The Onexplayer Mini is the newest handheld PC launch that is not Valve’s Steam Deck. It would not have the Steam Deck’s modest display screen res of 1280 x 800, preferring to go for a seemingly extra spectacular 1920 x 1200. Nor does it have the tempting price ticket of Valve’s handheld—the most affordable Onexplayer Mini will set you again $1,259, a sight greater than the $399 of the most affordable Steam Deck. What you do get right here although is Home windows 11 put in as commonplace, a beefy Intel eleventh Gen Core i7 processor, and a 512GB SSD.
The unique 8.4-inch Onexplayer (now known as the 1S) was launched again in Might 2021 and used a slighter weaker processor however in any other case had comparable specs to this machine, however was in a bigger, bulkier unit. This new 7-inch model continues to be cumbersome, about twice as thick because the Nintendo Swap, though it does really feel a bit extra manageable in hand and is snug to carry for longer durations. The buttons, triggers, and analogue joysticks really feel good, and general it provides a superb impression of a top quality handheld.
After all, it is on the gaming entrance the place the destiny of this machine shall be determined, and right here the wheels begin to come off a bit. Regardless of the jaw-dropping price ticket, we’re in built-in graphics nation right here, and meaning not all video games are going to work flawlessly. In reality, a lot will not work in any respect, and people who do are going to be held again by the Iris Xe silicon squeezed into Intel’s Core i7 1195G7.
You are taking a look at 96 Execution Items with a max graphics clock of 1.4GHz, which is weedy compared to even the most affordable of discrete graphics playing cards. This implies you’ll be able to expel any notion of working the very newest video games on the highest settings, and even that native decision could be a little bit of a headache. Usually getting essentially the most out of the Onexplayer Mini is a little bit of a balancing act between decision and settings—one thing that’s undoubtedly going to be the identical with the Valve Steam Deck as nicely.
One-netbook Onexplayer Mini Specs
CPU: Intel Core i7 1195G7
GPU: Intel Iris Xe (96 EU)
RAM: 16GB DDR4-4266
Storage: 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD
Show: 7-inch IPS, 323PPI
Decision: 1920 x 1200
Connectivity: 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-C, USB 3.0 Sort-A, 3.5mm audio
Battery: 40.25Wh
Wi-fi: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5
Measurement: 10.23 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
Weight: 587g
OS: Home windows 11
Value: $1,259
Taking Metro Exodus for instance, it might run surprisingly nicely on the system. Not good, however 30fps on the native decision of 1920 x 1200 utilizing the Low presets is not a nasty start line. Dropping the decision all the way down to 1280 x 720 and upping the settings to Medium produced an analogous body charge, though the sport would not run in full-screen mode and as an alternative lives as window within the top-left nook of the display screen, in order that’s probably not an possibility.
It should not shock you an excessive amount of to study that working it at our regular Extremely settings at 1080p for comparability to different machines resulted in a totally depressing expertise at 10fps. Do not try this to your self.
Sadly, the record of video games that failed grew the extra we used it. Cyberpunk 2077 was by no means going to be a simple take a look at for this handheld, but it surely would not even load. Horizon Zero Daybreak in the meantime would load, however then crash the second you tried taking part in it. The extra not too long ago launched God of Battle did run, however solely noticed 128MB of VRAM, and so seemed completely terrible. To be honest this can be a drawback with the sport, and it is one thing that affected the AMD Ryzen 5700G earlier than arduous setting the VRAM quantity within the BIOS—not one thing that is attainable right here, sadly.
Much less demanding video games make it a pleasure to make use of moderately than a {hardware} battle to be received.
You are in for a greater time with older video games. The Witcher 3, for example, ran nicely on the native decision utilizing the low settings, averaging out at 29fps and nonetheless wanting fairly spectacular some seven years after launch. It nonetheless stuttered at instances, although, so it is not a screaming success. Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Management each managed almost-playable framerates, at underneath 30fps. I imply you would play them on this machine, however you realize you are not going to be getting perfection.
Much less demanding video games, like Spellunky, Limbo, Dust Showdown, and Hearthstone made for significantly better experiences. Video games that make it a pleasure to make use of moderately than a {hardware} battle to be received. For those who’ve acquired a again catalogue that you’ve got been which means to get round to, then a handheld (both this or the Steam Deck) supply a good approach of clearing it. For those who’re intending to make use of it as your essential gaming machine although, you are in for a irritating time.
Having used the Onexplayer Mini for a short time now, it highlights a few issues about this handheld particularly, but additionally the market basically. The primary is that Home windows performs an vital position in how versatile this handheld is—apps that you realize and love simply run on it. Bought an outdated emulator you wish to check out? It will take you seconds to see the way it fares. Nvidia Frameview? No worries. GoG Galaxy, Epic Video games, you title it, all of them simply work straight out of the field.
Certain the Steam Deck will mean you can set up Home windows on it, but it surely’s not the identical because it simply working it straight out of the field, and we have but to see how difficult getting Home windows on it’s going to be. This extends to easily having the ability to plug in keyboards and mice as nicely, though hopefully, issues shall be simply as easy with SteamOS 3.0. For pure gaming, you could not assume such issues matter, but it surely’s shocking how typically I wanted to plug a peripheral or system in.
Home windows is not with out its frustrations thoughts, and there have been loads of instances the place I wanted to achieve for a keyboard or mouse to only make my approach by a settings display screen. The software program keyboard could be troublesome to make use of at this decision, and it is all too straightforward to enter a password or code incorrectly. Clicking on gadgets will also be very irritating, with loads of misclicks and unintended dragging. Home windows is each one of many machine’s excessive factors and frustrations, which is fairly unsurprising actually.
The primary drawback although is the inherent lack of energy of built-in graphics. There isn’t any query that they have quite a bit higher not too long ago and loads of video games will no less than now run, but it surely’s not often a fairly sight. You are still going to wrestle with newer releases too, and you’ll count on issues within the extra demanding video games too, not simply with framerates. Navigating a few of these interfaces could be extraordinarily irritating and even providing a wider gamut of resolutions could be welcome. The Steam Deck ought to assist right here, with the may of Valve encouraging builders to no less than make issues simpler to get working.
Now for the thousand greenback query: must you purchase the Onexplayer Mini? For the overwhelming majority of PC players, the reply might be not. It is too restricted, too fiddly, and now seems to be far too costly. Like its predecessor, this looks like a distinct segment product. A gaming laptop computer for this type of money will simply be a greater machine to sport on. Valve’s imminent steamrolling of the PC handheld market would not assist the Onexplayer one bit both, making it an ultra-expensive possibility providing, if something, worse efficiency.
