Intel just launched its Core Ultra CPUs, and we’re already hearing talk of handheld gaming PCs powered by the latest chips. OneXPlayer was teasing his X1 handheld, which is powered by one of Intel’s new Meteor Lake CPUs.
We saw this coming. Meteor Lake is a new generation from Intel, and in our hands-on testing of the Core Ultra CPUs, we found that the CPU’s biggest impact is in the graphics department.I was able to play cyberpunk 2077 and fortnite Integrated Arc graphics deliver performance of 40 frames per second (fps) to 50 fps. That’s amazing.
More importantly, the integrated Arc GPU managed to outperform the AMD Ryzen 7 7840U in 3DMark Time Spy and Fire Strike. The Ryzen 7 7840U is the chip that powers six of his handhelds at the moment, including the Lenovo Legion Go, Asus ROG Ally, and Ayaneo 2S. If Core Ultra can deliver high performance for handhelds, it could open the door for Intel to make waves in the handheld gaming market.
The chip we tested was Intel’s Core Ultra 7 155H, but importantly, we don’t know which chip the OneXPlayer X1 uses. In this generation, Intel offers U-series chips that run from 9 watts to 15W and H-series chips that run from 28W to 45W. If the X1 is equipped with a U-series chip, we would expect performance to be significantly lower.
There’s more to the X1 than just the chip. According to OneXPlayer, this is a three-in-one design, but it is unclear what these three modes are. A short teaser video shows a tablet playing the game, and similar to the Nintendo Switch, it appears to have connection points for a controller. OneXPlayer has not confirmed this is the design, but the company’s 2 pro handheld comes with a removable controller, so that design may apply here.
Additionally, the company confirmed through its Discord server that the handheld will feature an OcuLink interface for connecting an external GPU, as well as fingerprint recognition and Windows facial recognition. According to OneXPlayer, the device features a 10.95-inch 2.5K screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and Harman AudioEFX-certified stereo speakers.
We’re still waiting on many details, but OneXPlayer is moving forward with the device. The company is currently recruiting beta testers for the device (no details on the program yet), and specs and features will be revealed in January 2024.
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