2024 GPD Win Max 2 handheld gaming PC with AMD Ryzen 7 8840U goes up for preorder soon ^↺

GPD announced the 2024 Win Max 2 earlier this year, and the newer version of the handheld gaming PC is going up for preorder on April 7 in China. This refresh of the device will pack the latest AMD Ryzen 7 8840U, which brings a significant performance upgrade from the first variant with Ryzen 7 6800U.

Of course, this isn’t the first time GPD Win Max 2 is getting a refresh. The company launched the gaming handheld with Ryzen 7 7840U last year, which offered a noticeable performance boost. For the 2024 refresh, according to a test carried out by The Phawx, the Ryzen 7 8840U delivers about a 10% performance bump over the 2023 variant at 10W TDP and around 5% at 25W TDP.

However, The Phawx noted that GPD sacrificed efficiency for the performance boost. To fill you in, the 2024 Win Max 2 took around a 7% hit in battery life. Besides, the newer AMD Ryzen 7 8840U brings a more capable XDNA NPU than the 7840U.

The Phawx pointed out another benefit of the Hawk Point APU. It’s the ability to enable Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling, which should offer higher frames on the new GPD Win Max 2.

That said, while GPD will put the handheld gaming PC for preorder in China, the company said it will launch a crowdfunding campaign later this month. That’s when the international buyers will be able to preorder one. Pricing-wise, in China, the Win Max 2 with Ryzen 7 8840U and 32 GB of RAM will have a pre-sale price of CNY 6,399 (around $884).

There’s also a configuration with 64 GB of RAM, with a preorder price of CNY 7,399 (around $1,023). GPD hasn’t offered any details on global pricing yet. However, there are some solid alternatives already available in the market. That includes the Lenovo Legion Go (available on Best Buy US) and Asus ROG Ally (available on Best Buy US).