AMD 8840U GPD Win Max 2 - Review 2024 

Appreciate it!!

I will add that to the lost. I have so many thoughts on sitting on the couch sining it vs handheld and at a desk. Only so much time for it all in one video.

the weight of it is not insignificant that's for sure. however, the novelty never wears off and you can really get some enjoyment out of the portable experience. i can also say that it is my full time work machine for the last year (2023 model)

@erstelage Thanks man, I appreciate you taking the time to watch. I simply can't get enough of this thing. it's so cool. Just been having a hard time hiding it from my 4 year old. LoL Gotta keep it under lock and key if I plan on keeping it in good condition for a while. Cheers to you and enjoy this awesome machine. :)

Thank you so much. I appreciate the feedback. Cheers!

Thanks, man. I really appreciate it. I'm just trying to make small improvements to each video since I'm fairly new to all this. Good to hear your feedback. Cheers!

Awesome! Thank you, I appreciate the support.

Thank you and I appreciate you taking the time to watch it.

Agreed, as you can tell I'm loving mine too. Thanks for watching. I appreciate the support. Cheers!

Awesome, thanks for watching. It's a completely different device and compliment one another very well. It's definitely worth considering.

Yeah the mini has been getting hot for me lately. I just did the ptm mod and it alleviated alot of the heat but the ssd still is very uncomfortable. I'm gonna try the 2280 mod and if that doesn't work gonna have to check this out.

@yeyoye yea, the Max runs so much cooler. Non issue. I want to get the grips to make it a bit more comfortable thougj. I'm planning on doing the ptm on both devices soon. I love the mini, but I feel like even at 15tdp, it's almost still too hot. Seems like it's gotten worse over time, which is why I want to do the ptm.

The same actually happened to me😅

Yeah ptm definitely helped. When I opened mine up I discovered there was barely any thermal paste at all. Which was shocking. It now gets 8 or 9 degrees cooler on the cpu alone. Now it's just the pesky 2230 that gets hot on the right side.

Awesome, thanks for you for continuing to tune in. Its such a wonderful device. Glad you are enjoying yours too.

@adamuser8246 Thanks for pointing that out, and I appreciate you taking the time to watch. I removed the music and my most recent video. Hopefully, you are able to check it out.

Yes, it is a very exciting time and lots to consider. I'm glad you found the review useful. Will this be your first handheld device?

Hi, thanks for watching. Yes I use this device connected to my 360hz display. You are not stuck at the native 60hz. You can use any external Display with it. You will get excellent fps with that card and dock.

Thanks for chiming in. Such a valid comment. It seems there is lots of inconsistency with these devices. It can be a crap shoot depending on the model you get. Also agreed about the camera. I failed to mention that it is functional, but the quality even on this year's is rather poor. Thanks for watching, and I appreciate you taking the time to watch.

@@Slyclientthetechdad BTW i like your egpu. Unfortunately it is not available on my country.

@YelNatSttocS Oh, thank you. It just really sucks that they are so hard to get for most people. Hopefully, Thunderbolt 5 solves that problem for everyone. We shall see though. Been hearing about thunderbolt 5 for years now. LoL

@@Slyclientthetechdad yes that TB5 is the future, maybe another 2 years or so it will be available and stable. Did you compare the FPS lost having an oculink connection vs connected directly to PC? My research shows it is around 10% lost on 4k monitor.

@YelNatSttocS I haven't yet but I will add that on the list to things to try out. At some point, I need to do a follow-up video, and this is the stuff I need to include in it. Thanks for bringing this topic up

Yes, I'm getting roughly 4 fps more on my Max 2 than I do on my Mini. Keep in mind, though, my Mini is the 7840U version which you can only push to 28tdp. While the 8840u Max 2, I'm seeing performance gains up towards 35tdp. In my experience it kinda evens itself out because I can only go up to 60fps on the Max 2 because of its 60hz display while the Mini is 120hz. Docked mode however, attached to an external monitor and gpu the Max 2 is the clear winner. Primarily because of the updated 8840u along with the smartshift function. I speak about that a little bit in the video. If I could only have one, I would get the Mini. If planning on using handheld most of the time, the 120hz is tough to pass on. I hope this helps.

Thank you, yea this may not be for everyone but a solid device still.

I can't wait for a vrr 120hz freesync win max

@EzaneeGires oh, when that happens, I'm gonna lose it. Lol . It will truly be the King who rules them all at that point. :)

​@@EzaneeGireslook into the onexplayer x1 8840u version it's has 120 vrr

Thank you, and I appreciate you taking the time to watch. As you are aware, since you have it, it's definitly a special device. Feels so awesome to use. It's a bummer about yhe ram speed but at the end of the day, I personally don't think it's that big of a deal. I'm glad you love your device as well. It's really an awesome community to be a part of. Only Max2 owners would know what I'm talking about. :)

I still have it. I've been using it handheld like in bed or on the go. I use the WM2 mostly docked for gaming, but I throw it in my bag for work during the day. Gets great battery life for work tasks. Ususally gets me theough the day. Seems like for now, I'm getting equal amount of use out of both

Hey Juan, thanks for tuning in. I would say no. Primarily because I am not seeing much of an increase in performance. I have the Win Mini 7840u and I'm not seeing much of an increase to my MAX 2 8840u. Maybe a few frames per second. I think your 64gb of ram is much more valuable and beneficial than that small frame rate increase. Plus, I've noticed that my Mini does better at lower tops. Not fps but stability. For example, at 5 watts, I can still run indie games flawlessly. Not all but some. When I drop the Max 2 under 8, I get stutters in many of the games I've been playing. I need to run it at 8tpd to eliminate that. It bugs the heck out of me to be honest. Probably user error on my part. Who knows. But yea, if I were tou I'd wait on the new processors strix point or grab a mini 8840u. With the mini, you would at least have variety in your use case. I hope this help.

@@Slyclientthetechdad AWESOME answer! Thank you so much for such a thoughtful response. I did have the mini for a little bit. I found myself pickup the max more just because of the larger screen. It’s gorgeous even without the specs of the mini screen. I also love the aluminum unibody feel of the max contrasting to the plastic body of the mini. I kinda wish the left the mini in its aluminum unibody design as initially presented. But I get it, thermals. Something about an aluminum body that makes it feel much mor expensive and durable. (:

Yes, you could get it to work as advertized using an Oculink Adapter in the M.2 slot on the rear of the device. Works perfectly that way. It's the native port on the back that has the issue. It's an issue because it's the best place for it. Running a cable underneath is just not ideal. You can utilize the native port but you have to cap the clock speed to 3.3 from what I've heard, and disable turbo boost. This can all be done in Auto TDP. So yes. It can be used, but you won't get full bandwidth using it. However, if you come across a good deal on a 7840u, I say go for it. It's still an awesome device and processor.

@@Slyclientthetechdad oh yeah I already bought mine last year. I was just seriously considering the DIY oculink dock option since I'm not fully satisfied w the gaming experience for when I'm at my desk at home, and if I hook it up to an external display

@EzaneeGires Oh, cool, definitely consider it. If you do, just use the secondary m. 2. It really turns it into a whole different device. So much more power. Since it will be docked, you can just prop it up a bit on a stand, and that oculink cable will fit right underneath. There is also an adapter out there that makes it fir snug in the m.2 slot.

@@Slyclientthetechdad unfortunately that's a non starter for me since I use that slot for storage

@@Slyclientthetechdad so I finally got an eGPU setup going and I'm pretty happy with the WM2 2023 performance with oculink. I had some toothing issues but got my time spy score to within 1k of the global average of a 4070 super, so I'm pretty happy with that

Save up, you can do it. Lol

Yea its pretty good. I like the one from 2016 better though. Too much platforming in returnal for me

@@Slyclientthetechdad yeah I liked that a lot. Didn't like the combat they forced on you in eternal

Sorry you were disappointed, so little time to cover everything. The video was already at 20 min. I had to cut it down at the time of editing. I plan to do some follow-up videos to take a closer look at some of the aspects you mentioned. I appreciate you taking the time to watch. Sorry again