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AMD's Strix Halo is a beefy chip with superb CPU performance (according to our testing), but I thought it was a bit too power hungry and pricey to slap into a gaming handheld. Well, me just a few days ago was a fool, as GPD has announced just that. There's just one catch— It doesn't really function as you'd expect a gaming handheld to.
YouTube creator The Phawx (via The Verge) has pointed out that the GPD Win 5 is packed with that chip, plus a 7-inch 120 Hz VRR display. It can come with either the AI Max 395 or 385 chip, with both sporting the same 45-75 W TDP. This TDP has largely been the problem with trying to get Strix Halo in a handheld previously, as other handhelds can operate at a very low TDP.
Higher TDP means higher battery draw and higher thermals. This means having to accommodate both with more fans and bigger batteries.
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The Win 5 gets around this problem by not giving it an internal battery. Instead, there's a backpack mountable external 80 Wh polymer lithium-ion battery. This battery reportedly gets up to 2 hours of "continuous intensive operations" according to the specs sheet sent to The Phawx. The battery is reportedly 110.76 x 110.3 x 18.1 mm in diameter.
If you don't want to lug an extra battery around, you can instead use the 180 W power adapter and just plug it straight into a wall. This means, should you want to bring it to a cafe, you will need the device itself, plus either a separate external battery to plug into it or the power brick.