GPD Win 5 Handheld Requires External Power—No Built-in Battery in AMD Strix Halo

Alright, so here’s the thing. GPD just dropped a little teaser about their new handheld, the Win 5. I mean, it’s the kind of thing that makes you pause and think, “Wow, are they for real?” They’ve jammed in the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, which, by the name alone, sounds like it could power a spaceship. Well, maybe.

Anyway, PhawxTV on YouTube – and if you don’t follow them, you’re missing out on some epic tech breakdowns – has given us a closer look. And yeah, there’s a massive 80Wh battery that you can take out and replace. I mean, who does that anymore? Seriously, it’s like they’ve gone back in time when you could actually fix stuff yourself. Nice throwback, GPD.

So this battery – it’s not glued in like some nightmare repair job. Nope, you can literally unplug it and pop in a new one. I guess it’s handy if you, like, game for five hours straight and need a quick recharge mid-battle. Also, there’s this idea it might even sit on your desk plugged in, kind of reducing how much you have to lift while smashing buttons.

And let’s talk the nitty-gritty specs for a sec. Outside of the fancy Ryzen chip, there’s a toned-down version too, the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385, because choices, right? So if you’re not about that max power life, you’ve got an option. RAM apparently goes up to 128GB – which, seriously, when did handhelds get more memory than some people’s laptops? It only comes with one NVMe slot, offering from 1TB to 4TB. More games than I’d ever play, honestly.

One weird thing though, they’ve upgraded the screen to 7 inches. Yes! But it still has Gorilla Glass 6. I mean, why not something new? But hey, I guess it’s better than the last model’s 6-inch display.

The whole reveal is set for August 1 at ChinaJoy 2025 – mark your calendars, or don’t, because who knows what’s happening next week, let alone two years from now. Fingers crossed it’s affordable too, because my wallet isn’t ready for another console splurge.

So there you go, just a regular tech drop with all the geeky stuff to get hyped over. Or not. Either way, it’s interesting where handheld gaming is heading, don’t you think?