Gaming is perhaps the one big constant that drives hardware upgrades year over year. The whole idea behind the gaming is that the games get more technically dependent, the hardware needs to keep up, and the gamers… keep buying.
Case in point – enter the GPD Win 4. The quintessential handheld gaming computer.
The GPD Win 4 is a handheld Windows PC with a 6-inch 1080P 368PPIsliding, touch display display, and a standard chicklet QWERTY, white backlit keyboard. It has your standard gaming controls as well as a 1/4″ square touch sensor mouse and a fingerprint reader that supports Windows Hello. It’s powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U (32GB or 64GB) or 7640U (16GB) processor and comes configured with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of GDDR5 RAM, and a PCIe 4.0 M.2 512GB, 2TB or 4TB SSD.
The device also has – available for separate purchase – a smart docking station and charger that will turn the device into a console-based gaming device, as well as a 4G LTE module that will support LTE speeds here in the States, allowing you to game on the go when WiFi6 isn’t available.
The biggest difference between the GPD Win 4 and the previous version – surprisingly called the GPD Win 3, is the processor architecture (Intel in the Win 3 vs. AMD in the Win 4) and the keyboard type. The Win 3 has a touch-based keyboard, and the Win 4 has actual, physical keys.
Like the Steam Deck, the GPD Win 4 is a handheld gaming device. Unlike the Steam Deck, not only will the Win 4 run SteamOS, but it will also run Windows 10 AND Windows 11. In fact, it’s a really decent computer on its own, at least as long as it’s connected to an external display. There really hasn’t been much that it couldn’t handle, at least from what I’ve thrown at it, including some Creative Cloud apps.
If you’re looking for something that’s portable, something that can handle most gaming out of the box, then you need to give the GPD Win 4 some SERIOUS consideration.