GPD Win (x86 Computer / Palmtop)


I personally don't like having this strong advertising for the GPD WIN here until the Pyra is out there proving its worth, afterwards I wouldn't care.

Seriously? I'd be really disappointed in this forum if it attempted to shape the flow of information or dialogue to help sell Pyras. I think the Pyra and the philosophies it operates under demand better than that.
 
As much as I don't like the WIN, I don't think we should stifle any conversations on it.
 
yeah, don't need to hide from the "competition." one could argue they offer something completely different, so it's not really competition, but to some consumers it is. but for those on the fence, it's important that they figure out which one works best for them.
 
I've my Pyra ordered and I do also own a GPD XD so when the WIN was announced I thought it looked very interesting. It does seem like they're making good progress with the prototype but I'm curious how it'll manage with storage issues? Modern Windows games are pretty huge storage wise and I'm pretty sure that it will run out on the device rather fast once a few games are installed! At least the PND/ Pyra DBP systems are much better adapted to the concept or interchangeable mobile storage. It'll be interesting to see what the final version from GPD turns out like and if the keyboard and gaming toggle switches are user friendly or not!

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk
 
I've my Pyra ordered and I do also own a GPD XD so when the WIN was announced I thought it looked very interesting. It does seem like they're making good progress with the prototype but I'm curious how it'll manage with storage issues? Modern Windows games are pretty huge storage wise and I'm pretty sure that it will run out on the device rather fast once a few games are installed! At least the PND/ Pyra DBP systems are much better adapted to the concept or interchangeable mobile storage. It'll be interesting to see what the final version from GPD turns out like and if the keyboard and gaming toggle switches are user friendly or not!

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk
Steam lets you pick a drive to install games to so you can use that to install games to sd card.
 
Storage could be an issue, depending on games you want to play, yes.
Most games I'd play would probably be indie games with only a few MB or GB storage each, but I know some Windows games take up 40GB and more... even with a 256GB MicroSD Card, the storage would be full with 6 of these games.

I've already got a 256GB and 64GB card in my Pandora and can imagine I will need more on the Pyra (PSP and DC-Games added...)
 
How sad will steam become if you then unplug that SD card and put in another one, possibly to try installing some other games to?
Not that much, I do that with an external harddrive all the time. It's a bit of a hassle if you do this while Steam is running, because you have to set up the external library again.
 
Another GPD WIN prototype game play video.

I think this one is Dungeon Fighter - online game


 
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It will throw an error asking you to relocate the files it cant find, whether that works or not, haven't tried.
I used to have some steam games on an external eSATA drive. It won't really do much until you try and launch the game, then it will complain it's not present. If you plug it back in and it has the same path it will work again without problems. This is all experience with the Linux version of Steam, I haven't used the Windows version in a long time.
 
Storage could be an issue, depending on games you want to play, yes.
Most games I'd play would probably be indie games with only a few MB or GB storage each, but I know some Windows games take up 40GB and more... even with a 256GB MicroSD Card, the storage would be full with 6 of these games.

That comparison is a bit unfair: Most of the Windows games that use 20GB+ of storage are Triple A games post 2010. These will probably never run on the WIN, no matter if you have the storage or not. But generally I agree, software on Windows rarely references third-party libraries to safe storage like Linux does with its dependency tree, so even a 200GB µSD can be filled up quite easily. But not as easily as you described it, (almost) no one will even try to run GTA V (65GB on my harddrive) or something similarly power-hungry it on the WIN.
 
That comparison is a bit unfair: Most of the Windows games that use 20GB+ of storage are Triple A games post 2010. These will probably never run on the WIN, no matter if you have the storage or not. But generally I agree, software on Windows rarely references third-party libraries to safe storage like Linux does with its dependency tree, so even a 200GB µSD can be filled up quite easily. But not as easily as you described it, (almost) no one will even try to run GTA V (65GB on my harddrive) or something similarly power-hungry it on the WIN.

It's not unfair, I mentioned that upfront: Depending on the games you like to play. I've seen other Windows games that need a lot of storage for some weird reason (uncompressed music, etc.).
And... well, I actually expect some of the backers to run TripleA titles on the GPD Win. There are probably many who don't know much about computers but see that the GPD Win will be a fully portable Windows 10 system... I can imagine quite a few one will expect recent games.
Yes, that won't work well, and we know that... but I can imagine they have a lot more users who don't know as much about technology than we have here.

I can also imagine a lot of users will try to run Steam games, and they seem to use a LOT of storage on my computer.
Stuff like Brütal Legend, Sims 3, etc.
 
@EvilDragon
I expect even the dumbest Windows user to either understand minimum system requirements or to deinstall games that don't work at all on the system, though of course they leave behind a lot of data in the user folder. Yes, a few ones will be even more idiotic than I can imagine (that always happens to me), but I'd be surprised if they are an important, big part of the GPD community. Or at least I hope...

One of the reasons I don't want a GPD Win, by the way, is that there's not enough storage space to put my lossless music and Blu-Ray rips on. That stuff is the best if you're on a train but too tired to play video games.
 
I wouldn't be so sure of that.
Many users these days have no idea about different processors, they just read the specs. And that says 2,24GHz QuadCore.
There are also Core i7 with 2,5GHz CPUs, so they might think it's not that much slower.

That's something I learned during the last 10 years: Users often simply compare MHz/GHz, they don't know that you can only do that when the processor is basically the same.
And as they see that it runs Windows 10 (and not 7 or older), these users also think it's a current-state PC (well, it is, but not a current-state DESKTOP-PC)

Additionally, GPD put this on the Indiegogo page:

Q:What kind of games can you play?

A: All of PC games and other kind of games that you can play with Windows 10 system,You can even use VMware Workstion install the Windows 98 or Windows XP play the retro game

So for these users who are not that experienced, it once again sounds it can play current games and playing older games is even harder.
Well, I expect some users to have problems getting their CD Games installed, as they would need an USB CD Drive as well... so they will use their downloaded games, which often are newer ones.

The GPD Win will be a neat system for sure, but using Windows 10 and an x86 CPU will also attract users who have not really a clue about PCs :)
 
There might be a small amount of people that do that. But there is always a small amount of people that do something stupid. I've seen a number of people who bought the pandora and had no idea about Linux and then decided to sell it because it was to complicated for them too work out.

Generally speaking, from what I've seen from people commenting on stories about the WIN , it's completely the other way. Every story on the WIN usually has many comments saying it won't play PC games period. Then there is the comments defending it saying it will play old games. I have yet to see someone say it will play a AAA super demanding game as if that was expected. Occassioannally you get a tentative question like, will it be able to play so and so game and questions about frame rates

Let's not forget the target market here, it's gamers and geeks, ie not groups usually known to be tech idiots.
I seriously doubt many people are going to think that, especially when the evidence to date is overwhelmingly the other way.
 
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Hm do they offer a support forum? I would guess after its release some users might post their experience there. :oops:
 
There might be a small amount of people that do that. But there is always a small amount of people that do something stupid. I've seen a number of people who bought the pandora and had no idea about Linux and then decided to sell it because it was to complicated for them too work out.

Yep, those groups always exist, but they are larger the more popular something becomes and the more mainstream it gets.
Believe me, I got TONS of weird questions after the WIZ was featured on some news websites. It tripled the sales, but I also got tons of questions like "How can I install my Windows games" and stuff like that.

I rarely got questions like those before - and I don't compare total numbers but percentages of sales.

Also, Golem.de (a huge tech news website in Germany) made a review of the GPD XD.
Before that, out of 20 sold units, I had about 1 returned to me.
After the review, sales tripled, but returns increased a LOT more. Now out of 20 sold units, I have about 5 returns.
That value is five times higher.

I can see a similar effect with my shop: When it was smaller, I had almost NO returns, as the people who found my shop KNEW what they were buying.
Now I also sell on Amazon. Most of the returns I have are from users who bought via Amazon.

The more you reach outside of your niche, the more non-techy people you'll reach.
 
I think the MHz race is over and done with. Regular desktop computing has met the threshold of pleasantness long ago, and a 5" flat surface cant do anything beyond what regular people want with more oomph. There is a bit of focus on efficiency, but thats the same as range-anxiety on a electric car.
Once the battery is bigger than anything you can imagine doing in a day, it stops being an issue.

The GPD _cant_ play all games played on windows 10, it can run them, huuuge difference.

One issue there is speed, and the other is the formfactor.

When neither the formfactor nor the speed allows for the typical AAA win10-games, its a false projection.

Fortunately very speed-requiring games dont fit handhelds, and instead cater to desktops with regular mice-control.

So both the GPD and the Pyra should focus on things it can do, and show those things. The actual things, not just specs that you can reasonably translate to meaningful assumption if you have the technical insight to do so.

Pyra:

*games, all in one here, retro emulation, indie-games, scene games.
*phone, exclusive to a device that can do *games, and also has some freedom exclusives
*work, less weight, easier to travel with, done deal.
*photography, same argument here, with *phone it becomes a news-desk, get the whole workflow done anywhere
*music, space to store FLACs galore, possibility of hooking up high-end DACs and amplifiers on the go, this usually costs a whole lot more, which people are willing to pay for a device that does only that.
*free open community, no spying, free software, friendly people, the most democratized and lowest hierarchy.

*environmental, modular, made to last, made in Europa, friendly packaging, no excess plastic, follows regulations. The pyra gets a non-bold mention here, because the fairphone does this best, a lot of small things could be done to improve here, and it goes a looooong way. Both in gaining support and in communicating fairness in what becomes the price you pay.

Gpd:
*Special software can run x86 windows software that doesn't run in wine or any other environment
*speed it is the faster out of the two, but not modular
*price it is cheaper, which it does through the art of non-communication. Spying, made in china and non environmental not a focus.
*10-finger keyboard ? Im thinking that works, but i havent tried it, looks like it has been a priority.

*work same as for the pyra, need to pair with phone to have wireless connectivity.
*music less storage, but can hook up high-end DACs, betweent the pyra and the gpd, it should make a real dent in dedicated high-end players market.
 
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