About ten years ago, so-called small laptops became popular in Taiwan. These small laptops are usually small in size, weigh around 600 to 800g, have screens of 8 to 10 inches at most, and are quite weak in terms of performance. Instead, their battery life is quite attractive. Since these laptops usually cannot do any major tasks except typing on the Internet, they are also called netbooks in China. E-sports notebooks are in the spotlight these days, and many major notebook manufacturers have put a lot of effort into the e-sports field. But a company in Hong Kong whose main products are small laptops came up with a new idea. They introduced the look and feel of handheld computers into small laptops and created a new type of slash product. The new product ONEXPLAYER developed based on this concept has recently been launched on the famous crowdfunding platform and started accepting pre-orders. Attracted the attention of many media:
▲It is a small Windows laptop and a handheld computer with an 8-inch screen and weighs 820g (Image source）
ONEXPLAYER is an 8-inch small laptop. To be precise, it is actually a tablet computer with a Windows system. The keyboard part requires additional money to purchase (of course, it is an original factory-limited specification). The left and right ends of the tablet “grow” handles similar to Nintendo Switch, so that it can be used as a game console. Of course, with a dedicated keyboard, it can also be used as a small laptop. There is no description of whether the handle is detachable, but it may have become part of the product’s appearance.
At first glance, many people will think of the Nintendo Switch at first glance, which is also a major feature of many “handheld consoles” of the same type. Some e-sports phones such as the ROG Phone also adopt such an appearance design and modify the appearance according to the characteristics of their own products. The same is true for the No. 1 version. But the internal part is actually closer to a laptop than a handheld device. As mentioned before, it has a built-in Windows system, so as long as it is a game that can be executed under Windows, it can also run. But the issue of smoothness depends on the hardware specifications of the laptop:
▲The 8-inch screen is considered standard equipment on small laptops, and it is almost the same on handheld computers (Image source, the same below)
▲Except for the keyboard part, which requires extra money to buy, the screen is actually a standard touch panel.
As a small laptop, it is absolutely necessary to use a power-saving processor. The highest specification of this computer is the Core i7-1185G7 core, with a Boost clock of up to 4.8GHz. As a physical quad-core processor, it can meet the needs of many people in gaming and has good battery life. Due to the small notebook size and heat dissipation limitations, the GPU can only use Intel’s internal display, but the iRIS Xe display chip also has mid-to-upper-level gaming performance. The memory is LPDDR4X 4266 16GB to meet the needs of laptops. In this way, although the game performance is not as good as that of desktop computers or famous e-sports laptops, it can be said to be above average among laptops:
▲Theoretically, the hardware specifications are the same as those of ordinary computers, but the highest available options are Core i7-1185G7, which is good.
▲The memory clock is high and the capacity is large, making it easy to play games.
▲Using Intel internal graphics may arouse slander, but the power of Intel Xe internal graphics is no longer comparable to those of the old internal graphics.
The imitation Switch-style handles on both sides can actually be seen as an Xbox controller divided into two. The left side only has the D-Pad, mushroom head and left shoulder button. The right side has slightly more buttons. In addition to the mushroom head, right shoulder button, and ABXY four buttons arranged in the style of an Xbox controller, there are also keyboard and mouse mode switching keys and a Turbo mode switching key at the bottom. These buttons can be said to be the key to why ONEXPLAYER can call itself a handheld console. With these things, whether you want to play games on your computer or install an emulator to play, you can get a good experience:
▲These equipment are now available on some e-sports laptops and mobile phones. It is considered one of the necessary interior decorations.
Whether it is a laptop or a handheld computer, the battery is the most important part. The official power capacity is 15,300mAh (59 Wh), which is quite large for an ordinary tablet, but is a bit small for a small laptop. Weight is also a big issue. For a laptop, the weight of 820g is quite light, but it seems too heavy for handheld use. Just imagine, you will feel the weight of two Nintendo Switches or 7 PSPs when you hold it in your hand. Unless you are willing to practice your wrist strength, it may be more reasonable to play in TV mode instead of handheld games:
▲Battery and weight are the parts that people care about, and these are the only parts that are difficult to understand based on the specifications. Judging from the weight alone, it is actually too heavy for handheld gaming.
Of course, for ONEXPLAYER, no adapter is needed to connect to the TV. You only need to connect the HDMI to the hole on the body, and connect the other end to the TV to start playing.
Currently ONEXPLAYER is atPre-orders open on famous crowdfunding platform, the early bird price starts at HK$6,361 (approximately NT$22,731), and is expected to be officially shipped in July, but no exact date has been provided. Interested players can refer to the information on the crowdfunding platform to decide whether to purchase.
Source: KOCPC Chinese