ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD Review – 3-in-1 AMD 8840U powered laptop, tablet & handheld gaming PC

In our ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD review we will be comparing it with the ONEXPLAYER X1 Mini (review coming soon) to see how they perform against each other. We will also be comparing with other handheld gaming PCs with the same processor. The results are quite interesting! Lets get on with the ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD review.

ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD Review Video

ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD Overview

We start our ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD review with an overview of the device itself. The ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD measures around 9.9 x 6.4 x 0.5  inches (25.2 x 16.3 x 1.3 cm), and weighs 969g (1.73 lbs) without the controllers. With controllers it measures 13.9 inches (35.5cm) and weighs 1.090g (2.40 lbs)

The display is a 10.95” 120Hz LTPS touch screen with a 2560×1600 resolution. The screen size and resolution are a good combination for both work and gaming. As a note, if your screen resolution options have disappeared after updating the graphics drivers, please see our very quick and easy fix for this on our Knowledge Base post.

There is a 1MP camera at the top of the portable gaming PC which supports Windows Hello for facial unlocking. 

On the left side are two USB 4.0 ports which you can use for high speed peripherals including external displays and storage. Below is a covered slot for the left side controller.

On the right side is a USB-A 3.2 port and a micro SD card slot. And below that is the covered slot for the right side controller.

Along the top we have the power button which has a built-in fingerprint scanner. And a covered area for the 3.5mm audio jack and OCuLink port for connecting to an eGPU docking station. And on the far right is a button to bring up the Control Center overlay.

It comes with a detachable stand that attaches via magnets. You can adjust the angle of the stand to suit your needs.

ONEXPLAYER Controllers Overview

Available separately are the ONEXPLAYER controllers we will include these as part of the ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD review. These are the left and right sides of controls that attach to the sides of both the X1 AMD and X1 Mini mobile gaming PCs. It has your standard gaming controls including hall effect analogues. It also comes with a detachable D-Pad top to suit your preference.

The controllers simply slide and lock into place on the sides of the X1. There is a small button on the back to unlock and slide them back off. The connection feels strong and there is very little movement between the controller and X1.

Also available to buy is the controller connector. This acts like a base for your controllers and again slides and locks into place. It has a 1200mAh rechargeable battery inside. It connects via a USB dongle which is located inside the connector. You can connect this to any Windows device if you want to. We did notice a bit of movement between the two controllers and the connector, not feeling extremely loose, but definitely some movement not found when connected to the device itself.

ONEXPLAYER Keyboard

Next we have the attachable keyboard. It very easily connects via pogo pins and magnets to the portable gaming computer to keep it in place. The connection is strong enough to not disconnect when the ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD is lifted, but do not try lifting it with the keyboard 🙂

The keys are a good size and height profile, pretty much what you would find on a laptop keyboard. I wrote this review using the keyboard and had no issues at all.

ONEXPLAYER Case

And last but not least is the case for the ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD. It has a strong finish on the outside and a softer material on the inside. It is large enough to fit the X1, stand and keyboard attachment. Definitely worth using to help protect against knocks and scrapes while not in use.

ONEXPLAYER X1 Technical Specifications

We continue the ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD review with a look at the technical specifications and compare them with the X1 mini model. We also performed our own battery life tests as well as highest fan noise and temperature tests.

ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD & X1 Mini Compared

	ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD	ONEXPLAYER X1 Mini
DISPLAY	10.95″ LTPS, 2560×1600, 120Hz, 16:10,sRGB: 133%, 540 nits, 10 point touch support	8.8″ LTPS, 2560×1600, 144Hz, 16:10, sRGB: 133%, 500 nits, 10 point touch support,
DIMENSIONS	9.9 x 6.4 x 0.5  inches (25.2 x 16.3 x 1.3 cm)	8.2 x 5.07 x 0.78 inches (21.0 x 12.9 x 2.0 cm)
WEIGHT	969g (1.73 lbs)	710g (1.56 lbs)

ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD Technical Specifications

CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 8840U, 8 Cores / 16 Threads, Up to 5.10GHz at 28W TDP
GPU	AMD Radeon 780M, 12 cores up to 2,700MHz
RAM	Up to 64GB LPDDR5X Dual channel 7500Mhz
STORAGE	Up to 4TB M.2 2280 NVME PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD
COMMUNICATIONS	Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
CAMERA	1MP Front Facing AI Camera (Windows Hello supported)
I/O	2x USB-C 4.0 1x USB A 3.2 1x 3.5mm audio port 1x OCuLink port 1x Micro SD reader
BATTERY	65.02Wh 16,890mAh rechargeable battery
OPERATING SYSTEM	Windows 11 Home

Powering it all is a 65.02Wh 16,890mAh rechargeable battery. We ran Cinebench on a loop and got a battery life of 1 hour 57 minutes, with the X1 Mini lasting 3 minutes longer at exactly 2 hours. Average usage will vary, but expected around 6-8 hours.

While running Cinebench we also tested the fan noise and temperature. We got a highest fan noise of 62 dB and highest temperature of 64 °C.

System Benchmarks

Next in our ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD review we ran some system benchmarks to see how it performed with its X1 Mini counterpart as well as some other 8840U based compact gaming PCs.

PCMark

We see just below average scores for the ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD in PCMark. This can be down to slow RAM or Storage speed for example. We know for example the GPD WIN 4 2024 has very good SSD speeds which make a difference in this benchmark.

Cinebench R23

For Cinebench, which tests the single and multi-core performance of the CPU, we see essentially the same scores for single core. In multi-core performance we see it just short of the highest score which the X1 Mini takes.

3DMark

For 3DMark we are running the Time Spy, Night Raid and Fire Strike benchmarks. The ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD does very well here taking joint second place with the X1 Mini. The X1 Ultra 7 model does take first place but as we saw, actual gaming performance is not great on these devices.

Gaming Benchmarks

And as it is a handheld gaming computer we also benchmark a variety of games across different TDP settings to gauge its performance as part of our ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD review.

Forza Horizon 5

On Forza Horizon 5 we see very good scores for 1080P performance at 98 frames per second.

At 720P across the TDP range we see very good performance again with the overall top frames per second.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

For Shadow of the Tomb Raider we see the ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD in first place with 81 frames per second.

The high performance continues at 720P with the great scores across all the TDP range.

Street Fighter VI

For Street Fighter VI we again see very good frames per second results across both 1080P and 720P. Do keep in mind these are at the highest graphics settings to really stress the CPU and GPU.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare III

Our last benchmark is for Call of Duty MW3. At 1080P we see near identical frames per second compared to the Win 4 and X1 Mini.

And this continues with the 720P benchmarks across the range of TDPs. 

ONEXGPU Benchmarks

We are able to take advantage of an eGPU such as the ONEXPLAYER ONEXGPU eGPU docking station or GPD G1. This will give us a massive boost in performance not only for gaming but also tasks such as image and video editing and encoding.

We connected the ONEXGPU to the portable gaming PC via OCuLink for the best performance and ran the following games at 2560×1600 resolution. On Forza Horizon 5 we got 130 Frames per second. On Shadow of the Tomb Raider we got 131 Frames per second and on Call Of Duty Modern Warfare II we got 92 Frames per second.

That’s a large increase in performance especially considering the 1600P screen resolution.

Gaming Performance

Forza Horizon 5

You can set to 2560×1600 resolution, Low graphics for above 60 FPS, or High locked to 40 FPS. Lower the resolution for higher frames per second and/or graphics quality.

No Mans Sky

You can set 2560×1600 resolution and Standard Graphics quality. You can lower the resolution for higher quality graphics if you wanted to.

Hello Neighbour 2

You can run this at 2560×1600 at High graphics settings

Steamworld Dig 2

You can play this at 2560×1600 resolution and set the TDP to 5W to save battery power.

Emulation Performance

PS3

The majority of compatible PlayStation 3 games will run great. You may experience some occasional frame drops during busy scenes but nothing game breaking.

Vita

Depending on the compatibility and the game you should have no issues. We can run Street Fighter X Tekken at 2x resolution with occasional FPS drops.

Ryujinx

There are many playable games, especially third party games. For first party games you will see a drop in performance.

Xbox 360

Lower demanding compatible games are very playable. As you go to higher demanding games you will see a drop in performance.

ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD Review Final Thoughts

Time to sum up our final thoughts of our ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD review. The ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD is an interesting way to go for a gaming handheld. We like that you can remove the keyboard and controllers to transform it into a tablet which is great for your day to day use in both the home and work. You can add the keyboard if you want to type something longer on the portable gaming computer like a Word document for example. Then later either attach the controllers to the X1 or use the controller connector and play some games either handheld or having the X1 sitting on a desk.

This gives you a bit more choice in how you want to use ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD which is great, much like the WIN MAX 2 2024 with its covers to hide the controls. Admittedly it is perhaps not as nice looking as the Win MAX 2 with built in controllers, but you do have the convenience of swapping in and out the keyboard and controllers on the X1 as required.

In terms of performance we couldn’t really fault the ONEXPLAYER X1 mobile gaming PC. In all but one of the benchmarks we had excellent scores, either the top or near to it. This is partly due to the newer AMD graphics drivers actually working well when compared to their older drivers. Also do keep in mind that the X1 has OCuLink support, the performance increase is great and we have no complaints here.

The ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD is an ideal choice for someone that desires a compact gaming PC that can be used in the office environment without drawing any attention. Then while out of hours you can easily game on it with attaching the controls or using the connector. You get the best of both worlds with the ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD.

You can learn more about and buy the ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD and ONEXPLAYER X1 Mini at their respective links.

That wraps up our ONEXPLAYER X1 AMD review, we hope you have found it useful. If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comments and we will be happy to answer.