with a very similar style to the

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international terri ...

(with a layout and markings similar to the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by th ...

). The Win Max speakers have been moved underneath the unit towards the user. Access to the

M.2 M.2, pronounced ''m dot two'' and formerly known as the Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF), is a specification for internally mounted computer expansion cards and associated connectors. M.2 replaces the mSATA standard, which uses the PCI Exp ...

drive has been reduced, as the unit must be disassembled to change this drive. An

ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in ...

port has been added to the right side of the device, which would prevent a user from effectively holding the console while this port is in use. This increase in size has also allowed an increase in cooling potential of the Max with dual fans and

Heat pipe A heat pipe is a heat-transfer device that employs phase transition to transfer heat between two solid interfaces. At the hot interface of a heat pipe, a volatile liquid in contact with a thermally conductive solid surface turns into a vapor ...

s. Otherwise, the Win Max maintains a similar design to previous units with a milled

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ...

aluminum alloy chassis and an

ABS plastic Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) (chemical formula (C8H8)''x''·(C4H6)''y''·(C3H3N)''z'' is a common thermoplastic polymer. Its glass transition temperature is approximately . ABS is amorphous and therefore has no true melting point. AB ...

shell. With the far side of the device providing access to two

USB-A Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply ( interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

ports, four shoulder buttons, a USB-C port as well as a

Thunderbolt 3 Thunderbolt is the brand name of a hardware interface for the connection of external peripherals to a computer. It has been developed by Intel, in collaboration with Apple. It was initially marketed under the name Light Peak, and first sold as ...

port, and a small reset button. The back panel also includes another change: the win series' first full-size

HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controll ...

port.

Performance

Release and Reception

Win Max units started shipping to Indiegogo backers on August 17, 2020. Some users have reported failure of the included USB-C power supply.

References