GPD Pocket 4 - The Best UMPC in 2025?

[@ThePhawx]

It looks like AutoDubbing is still processing on this video. This video should have a number of languages available soon hopefully!

[@X862go]

Thanks i love these deep dives just imagine where we will be in 5 years.

[@RuruLaRuru]

Stop drinking coke zero its ultra unhealthy and will give you diabetes also you are in taking more fat. I tell you this because my parents uses to drink it while trying to lose weight but ended up with worse health. Normal soda is better or flavored water. Ill even buy you drinks lol

[@davefroman4700]

If you want it for gaming?? The 890M is a HUGE upgrade over the 780m

[@iBangAPES]

honestly, GPD is the only company that i truly respect in the mini PC Handheld space. the amounts of features and innovations in each of their models and iteration are just too good. Ayaneo use to be a close 2nd but they kinda followed suit that RetroPocket has been doing where they keep selling "new" models but almost to no improvements almost monthly.

[@Deinorius]

Innovations are cool and neat, but more importantly the devices as a whole should be worth to be bought. GPD devices at least have a good niche, while Ayaneo has to compete with Asus and Lenovo (the Steam Deck is on another level, except with the performance ofc). So, some technical innovation might help, but price, different OS and support would I call more important innovations.

[@GoblinArmyInYourWalls]

GPD has a history of kowingly shipping bad units, and ghosting people who RMA over dead on arrival devices, then lying about it and publicly calling others liars. Terrible. Kendyzu should be fired.

[@HPPrintervx4p5q]

Retroid only did it once with the rp3 to rp3+. The rest were pretty good jumps

[@deluge6479]

You think the retroid pocket 4 and 5 are similar? Lmao. That's just hating

[@sindrisuncatcher653]

I love how the engineers at GPD actually add new capabilities to their machines. Too many companies seem to think that it counts as innovative to replace their 13" and 15" laptops with a single 14" device. 8.8" is significantly less pocketable than the win mini, but it's way smaller than anybody else's "ultraportable" designs, and when everybody else is dropping I/O down to one or two usbc ports GPD is giving you modular connectors and video-in. I can't justify buying one myself, but if I didn't already have a tiny pc from GPD I definitely would.

[@Richard.Goldenman]

Its such a breath of fresh air to see, GPD seem to have fun with adding new capabilities!

[@evilhamsters08]

The KZbin algorithm put this on my path, and I really must say, that thumbnail to video transition is something I have NEVER seen before. Well done!

[@deluge6479]

Plenty of KZbinrs do that lol, relax

[@Goalier95]

When The Phawx smiles in the thumbnails, it's a sweet, sweet, sick device. And those speakers... WOW! Great job GPD!!

[@donjaime_ett]

Would love to know how this performs in Linux. This could be a super nice sys-admin IT "do everything" machine!

[@ThePhawx]

Making a separate video on this

[@kittydlyw]

@@ThePhawx I'm really interested in this device as an iPad Mini alternative. Always wanted a small form factor color e-reader, video device, small bit of gaming, and portable linux console, and had been so close to just calling it quits and ordering an iPad Mini since it does some of what I want somewhat okay despite generally staying clear of the Apple ecosystem both out of principle and because the lock down systems feel frustrating to use. Having heard of the Pocket 4 being announced with a decent processor and specs, it feels like it has the potential to be the perfect* device! I'm really excited we are getting samples into reviewers hands now. Please share more about what you think of this :) *minor/non-dealbreaking issues aside

[@raeedibnzaman1]

@@kittydlyw I think if this thing has pen support it's probably way much more capable than an iPad mini. The only deferring factor would be the price.

[@magfal]

​@@raeedibnzaman1it's got support for capacitive pens aka same as most non explicit pen supporting touch devices. I've only found one decent capacitive pens and it's an AliExpress product that looks and feels too much like the Apple Pencil 2.

[@CanOfFanta7]

Don't watch a lot of your videos but tbh fair play for how gorgeous and seamless your video thumbnail is with the thumbnail preview and the start the video. I Don't know if a lot realise or if its normal on KZbin. But good stuff Phawx

[@datsneakysnek]

I also love that he does this. Is it difficult to do or is it as simple as him recording the video then grabbing a screen shot from the video, then simply starting the video from the exact moment he got the screenshot from?

[@WalcomS7]

It seems like the exact same display that's on the Legion Go, which is beautiful.

[@xPLAYnOfficial]

Why hello there. I suppose we'll be seeing this crammed in a Dart Zone blaster in the future? ;)

[@LeoK-]

your battery life graphs are so good

[@HARLANP]

I've been waiting for an updated pocket, so glad they kept the modules. I got the 365 + KVM!

[@Calamity-Spice]

I got the 365 too. The price difference between it and the 370 paid for the RS-232 and the LTE module.

[@mystechry]

I am disappionted that microSD requires the expansion module. It would be awesome to have micro SD and LTE

[@fellowninja]

The retro game emulation scene is going to love this thing.

[@sullychow4123]

I've been burned by GPD twice, their customer service and repair services is terrible. They ship defunct broken products far too frequently to be trustworthy. And you get second rate service if you're not in China, for expensive devices like these that's not OK.

[@naoseiquela00]

Twice?

[@naoseiquela00]

Wich models showed problems with you?

[@Calamity-Spice]

I had superb customer service from GPD. I killed the battery on my Micro PC by leaving it uncharged for 6 months and they shipped a replacement for no charge.

[@bazzers]

The loudness will help in a loud server room, like for a Zoom session w/ colleague with shared screen to attached server to help in diagnosis. And you don't have your headphones with you. And it's a non-LOM/OOB/remote-KVN situation.

[@magfal]

Ordered my HX 370 64GB version and all modules this night. Also planning to get a 4TB mp600 Pro NH and a couple of Wisecoco's 9 inch portable monitors.

[@ThePhawx]

WHOA! Going all out! ✅This is what being an enthusiast is all about

[@mannyw_]

@@ThePhawx The only way to get the HX 370 is to go with the 64 GB model. 32GB version on igg has the HX 365 unfortunately

[@magfal]

@@ThePhawx I'm surprised that there are no reviews for the 9 inch 2560x1600 500 nits Wisecoco portable monitors

[@mannyw_]

Amazon reviews seem decent. Thanks for mentioning this, I might get one of these or maybe a slightly larger monitor myself. If it can be used vertically for programming, that’d be perfect.

[@magfal]

@@mannyw_ I'll review mine in a few days, when it arrives.

[@tominfhl]

Lack of Oculink is a serious miss. Even an Oculink module would have been appreciated.

[@chamoo232]

I'm guessing the kind of port they use for the module is not really as fast as Oculink so it wouldn't be quite the same as a proper one. And since this laptop is not aimed for gaming, they didn't bother making it as compatible as possible with the G1 eGPU. The new GPD Win4 2025 on the other hand has the same chip and Oculink. That should be quite a gaming handheld beast.

[@MisterN1]

ThePhawx: "Not a good case for running games" Me: Laughs in old games and every emulator from PS2 down. Jokes aside I would love that device for a little productivity tool. When compared to an iPad I'm picking the GPD Pocket 4 every time. It's not pushing anything modern at high refresh rates but it's really impressive that it's able to run a modern game above 30FPS. All of that for a thousand dollars sounds like a steal to me.

[@dogoku]

14:40 Oculink to me doesn't make sense on such a portable device. It's not hot-pluggable and the connectors are way more fragile than compared to usb-c. I have the WinMax 2 2023 which offers both, but I primarily use the USB-4. I have an eGPU dock (ADT-UT3G) that uses a modern Asmedia controller instead of the old Intel TB3 controllers. The perf difference from Oculink is only about 5-10% which is a fair tradeoff for the plug-n-play convenience. I see Oculink as being better suited for mini PCs that are not going to be moved around very often.

[@lj9513]

Very helpful and professional review! thanks a bunch!

[@md8590]

I dont know why companies stopped making mini laptops like this. I still got my trusty acer 10.1 from back in the day and its the best sized laptop. Hope the big companies start making them again. Only downside to this thing is the touchscreen imo

[@inkermoy]

you can always disable touchscreen in the Device Manager. ;D

[@FS-zt6tm]

No pen support is baffling. Why remove this functionality when the previous model had it?

[@Calamity-Spice]

Because it is pointless on a tiny screen?

[@r47926]

Where do they say that there is no pen support?

[@FS-zt6tm]

​@@r47926 on the official page. It says: Supports 10-point Touch Supports Capacitive Stylus

[@_Digitalguy]

@@r47926 GPD confirmed it in their own videos

[@icerink239]

Only nitpick I have is that they should've included 2 m.2 slots if they weren't planning on adding an oculink port

[@yo.poldoo]

9:35 I'm really curious how much battery life can you save with lowering the resolution and refresh rate while doing light tasks. I own a win mini and I did lower the resolution and frame rate but the change in battery life wasn't really noticable.

[@pkilljoy5797]

cant wait to see the next gpd win mini tbh, i love mine but im hoping for something just a tad bigger

[@julianwarren8059]

A bigger gpd win would be the gpd win max 2

[@TechnobikerID]

no pen support and no oculink are deal breaker for me. so sad that I've been waiting for this for the last couple years.

[@naoseiquela00]

No pen support?

[@_Digitalguy]

Same for me, while I would have been ok without oculink, no pen support is a deal breaker, otherwise this would have been perfect. I have also been waiting for this for years....

[@isthisnametaken978]

Didn't the pocket 3 have stylus support? This is a massive downgrade.

[@TechnobikerID]

@@isthisnametaken978 they remove the pen support on the pocket 4. what a bummer.

[@fluentdiscsport]

It supports pen from what I understand, just not pressure sensitive.

[@hassb6348]

I just wish the win mini was this size.. take the trackpad and put it dead center in the middle of the keyboard. squish the keys on both sides of the trackpad to make it easier to type with both thumbs. 100%DCIP3 screen, and BIGGER battery. doing this will also mean i dont have to touch the hottest part of the device anymore where the trackpad is originally located. love my win mini, but this is my wishlist.

[@RemTilak]

Huh. Neat. The more videos about the GPD Pocket 4 I see, the more I'd like to buy one.

[@budthecyborg4575]

The lack of triggers and analog sticks does pretty firmly say "this is not a gaming device". I really hope they put OLED on the Win Max 2 2025.

[@Br--kfast]

i hate the dedicated console control on win max. this is way more attractive and slick

[@magfal]

For me it's a 90% pro, 10% gaming device when time is concerned. For that split using a controller like the BSP-D8 PRO is an okay compromise.

[@magfal]

Forgot to mention: I've designed a slip on friction fit adapter that lifts the Pocket 4 enough to avoid impeding the cooling. Also a more solid connection. I'll need to receive my device to finish the design.

[@Hodori-mf3ct]

Pocket line isn't intended to be a gaming device. More for professional work related.

[@Kopra86]

Thank you for your honest review. I personally will continue to use my combination of GPD Win4 7840u and GPD G1 for a while. The performance differences are still too small for me to upgrade, even though I am using my devices more and more productively and am very interested in the Pocket

[@MrKelaher]

love GPD, my mini is still in regular use.

[@najeebshah.]

no oculink is CRIMINAL also that display is just driving cost and killing battery , a 60hz freesync 1080p or 1200p display would have made more sense

[@Calamity-Spice]

I like the pixels. Refresh rate, meh.

[@OGaurabless]

I wish these new GPD's were a bit cheaper but the premiums do make it tempting! still on the first gpd max but $699-799 with the AI chip would be my sweet spot even with a smaller nvme included. The 8840ou seems like the same chip as the 7xxx version, but maybe this upcoming year their could be a more mid range priced gpd with a decently updated chip. It seems its still at enthusiast prices currently. But glad your informative and covering the newest devices! thanks Phawx!

[@jonsmith6331]

Microsoft has 13 years to figure out how to add a true tablet mode for windows and they literally cannot get the job done.

[@mannyw_]

It was pretty decent with 8.1 iirc

[@jonsmith6331]

@ I recall that being a glorified fullscreen start menu. Nothing past that was a tablet experience.

[@0xKruzr]

still mad there's no stylus support / 2048-level active digitizer. :(

[@Gengh13]

Same here, that form factor is calling for stylus support when the screen is in tablet mode.

[@AkiTsukita]

I really like how GPD design their Pocket series. Simple and clean.

[@goq9757]

I'm counting on this kind of setup next year: FEVM FN 60G WE (3.8l mini pc with rtx 4090m, i9-14900KF, liquid cooling so no throttling), Magedok 13.3" screen with 4k OLED 60hz, JoyClamp adapter (which turns the Magedok screen into a fairly large home handheld) and wainding for GPD WIN 5 as a travel handheld. Let me know what you think!

[@tomoprime217]

I was psyched for this until I noticed lots of missing keys on the keyboard. I still would love to see a step between a Win Max 2 and a Win Mini.The search remains on.

[@GoncaloRijo]

My GPD Pocket 3 just died... it does not turn on... I hope this one does not suffer from this problem...

[@OblivionPrime]

replace the battery? or power cycle

[@magfal]

Charge light?

[@GoncaloRijo]

It was the changing circuit that went caput... I can manually charge the battery outside the laptop, but inside it does not move energy into the battery.

[@seppeseppe-jq7nr]

​@@GoncaloRijoShipping to China for 12 Weeks repairing 😂

[@prosetheus]

I think they're using the Legion Go's display in this.

[@GameTechTalk]

That thing is SEXY! Oculink would have literally cannibalized sales of so many other devices, even unreleased one, bit sad its not there but otherwise, chefskiss! Thanks, great video Phawx.

[@Gengh13]

System power seems really high, is it mostly the display? Any chance you can test system power at 60hz or 90hz if available and at lower brightness? Or without wifi? Something I love about my original Pocket is that at idle the OS still tells me over 20hs of battery life, it used to be something over 24hs when new.

[@_Jsmooth]

What joy-cons are you using?! Looks dope!

[@yos2413]

@thepawx consider please doing a small tokens/second benchmark test for llm inference with ollama with any small model so that we can get a feel for the local inference speed.

[@hanweitan7271]

I wonder if they have finally added BIOS controlled charging feature to allow charging to 80%. A lot of users on Reddit mentioned that their older GPD devices' battery became bloated after 1 year of use.

[@afilmbywhereisone8990]

Great video!! Would you say that this is a good laptop for working? I have the mini and its too small to realistically use for work especially typing. so I wonder if i should get this pocket4 or maybe wait for the WinMax 2025. What do you think?

[@verygoodbrother]

Tandem OLED with a matte screen like on the Huawei matepad pappermatte is all that i am waiting for.

[@Kainnex]

I'm strongly against that freaking rotating hinge. Within 4 years of waiting since pocket 2 I've been asking Gpd for a classic latch design 3 times. They seemingly do not listen to user feedback on Reddit either. This negligence diverted me from buy their thing. Now this display power consumption issue has convinced me I was right not giving this piece a crap a chance. Thank you Phawx. This info came right in time.

[@Gabonro]

Its a weird decision that would have made sense if they actually supported touch sensitive pens. The max 2 does support pressure sensitive pens, but doesn't have the swiveling screen, making the pens feature hard to use. I think enough people needed it to flip to a portrait screen as a touch panel so they wouldn't need to carry 2 devices. It might be best if they had "merged" the 2 product lines so that the max 2 could have touch sensitive screens that flip, and the pocket 3/4/ect had standard hinges with dual ssd slots. Just idea you could push since you won't convince them to "remove" a feature, but if they only need to make one board for each chip/ram config, that might catch their interest.

[@Hodori-mf3ct]

Hi Phawx!

[@ThePhawx]

Hello!

[@PeterNXavier]

I'm going to get this for work.

[@mcasma1523]

Why not include a 5G module? Will they release one in the future, or is it planned for the GPD Pocket 5? Is it possible to make and receive calls and messages using the 4G LTE module?

[@DrekiTech]

no active pen?

[@_Digitalguy]

No, no pen support, just touch screen

[@cmbaz1140]

This device would be perfect for me.

[@bladegaming9203]

damn, that opening was smooth ❤

[@CentauriSatoko]

How is this different to the Win Max 2? Comparison video?

[@cmbaz1140]

One device to rule them all.

[@Boglin5000]

Are you able to park cores like you can with the GPD DUO?

[@rytjson4487]

I picked up the pocket for and unfortunately I can't get tablet mode to work.. is no toggle for tablet mode.. it would be handy if when we turned around the screen it went into tablet mode

[@novelezra]

I love everything about how wacky GPD are, but I really hate the huge keyboard letting. Id change the keycaps immediately if I had one haha

[@Strangepaper]

How is performance compared to Win Max 2 2024?

[@hanslim4031]

Id love to see its comparison against a macbook. I think it would be a good video for the general consumer to have a benchmark on 😊

[@iblackfeathers]

for a version 4 the keyboard layout is a bit disappointing from a productivity standpoint. thought they would take into account the previous complaints from the pocket 3.

[@fellowninja]

I might come off as incredibly dumb, but they say they include both Ubuntu installed and an included Windows 11 license. Is it dual boot?

[@StudlerCH]

Will you also review the Win Max 2 2025?

[@NatalieRath]

How long is the battery life though?

[@adriannasyraf3534]

no Oculink? that's sad

[@retrohandhelds]

You had me at Hearthstone ❤

[@ThePhawx]

We should Hearth some Stones!

[@retrohandhelds]

This is preferable to me. I'll send my deets!

[@fluentdiscsport]

Can you post a link to the JoyCon's you used in the review?

[@Adaminkton]

A problem I see with the keyboard if this laptop is the lack of right alt button. In many languages like Polish for example it's used to write the special letters (ą, ę, ć etc.) without it I don't know how would you even type on it.

[@abaj006]

With the HX 370 its like a mobile desktop in a tiny device.

[@fedayeen_revolutionist]

I didn't get you, for productivity, it's good? How about gaming though, can you repeat just one last time?

[@blitzbulz]

I’m exicited with this device, but after i know the native screen is potrait, i’m a bit dissapointed. Gpd win mini already native landscape. Why don’t this device sceen use it too? I’ll wait for the revision version. I bet gpd will change that screen…

[@swenic]

5:00 it is not the same kvm modules for th epockt 3 and 4

[@swenic]

and they are not compatible. Something about different pins or pinot. I don't know for sure but I dont think any of the modules are compatible between 3 and 4.

[@thibaldus3]

A gpd win version with joysticks would have been cool.

[@TheREZOR]

Unbelievable, so many reviews and no one try to run Stalker 2 yet

[@PerfectlyFriedBread]

4:07 two takes for the price of one :P

[@jurjcluners8490]

I just want a compact laptop to play RuneScape on the go(at work).

[@johnosam4681]

Is this hdcp compliant?

[@lengors7327]

If they could get a 60-70Wh battery into it, that would be amazing

[@kalyanijadhav169]

Pricee???in india??

[@Deinorius]

Me personally, if I would be a buyer of this device, I would have preferred the keyboard be near the display and instead of a touchpad having it a TrackPoint. It already has the same buttons for the TrackPoint! xD

[@PeterNXavier]

If i'm standing in front of a server, i want the current setup with the mouse on the left and the trackpad on the right.

[@snarfbot]

is it oled or ips

[@ainran]

Awesome review, very helpful thank you. Appreciate the rapid turnaround with your schedule ! Nice job GPD. My use case is largely productivity including AI (gaming as nice to have) and so far the WM2's have been my daily drivers. On balance the P4 is a lovely machine, and ticks boxes on performance, size, weight, screen, keyboard, KVM, LTE. Small gripes (perhaps more like future wishlist): Agree on Oculink; until we have a stable and large TB5 ecosystem, Oculink is important. I miss the active pen, its low use, but when I need it, I need it. On battery, I would be fine with some extra weight if the capacity could be upped by 50%. I would have preferred the KVM module as the default since I can use USB for MicroSD Card. The 96GB RAM option would be nice. I enjoyed the Discord comment that AMD should hire Hotz to give the AI driver ecosystem a boost.

[@o0Dan0o]

Love the innovation, but yeah, not my ideal gaming handle

[@ricya1982]

6:00 them speakers are LOUD!!! for a small laptop

[@HaydenCMH]

Quick question regarding the expansion module.. any chance of an Oculink module? Or is that not technically possible?

[@ThePhawx]

I wish. Afaik, it's not wired for that and essentially is extended to USB+ internal plumbing to connect KB+touchpad

[@TechnobikerID]

i asked them already, they said that they can't make it, because oculink operates from pcie and the slot module is USB. and also no pen support 😢

[@EzaneeGires]

1440p or 1600?

[@Haseebdoeseverything]

It should have occulink port.

[@GLow-um6nh]

YTber never really gave any compelling reasons why he considered the pocket 4 not a good choice for gaming. Is it because is doesn't have a built-in gamepad? or??? GPD put a 144Hz screen, which benefits gaming the best, shown the pocket 4 playing games on its own videos, etc. Don't think that doing any work-related config, console / serial access, etc would require anything more than 60Hz refresh...YTber is known for metrics and benchmarks, but strange that he didn't really develop and explain his opinion beyond the implied reducing the refresh rate to conserve battery consideration...which applies to anything...

[@Respectmyskill07]

The HX-370 isn't really worthwhile in low TDP scenarios, and when considering price-to-performance, the 8840 is the clear winner.

[@OblivionPrime]

GPD really needs to start actually using bigger battery's its the main reason i won't buy gpd

[@Kinrian2797]

Silver lining it accept 100w charging so eventually they will get there

[@poulan9]

GPD need to find out which components which are not CPU are power hogging and address it. Total system power usage is out of control.

[@OblivionPrime]

@@poulan9 that as well

[@Kinrian2797]

@@poulan9 honestly though if gpd had the same funding and standing as valve or Asus. It would be interesting to see what they could do with electrical components specifically designed for their handheld.

[@nosuchthing8]

​@@poulan9500 nits

[@cme9241]

GPD in a league by themselves

[@splitcryptic]

Is it true that it no longer has pen input on the display?

[@Gengh13]

@@splitcryptic yes, unfortunately.

[@mrwoodcat]

without stylus support this is kinda pointless

[@teddyvazquez672]

So I found a gaming phone for you i think you should review it Sony Xperia 1 IV 5G Gaming

[@Acikexe]

Let's hope they create an Oculink module.

[@TechnobikerID]

i asked them already, they said that they can't make it, because oculink operates from pcie and the slot module is USB. and also no pen support 😢

[@Acikexe]

@@TechnobikerID I forgot that Oculink operates using PCIe technology.

[@engineering_guy]

Dude why do you keep calling it 3070...its 370 right?? Ive had to double check 2 times now..i keep thinking they launched something new

[@WM-gr4qi]

It doesn't have oculink nor Thunderbolt 5.

[@ElliotDeLaCruz44]

Carey, take your toupee off on the nest NerdNest live stream!!!!

[@magfal]

I'm disappointed in one thing: that they didn't expose both 40Gbit ports from the HX 370 on the back for the HX 370 version. Still bought it but I would love to have attached both my eGPUs to this machine when docked. I would have upgraded one to a 4090 and kept my other one an RX 6800. Sooo much available compute when docked if they did that.

[@ThePhawx]

I'm this way as well. Sometimes I feel like GPD has design goals that align with some vision of use-cases that I don't see :D

[@magfal]

@@ThePhawx I got the explanation that it was due to board space.

[@SeanClarke]

I've wanted a small form factor PC to carry with me, but that hinge is so ugly I would never buy this model. Hopefully they'll make a nicer looking device next time.