The GPD MicroPC is a tiny computer with a 6 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel display, a QWERTY keyboard for thumb typing and a touchpad for navigation. Designed to be held in your hands, the system is aimed at IT professionals and ultra mobile PC enthusiasts looking for a versatile device with a lot of full-sized ports (including Ethernet, HDMI, and RS-232).
First launched a few years ago, the microPC isn’t exactly a speed demon, but its Intel Celeron quad-core Gemini Lake processor offers decent performance for basic tasks.
Now GPD has announced a few upgrades – the MicroPC now ships with a slightly faster processor and more storage. It’s available for purchase from the company’s AliExpress store for $445.
New models ship with an Intel Celeron N4120 Gemini lake Refresh processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.
That’s an upgrade from the Celeron N4100 chip and 128GB of storage that had previously been available. GPD says to expect about 10-percent faster performance. And of course, you can now store twice as much data on the little computer.
This isn’t the first time the company has given the MicroPC a spec bump. It was originally designed to ship with 4GB of RAM, but GPD considered boosting that to 6GB before deciding to include 8GB of memory on models that began shipping to customers in mid-2019.
GPD’s microPC isn’t for everybody. It’s a weird little device that’s designed to be pocket-sized (if you have large pockets), but which does not have a touchscreen display. It doesn’t have a high-performance processor or a high-resolution display. And the keyboard really isn’t designed for ten-finger touch typing. But the MicroPC is more affordable than many other recent handheld computers, has more ports than most, and now it’s a little more powerful than before.
GPD MicroPC specs
| Display | 6 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel non-touch |
| CPU | Intel Celeron N4120 4 cores / 4 threads 1.1 GHz base / 2.6 GHz boost |
| GPU | Intel UHD 600 200 MHz base / 700 MHz max |
| RAM | 8GB LPDDR4 |
| Storage | 256GB SATA 3.0 SSD (M.2 2242) |
| Wireless | WiFi 5 Bluetooth 4.2 |
| Ports | 1 x Gigabit Ethernet 1 x HDMI 2.0 3 x USB 3.1 Type-A 1 x USB 3.0 Type-C 1 x 3.5mm headset 1 x RS-232 Serial 1 x microSDXC card reader (up to 2TB) |
| Input | QWERTY backlit keyboard Touchpad Left button, right button, scroll wheel |
| Battery | 2 x 3100 mAh |
| Cooling | Active (fan) |
| Operating systems | Windows 10 (pre-installed) Ubuntu Mate or other Linux distros (community supported) |
| Dimensions | 153 x 113 x 23.5mm |
| Weight | 440 grams |
I really hope GPD ignores all the gaming related requests for the MicroPC 2. Please don’t mess up the MicroPC 2.
Seeing what GPD did going from the Win 2 to the Win 3, I almost hope all GPD does is use newer/faster internal components and just keep the existing form factor despite some of the flaws.
I also hope GPD doesn’t listen to any gaming oriented requests. The MicroPC is not a gaming device.
I also hope GPD doesn’t listen to the gamers when it comes to the MicroPC 2. If it increases the cost by > $1 and/or compromises the non-gaming form factor, then please don’t do it.
To me, the MicroPC is an expensive, handheld/thumb typing UMPC with Ethernet (I don’t use the RS-232 but I see some people do).
I wonder if the MicroPC 2 will be their next device after the Win 3. Definitely interested in upgrading my MicroPC 1.
I think it’s great they kept the price under $500. Most of the other mini laptops are overpriced at $700 or more. While I appreciate the mini size, it’s a little too mini for me. I’d prefer a larger 7 or 8 inch screen.
I’m waiting for the MicroPC 2. I generally like my MicroPC 1 overall. I hope GPD doesn’t ruin it like they did going from the Win 2 to Win 3 where both gaming and PC use are worse.
I mostly want GPD to fix the issues on the MicroPC 1 in addition to upgraded components:
1. Hinge breaking (usual for GPD devices). Wider lid angle would be great.
2. Dead batteries (another usual for GPD devices). Even the new “fixed” batteries seem to have some reports of failure.
3. Keys sometimes register double presses.
4. Mouse buttons sometimes register double presses.
5. More spacing between mouse buttons.
6. The mouse has an inertia/drift thing that can’t disabled.
7. Make the touchpad actually register as a touchpad so the OS can configure it accordingly. It shows up as an external mouse so the OS can’t configure it much.
8. Don’t make it larger. Smaller would be even better if they can keep the screen size.
For new features, I hope they add an LTE option.
+1 for LTE. I’d pay for that.
Another +1 for LTE in the MicroPC 2.
I hope GPD doesn’t mess it up like the Win 3.
My MicroPC has/had most of these issues too. The mouse continuing to drift when you stop you finger is pretty annoying when trying to click on small things.
I’d opt for LTE too since tethering your phone for hours kills the battery. Also, having it dangling via a USB cable gets in the way when you’re using the device while standing/moving.
Any idea if the memory is dual channel? I don’t think it was originally, but not sure.
The only thing that prevented me from buying one of these is the 1280×720 screen. I’ve used Windows 10 on a 720p screen recently, and the experience is very poor. It would have been nice to see them upgrade to at least 1600×900.
Far too much of my software does not fit on a 720p screen. It seems like most software developers design their software to react and scale to a minimum of 1366×768.
On 720p, I find that lots of software extends below the bottom of the screen, making it difficult to press some buttons.
Also, web browsing is pretty awful on 720p too. The Chrome UI takes up a good 1/4 of the screen, and if you use DPI scaling in Windows to try to reduce that, it makes the UI unreadable.
I get that, but then again it’s a 6″ screen. If it were 1080p most people above the age of 14 would not be able to see it due to poor eyesight.
There’s resolution scaling. It works well on Windows. Mixed results on Linux depending on your DE.
I think at least 1366×768 would be nice for the SW issues Grant mentioned though. Although, I haven’t seen any issues on my MicroPC with Xfce.
Yeah 1080 wouldn’t be a great experience either. I think anything from 1366×768 to 1600×900 would be fine. 720p is just 30 or 40 pixels too short for Windows.
It’s a difficult prospect to try to run Windows 10 on a 6″ screen.