Anyone else craving a PC handheld?

Android works just fine for handheld gaming. Many pc games make it to Android nowadays. And my phone is 2 times more powerful than switch.

Nah it would be awful

only gpu stronger than switch is from apple

Something like that would still count as a PC?

Mobile (Androids),Tablets are PC Handhelds in a way :P

If the new battery swappable Lenovo's laptops (T480/T580) come out with the Nvidia MX150 and Intel 8250u you will be able to game 5 hours of medium settings 1080p on recent titles and 4k on older ones. The only drawback will be that those laptos cost 2000$.

No!

I'll stick to handheld gaming devices.

I don't see why not but it would just be a console in the end.

I was... but the Switch took care of that crave. Besides anyone who thinks some magical PC handheld can run all your made for PC games at better frame rates than an optimized port is fooling themselves.

Switch is getting all the indie games I would play on my Steamboy anyways... in addition to its own stellar lineups.

At that price you are better off buying an ultra light gaming laptop with gtx1060for 2500usd

i would love it. i love the idea of the smachZ (i hope they actually deliver). i was a backer but got cold feet before the closing date. i dont think its a flat out scam but i do think its being managed by people who have very little experience in building and getting such a product to market. there were just too many inconsistenchies with cooling and the APU and building and maintaining their own linux distro is probably a bridge too far. but its a cracking idea.

the PC itself has tons and tons of games that would be great on such a device. its just a question of someone getting it done.

i think its also important to keep expectations in check.

any portable PC gaming device is also going to be limited in what it can do. even the most optimistic SOC AMD could deliver for such a device would be nowhere near the bleeding edge. the original spec for the smachZ would make it able to play 360 level games well at 720P roughly...thats about it. if a newer 16nm based soc could deliver doom at med settings and 720P at 60FPS then i would call that a win to be honest. but that still means a massive amount of games available for such a device.

so yeah i would absolutely love to see such a device. the existing products like the GPD win dont really do it for me but something like the smachZ would be great.

Just add a VR headset fitted to a crash helmet (for when you walk into a lamp post) and you're good to go

*raises hand

No...lol. If I play any games on the go it's on my phone which is only one game; Clash Royale. I tend to get bored quickly with phone games but Clash has been pretty addicting to play.

You need more answer options. I don't even have a Switch yet and I don't plan to use it as a handheld.

@adsparky: if it allows people to put whatever software they want on it, use stuff like GOG, steam, origin etc and it plays the PC version of games then yeah it would be a PC.

Microsoft Surface?

It's abit trickier with PC gaming on the go, all you are really getting is console games on the go, on a PC. Most PC genres would be akward at best.

@osan0: I was thinking about a full blown Windows 10 PC, so yeah, all those clients should work fine.

@EducatingU_PCMR: oh yeah it would have to essentially be a full blown windows or linux based x86 device. as i understand it the GDP win and smachZ are that. both run x86 applications. both allow you to put whatever OS on it. both will run any software designed to run on a PC because they are PCs basically. both will work with any hardware designed to work with a PC (ports willing).

i mean if its something made by MS, runs a very locked down version of windows and only allows you access the windows store to run games made specifically for it then its not a PC. its basically an xbox gaming handheld.

but i dont think we are talking about that. we are talking about a PC in handheld form.

it would flop hard.

the games that sell on PC are RTS MMO MMORPG arena games... those games dont work well on controllers on the go. you cant take a keyboard and mouse on the go.

No, not if it's gonna cost as much as a high end TV.

Absolutely freakin not.

I already have ScummVM and DOSBox on Android. I don't need anything else. Otherwise, my laptop and netbook are enough for times I'm on the road.

Nope. I just ordered this bad boy...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B075KX1MJS/ref=sxts_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512681416&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65

@lifelessablaze: High end TVs are $1500 dollars. This machine could perfectly be $500, which is high but don't forget the majority of people buying it will have a gaming library with more than 100 games already purchased. Basically it's the same story as console vs PC, console hw is cheap but you burn all the money on those $60 games, I have more than 400 games already available.

Already available according to @techhog89

Have a gpd XD, love it.

Will likely wait for the Win2 rather than getting the current Win.

Nah, I’ll go with the Switch myself.

Doesn't the Nvidia Shield fit this description?

Lol at the thread poll. So based. Anyhow sure why not. Don't know that many pc games I'd play on the go though.

Being able to take your games with you is amazeballs. I'd welcome a SteamBoy, but I doubt I'd get it. Switch takes care of that bit just fine. Awesome Nintendo games when I'm on the go, awesome PC games when I'm home. I don't have time for much more than that.

Hell yeah.

Civ VI on the go.

You want to get a Surface Pro tablet? There you go.

PC handheld ?? how would nvidia make a 1080ti into a size of a microchip?? and how would I swap out graphics card, do i use pair of tweezers??. Yah I think we should just leave it to the Nintendo.

You have only scratched the..... Surface.

The Mighty X1X / Surface Pro combo is where you want to be. Buy one, play anywhere. Thank you MS, for the gamer... Jazzzz. :P

Nvidia shield?

Wich failed tremendously

I mean, they already exist.

@nonaps:I;m interested in a GDP but its a lil too low end for me, if they ever make a new one with something more high end like with an AMD APU I'd hop on it in a heart beat. It also reminds me of the Razer Switchblade handheld that never got made, if they could combine those keys with the GDPs controller it would be really cool.

Is the SMACH Z really a scam?? If so that sucks.

Razer should make another one of those gaming tablets, with the current laptop hardware they should be able to produce one that cost under $800 and be able to run modern games at medium/high settings at 720/1080p or under $500 if they use something like an AMD A10 APU which can run games like BF4 on a mix of medium and high at 768p.

Cpu possibly, gpu in practice? doubt it and their drivers are horrible

I'm sure you're aware, but just in case, Nintendo Switch is powered by a stock Nvidia Tegra X1. It's a current-gen Shield tablet with Nintendo controllers. Literally a turn-key hardware and dev solution from Nvidia.

Windows tablets or GPD Win are the only current option. Razer Edge Pro tab was available at one point, too.

@undefined: No, a little handheld capable of playing pc games might be susceptible to overheating, and how would it keep up with games over time?

I'm sure you're aware of the term "PC" , but just in case, PC allows the user to control what hardware they have installed.

Nah, don't really care for gaming on the go. Only reason I bought a Switch was for the exclusives.

Even if I did want a PC on the go, I'd just get a laptop. Don't really care about having a handheld.

nah. My kindle is for my on the go entertainment.

@daredevils2k:

Laptops and Windows 10 tablets are not PCs because you cannot swap the GPU. Interesting.

How the **** would that work? The whole point of a PC is to get optimal graphical fidelity in games.

The closest thing with some actual power is the Google Pixel C with the same (slightly faster) Nvidia X1 chip as the Switch. You can install windows on it and then steam. Only issue is storage space since it has no SD card slot but suport external storage devices, which you can store games on a USB

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/tablets/google-pixel-c-1310691/review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d00I_3THLBQ <------- SmachZ exposed. This still relevant? Anyways, the name sucked.

@Epak_: possibly. as i understud it at the time they had a dev board for the SOC they planned to use in the smachZ. they couldnt put the dev board into the prototype they made so they used parts from a cheap tablet for the handheld device then streamed games to it from the dev board (perhaps in a similar fashion to how the wiiu streams video/audio to the gamepad). my memory is a bit fuzzy on the details but i think there was a lot of confusion. many backers thought the thing was nearly done and it was just a case of raising the money to mass produce it. the reality was that they had a proof of concept. any actual implementation of the final product was still on the to do list. but (as your link shows) they did a very poor job of hiding the fact that it was a proof of concept and i dont think they were trying to.

the fact that they had a release schedule of around 6 months from the kickstarter futher backed this idea. to be honest the smachZ team themselves SUCK at communications. if they are trying to scam people then they arent doing a very good job of persuading people its not a scam. surely a scammer would focus on that.

i pulled out of backing it in the end because, although i love the idea, i dont think the people working on it will be able to pull it off. i think they are just biting off way more than they can chew. i hope im proven wrong and if it does hit the market i will be right there to pick one up. but i dont think they are trying to rob people. i mean if they are then they are doing a really poor job of doing it.

also agreed: the name is awful.