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I've been playing with the 'world's first' glasses-free 3D handheld PC and my early impressions are that the $1,500 Abxylute 3D One is absolutely huge, annoyingly clunky and a little bit silly

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This 11-inch 'handheld' PC is bigger than my laptop...

Abxylute 3D One
(Image credit: Future)

Weary-eyed, desiccated, seen-it-all cynicism is something of an occupational hazard for a hackneyed hardware reviewer such as I. But just occasionally something lands on your desk that's genuinely surprising. And the Abxylute 3D One, a new glasses-free 3D handheld gaming PC, is just such a device. But maybe for all the wrong reasons.

We'll have a full review in due course. However, the literal out-of-the-box experience with this Kickstarter-funded device is worth a few immediate impressions. This handheld is extraordinary by several measures. First up, it's absolutely massive. The screen is 11 inches. But it comes with a centimetre-plus of bezel all round, plus a pair of huge clip-on controllers.

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Abxylute 3D One What to read next

Then there's the performance. While I won't draw final conclusions here, my first stab at enabling the 3D effect in Baldur's Gate III absolutely hammered performance to truly unplayable slideshow levels. That might be fixable with settings tweaks. But my initial impression is that the glasses-free 3D functionality will only be usable in games that are very undemanding.

The broader experience is also hopelessy clunky. You must run any game through a special launcher to ensure full 3D support. But it's not entirely transparent whether the game is running properly, or in the case of Baldur's Gate, there's something wrong and the game was running in the alternative "2D-to-3D universal conversion" mode that's available for unsupported apps.

Likewise, games must be run at the screen's full 2,560 by 1,600 native res for optimal support, which is hardly ideal for an integrated GPU, and the device comes with a firm warning not to update the graphics driver for fear of causing instability issues. All told, it's a million miles from a usable experience, let alone seamless.

Actually, maybe it could work quite well with, I dunno, emulated Nintendo 3DS games? But if that's really all this thing is good for, get yourself a 3DS and save a whole hill of cash is the tempting conclusion.

Abxylute 3D One

Legacy console emulation may be what this megabucks handheld turns out to be best at... (Image credit: Future)

All of which isn't to say this thing is unremittingly awful. The screen is pretty nice (2,560 by 1,600 resolution, 480 nits, 120 Hz), first impressions are of decent build quality, the controllers are OK, the connectivity is decent and so on. But the size and the utility of that glasses-free 3D tech are both major potential flaws on early viewing.

Oh and the price. I forgot to mention the price. Abxylute says the retail price for the 3D One is a scarcely credible $1,799. OK, the early bird price on Kickstarter will be $1,499 and if you sign up for a "VIP reservation", you'll pay $1,449. But, still, this is intergalactic money for a gaming handheld.

Right now on our best gaming laptop deals page, you can snag an MSI Vector 16 HX AI with Nvidia's RTX 5070 Ti mobile GPU for $1,499. And let's be absolutely clear. An RTX 5070 Ti mobile will absolutely obliterate this handheld for raw rendering performance.

Anywho, let's just say the Abxylute 3D One has plenty to prove. Watch this space.

Legion Go S SteamOS edition
Best handheld PC 2025

1. Best overall:
Lenovo Legion Go S SteamOS

2. Best budget:
Steam Deck

3. Best Windows:
Asus ROG Xbox Ally X

4. Best big screen:
Lenovo Legion Go

5. Best compact:
Ayaneo Flip DS


👉Check out our full handheld gaming PC guide👈

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