Chinese mini-PC maker One Netbook has cranked out a bunch of tiny computers over the past year and a half — but most have been variations on a theme. Take a convertible laptop with a touchscreen display and a 360-degree hinge and shrink it down to somewhere between 7 and 8.4 inches.
Next year the company plans to launch something different. The One Netbook One-GX is expected to be a 7 inch gaming computer with an Intel Tiger Lake processor and detachable game controllers.
One Netbook hasn’t revealed any photos of the upcoming handheld computer yet, but a picture is starting to emerge thanks to recent articles about the device.
The detachable controllers make the One-GX sound a bit like a Windows-powered Nintendo Switch. But there’s an important difference: the One-GX is expected to be a full-fledged mini-laptop computer with a QWERTY keyboard, which means you can detach the controllers and use it as a mobile PC.
Or you can use those controllers wirelessly for single-player or multi-player games (much as you can with the Switch).
One interesting design choice — ITMedia reports that the One-GX will have a clamshell laptop-style design, which means you can’t flip the screen around to use it as a tablet. That means when you attach the controllers, it won’t look like a Nintento Switch so much as… a tiny laptop with game controllers on the sides.
The closest competitor is probably the GPD Win line of handheld Windows gaming computers — but those devices have built-in controllers above the keyboard, and both the original GPD Win and the Win 2 have smaller screens, and smaller keyboards which makes touch-typing nearly impossible.
In an interview with Japanese site PC Watch, One Netbook representatives say the One-GX is set to ship in the summer of 2020 and that the company opted for Intel’s upcoming Tiger Lake chips for a few reasons.
First, Tiger Lake-Y chips offer better performance than Ice Lake-Y processors at lower power levels (they don’t need to run at 25 watts to offer the kind of gaming performance One Netbook was looking for. And second, Intel isn’t making Ice Lake-Y chips widely available at the moment anyway.
A few other details we know at this point: the One-GX will have a 10,000 mAh battery, the current prototype weighs about 700 grams (1.5 pounds), but the goal is to get that down to 600 grams (1.3 pounds), and the controllers will connect to the computer via a “unique 2.4 Ghz band” communication protocol rather than Bluetooth.
No photos and gpd win max is going to have their indiegogo soon. Can’t wait for onegx1 without any photos to get hype for the wait.
That 7″ screen isn’t making this device sound very portable. We’ll see, I guess.
Really wonder how it looks. From the description of what’s known so far, is it just a 7” One Mix notebook with attachable controllers?
Hoping to see some prototype photos. I hear One Netbook did some crowd sourced testing with 30 or so testers. Maybe one of them will leak photos for some Internet points.
Also, for a handheld, it sounds too big. The GPD Win Max is huge and looks awkward and painful to use. At least this sounds like it’ll be smaller than the Max though.
Apparently the controllers will just be connected wirelessly, so there’s almost no reason to release this as a separate product when someone could get identical results from sticking on 3D-printed joycon rails onto any GPD Pocket or One Mix Yoga, more so if the Pocket 3 and Yoga 4 also use Tiger Lake. Especially since it doesn’t seem like this thing will have a cooling solution better than what they already have.
The big issue with 3D printed joycon rails on the OM2/3 or the Pocket is the ports along either side. You’d need to make sure they’re secure while gaming but could be removed entirely when you’re not. I suspect that’s part of the reason this won’t be a convertible, the ports will be relocated to the back so the rails don’t block access to them, and having things plugged in may interfere with the screen or hinges.
Hearing that this thing won’t be a convertible like the other OM mini laptops is pretty disappointing but understandable. Hopefully it has Thunderbolt. The controller protocol seems like a weird and unnecessary choice as well. Either way, it’ll be interesting to watch how this shapes up vs the Win Max.
Why bother with this “unique” protocol? Bluetooth is good enough for even gaming consoles.
2 thunderbolt 3 ports, 2 usb ports, hdmi out with dedicated power input please…
It’d be nice if it has built-in LTE (US Verizon for me). By then, maybe MS’ Project xCloud would be supported on Windows PCs and I could stream games on the go.
Built-in LTE would be great!
A 7″ screen seems big for a handheld if you factor in the additional controls, screen bezels and keyboard that’ll make it even larger.
Although, if it had built-in LTE, it’d be a trade-off I’d be willing to take.
For a clamshell/notebook style device, a 7″ screen does seem too big for a handheld if you plan on gaming for prolonged periods of time. I guess we’ll see when photos of the One-GX comes out. A Win 2 (or 3) with built-in LTE would be ideal for me.
I saw the photos of the GPD Win Max and that definitely is way too big to be comfortable beyond short periods of gaming. I hope the One-GX isn’t as seemingly awkward as the Win Max but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
for the mini laptops they already released, they can be found with LTE, from a guy who customize them, if you are in China.
That’s nice. Unfortunately, I’m in the US. I wonder if the modem used in these customized One Mix notebooks support US carriers. I know the MAG1 that officially comes with LTE only supports Chinese carriers.
I’d definitely buy an LTE version and use this as regular UMPC. If handheld gaming doesn’t turn out awkward for this seemingly large gaming device, then I’d definitely use it for game streaming. Been eyeing Project xCloud.