The design of handheld gaming devices is finally starting to diversify a bit. Although originally inspired by the success of the Nintendo Switch, most followed the unibody design of the Steam Deck. Given the complexity of having removable controllers paired with the complexity of computers themselves, it’s understandable that not many manufacturers dared to take the risk in such a niche and still unproven market.
That’s not to say there haven’t been attempts, like the first Lenovo Legion GO, for example, but they’re few and far between. Recently, we’ve been seeing some rather curious interpretations of that design, including one with a gigantic 10-inch screen. That’s what this peculiar handheld gaming PC design obviously tries to pull off but it seems to make a mistake in the one part that matters the most.
Designer: CRELANDER
When it comes to gaming computers, there are many elements that determine their success or failure, but handheld devices boil that down to two important things: the form factor and raw power. After all, it has to be comfortable to hold to even be considered a “handheld” device, and it has to have enough processing power to handle gaming. The CRELANDER “laptop” teeters on the former but seems to completely flop the latter.
Technically speaking, you could consider the CRELANDER as more of a tablet than either a laptop or a handheld PC. Its 10.5-inch touch screen pretty much makes sure of that, but its rather thick 20mm body takes it out of the competition in the slim and sleek department. What earmarks it for gaming, however, are the detachable controllers that seem to physically connect to the sides of the tablet, exactly like the Nintendo Switch Joy-cons. With a weight of at least 2.2 lbs (1kg), however, it’s probably not going to be a comfortable gaming session while you’re standing up.
Its biggest flaw, however, is the Intel N95 that drives the whole thing, a low-power processor that won’t be able to handle any AAA or graphics-intensive games. The rest of the specs, which includes 16GB or 32GB of RAM and up to 2TB SSD definitely fit the bill of a gaming PC, but the processor will be the bottleneck that ruins the experience. Not unless all you want to do is play retro or emulated games, as well as a few casual PC games, then this multi-purpose portable PC might look attractive.
It’s highly likely that the $350 price tag is the driving factor behind the choice of an Intel N95, though it’s a sacrifice that asks too much even for that price. There are some, like the OneXPlayer X1, that make the same proposition with better design and specs though at three times the cost. Given these factors, you might start to ask whether such a novel design on a large 10-inch tablet is worth it at all.
