AMD may advertise its EPYC processors as being made for servers, but that wasn’t about to stop one Chinese OEM from putting them into a (somewhat) portable PC.
The REV-9 series from Zhanjiang Xinjuneng Technology is portable computer that I’m reluctant to call a laptop, because it’s probably too heavy to comfortably use on your lap. But it has a 16.5 inch display, a keyboard, and comes with either an AMD EPYC 7713 or EPYC 9554 64-core processor options. It also has NVIDIA Radeon RTX 4080 Super discrete graphics, with 16GB of GDDR6X, because you can’t pair that kind of processor with just any old notebook GPU.
The obvious downside to packing hardware this powerful into a laptop is that it needs to be rather large. It measures 16.5 inches wide, 12.8 inches deep, and 1.8 inches thick. The total weight hasn’t been revealed yet, but it’s safe to assume that the solid aluminum shell and cooling setup make this a heavy beast.
Those extra dimensions provide plenty of room for a full-on water cooling system, which may be a good idea for this particular system. The AMD EPYC 7713 processor is a 225-watt chip, while the EPYC 9954 has a default TDP of 360 watts. The NVIDIA GPU will also add to the amount of heat generated by the system.
You can keep an eye on the CPU and GPU performance with a glance at the laptop’s built-in 3.5 inch status display.
The 16.5 inch primary display, meanwhile, boasts 2.5K resolution and a refresh rate of up to 240Hz.
There’s plenty more included in the vast expanse that is the REV-9’s chassis. It offers three Ethernet ports (including “dual 2 Gigabit” which could mean 2.5Gbps) and a trio of USB type-A ports.
You’ll find them all on the front, most likely because the water cooler makes it impossible to put them all on the back or sides. There does, however, appear to be room to squeeze in a single DisplayPort about mid-way back on the righthand side.
After successfully meeting its crowdfunding goal of ¥500,000, Zhanjiang Xinjuneng Technology Co. plans to launch the REV-9 series in China on December 19. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but smart money is on “a lot.”
Specs are almost sufficient for my needs, but is that a VGA port on the front?
DVI, probably still popular in China.
Looks like a water cooled desktop shaped to a box, with a hinged display attachment, and silly slim keyboard on the exterior surface of the desktop case. Whats difference between EPYC and Threadripper anyway?
Don’t quote me, because I’m too lazy to do a search for you, but if I recall, I believe their Epyc processors are their “highest-end” server processors and offer the most cores/cache.
But what do I know? I haven’t paid a lot of attention to server class products.
The case, to be honest, looks cheap. At the very least, they should probably include rubber handles like some of HP’s rugged tablets have (that people like EMTs and fire departments use in the field). Just my opinion.
I think the concept they have going is pretty cool, but, the entire case screams “cheap” to me.
I personally am a fan of laptops/portables. I haven’t had a desktop in almost two decades.
But an Epyc processor in such a small case, I would be very concerned about cooling.
Crocodile Dundee: laughs “That’s not a knife…. THAT’S a knife”.
I welcome a truely luggable workstation, not the jokes that MSI tries to pass off.
As someone who has owned Clevo gaming laptops/workstations in the past I wouldn’t mind owning this, mind you I would never actually travel with this thing. And if it did come with a battery, I would just consider it to be a built-in UPS that I would just use to give me a moment to safely shut down during a power outage.
With that being said, knowing that I’d never actually own this system, even if it did become available outside of China, I really do love unique and interesting hardware and would love to see more pictures of it, especially the insides.
The original article doesn’t even mention whether or not it has a battery.
If it has a battery, I’d like to laugh at now short its life is.
please stop taking these drugs
@liliputing_ return of the "luggable"?
VNC