ONEXPLAYER 2 Pro handheld gaming PC with Ryzen 7 8840U launches for $1049 and up

The ONEXPLAYER 2 Pro is a handheld gaming PC with an 8.4 inch, 2560 x 1600 pixel display,  an AMD Ryzen 7 processor featuring RDNA 3 graphics and a set of detachable controllers that give the little like a Nintendo Switch.

One Netbook first launched the ONEXPLAYER 2 Pro in the summer of 2023, and now the company is taking pre-orders for a new model with an updated processor. The new ONEXPLAYER 2 Pro with an AMD Ryzen 7 8840U processor is available for purchased from the ONEXPLAYER Store, and it should begin shipping March 20, 2024.

That prices represents a pre-order discount: retail prices start at $1399 (also known as the price of 3.5 entry-level Steam Decks). But you get a lot of little computer for the money: the ONEXPLAYER 2 Pro ships standard with 32GB of RAM and at least 1TB of storage.

Here are the pricing/configuration options:

When One Netbook first launched the ONEXPLAYER 2 Pro, the handheld gaming PC was powered by a Ryzen 7 7840U processor, which was an upgrade over the Ryzen 7 6800U chip featured in the ONEXPLAYER 2 (non-Pro edition) that launched earlier in 2023.

But while that processor upgrade brought next-gen CPU and GPU cores, the newest update… doesn’t.

Instead, One Netbook is replacing the Ryzen 7 7840U chip with a newer Ryzen 8 8840U processor that has identical CPU and GPU cores. But the new chip does bring a new Ryzen AI neural processing unit with up to a 1.6X boost in AI performance.

And while most existing PC games won’t really tape into that NPU, The Phawx recently noted that when he ran a series of tests on a different handheld gaming PC that had seen the same processor upgrade (the GPD Win Max 2), the model with the Ryzen 7 8840U chip offered about a 10% boost in gaming performance… although battery life might be a little shorter under some circumstances.

Basically, he found that when allowing both models to run at 25 watts, the difference in battery life was negligible, but when constraining the processor to 10 watts, the Ryzen 7 8840U model had its battery run down about 7% more quickly.

Long story short? If you’ve already got a ONEXPLAYER 2 Pro with a Ryzen 7 7840U processor (or any other handheld gaming PC with the same chip), there’s probably not much reason to upgrade to a new model if the only difference is the move to a Ryzen 7 8840U processor.

But if you’re in the market for your first handheld, or you’re upgrading from something older, it does seem like there might be at least some benefit to opting for a model with AMD’s latest processor, even if it looks like a pretty modest upgrade on paper.

One Netbook has released a video showing several PC games running on the new ONEXPLAYER 2 Pro with an 8840U processor, and performance does look pretty good… at least on these cherry-picked titles.

The handheld’s other features are expected to include support for 32GB or 64GB of LPDDR5x-7500 memory, an M.2 2280 slot for PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe storage, support for WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, and a set of ports that includes:

• 1 x USB4 Type-C
• 1 x USB 3.2 Type-C
• 1 x USB 3.0 Type-A
• 1 x 3.5mm audio
• 1 x microSD card reader

The system ships with Windows 11 software and the computer measures 310 x 127 x 23mm (12.2″ x 5″ x 0.9″) with controllers attached, or 208 x 127 x 23mm (8.2″ x 5″ x 0.9″) with them detached. The main body weighs 709 grams (1.6 pounds), while the detachable controllers are 139 grams (5 ounces).

This article was first published March 11, 2024 and most recently updated March 13, 2024.