Did some more GPD Win Max 2 testing.
At 18w TDP:
-Gotham Knights ran at 60 FPS at 720P on low settings. 50-60 when on a bike.
-Elden Ring ran at 45-50 FPS on average at 720P/low.
-KOF XV ran at 1080P 60 FPS with all settings on high.
-Soul Calibur 6 ran at 720P 60 FPS with settings on medium/high- this was the default; need to try 1080P and higher settings.
-DOA6 ran at 1080P 60 FPS with low character shadow resolution and low effect quality.
At 28w TDP:
-Elden Ring ran at 55-60 FPS at 720P/low!
-Cyberpunk 2077 ran at 34-45 FPS on average with some dips at times at 720P/low. Should be able to get it to run a bit better with some tweaking.
-Persona 5 Royal ran at 60+ FPS at 1080P/high settings. Framerate was anywhere from 62-100 FPS. Looks amazing on the screen.
Really impressed with this thing,
Some more GPD Win Max 2 impressions:
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Decided to return it. Booted it up this morning and had Steam open. The right side of the screen started going haywire and doing "ghost inputs" (it's a touch screen). Looked this up and found some other people reporting the same thing. Discord said it could be drivers, or maybe the charger, or maybe it was a hardware issue. I rebooted and it seemed OK, then it happened again. The place I got it from offers a 30 day return policy and I'm still under that, so going to send it back to them.
Picked up an ASUS Zephyrus G14 instead. It's a lot bigger, but it was also cheaper and the performance is better. No more GPD for me after this, I swear!
G14 impressions:
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Don't have any problems with this laptop and the price was fantastic, but I decided to get the ASUS Flow Z13 2023 model instead. It's what I wanted in the first place and the performance is 60% better than last year's model. Seen some videos and the 4050 runs games really well at 1440P even while keeping thermals low. ASUS appears to have fixed all the issues the 2022 model had.
ASUS ROG Flow Z13 2023 impressions:
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No 'it's gone' GIF this time! This shit is fire I'm keeping it!
I was seriously expecting to be sending this right back and getting the G14 back or possibly the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE (both are still on sale for amazing prices), but I was happily wrong- the new Z13 is AWESOME. Incredibly impressed with the 4050 mobile. Running everything at 1920x1080 or 1920x1200, I have tried:
-Elden Ring: Ran at high settings at 60 FPS
-Wo Long: Ran at mostly high settings at 90-120 FPS
-Call Of Duty Modern Warfare II: With DLSS enabled for performance, I got 130-140 FPS in multiplayer!
-Cyberpunk: With DLSS enabled for performance, 80-100 FPS
-Control: Also DLSS; got 80-90 FPS
-Resident Evil 4: 80-100 FPS with the settings on performance
And this was without adjusting settings. Absolutely blown away by this thing. It doesn't even seem to be running very hot.
More Z13 impressions:
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Yup, gonna return it! 
But not because I don't like it- entirely to the contrary. I like it so much that I decided to upgrade and go for the high-end model. The difference is that it has 32 GB of ram instead of 16 (the ram is soldered onto all these models) and an RTX 4070 instead of the 4050. But it is still running at 65w. Even so, have seen a direct comparison where the FFXV benchmark was getting around 100 FPS average on the 4050 model and 130-140 FPS on the 4070 model. Plus it has 8GB of vram over the 4050's 6GB. Should hopefully help to keep it a bit more future proof.
The 4070 model is a weird one, though. It's a collaboration with the fashion label Acronym. It's kinda ugly and yet I also kinda like it. Has these cyberpunk-ish vibes.
The keyboard cover it comes with is also weird and doesn't have RGB lighting (just white), but as long as it's backlit that works for me. The lighting makes the weird symbols stand out less when enabled.
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You can also stand it up in portrait mode on this model. That could be fun for SHMUPs or comic reading.
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And it has these straps you can put onto it to wear it and use it while standing or carry it without a case. I doubt I will use this.
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Can definitely say that had they released a regular model with the same specs, I would have gone for that for sure. But this is the only way to get it.
Z13 Acronym 4070 impressions after one month:
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I had to RMA it after a minor keyboard lighting issue started happening. They made me pay to ship it to them and again to get it back. Took about two weeks. Then this morning it prompts for a BIOS update and it fucked everything up and now the machine powers on and does nothing. Trying to force a reboot and accessing the BIOS menu directly failed so they wanted me to RMA it again- fuck that; had three days left to return so sending it back instead.
Was going to wait for restock and just get another one, but for the same price they now have the 2023 G14 with a a 4080 at 125w and with 12GB of vram. So back to the G14 I go until next month?
Thoughts on this new G14:
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Just not feeling it. Like the entire time I was setting it up and configuring it, I just kept thinking how much I would rather have the Z13. So will just wait for restock unless the Ally drops tomorrow and I can get one to mess with.
Laptop #6- the MSI Stealth 14:
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Like the build quality and after some small issues with updates, got it set up and was impressed with the performance. Cloned the SSD to a larger one and popped in 32 GB of RAM. Turned it on and the AC adapter no longer works.
So back it goes. This is definitely a case where I'm glad it will still charge with USB-C so I can get Windows reset before it goes back. I got this at a store locally so will see about getting another one tomorrow. The laptop is a mild pain to get opened and the RAM has a metal casing that has to be removed that was a major pain in the ass to get back on- I bet something shorted when I did that or when the bottom casing was put back on. It includes the side parts which rub up on all the ports. Will probably ask them to do it for me this time.
Also this has a 4060, so I've now tried 4050, 4060, and 4070 laptops. I don't see much of a difference between the 4060 and 4070 to the point where it seems like it's a waste of money to go with the latter (unless it's the only model offered like ASUS is doing with some of the Flow machines), at least if the 4060 runs at a higher wattage. The Stealth 14 is 90w and gave some impressive benchmark results.
