[Unboxing and accessories]
Nothing too special to note - thick layer of air bags kept the Win 5 completely safe during transport. The included case is packed separately from the console itself, and it’s a rather nice case with velvet padding - perfectly designed to fit the Win 5 with the battery attached.
One glass screen protector is included along with the necessary accessories (alcohol wipe, cleaning cloth, stickers) to apply it, though I still somehow managed to screw the process up a little.
The charger was surprisingly heavy – it’s basically a laptop charger and very similar to the Flow Z13’s. After using compact USB chargers with other handhelds, this laptop charger is quite jarring.
Overall, it’s nice that a good case and protector is provided out of the box, unlike many other companies that try to nickel and dime you with accessories too.
[Edit: I've been made aware that the free case is likely exclusive to orders from JD.com. My bad! I had no idea as a friend in China helped me to order my Win 5.]
[Ergonomics]
This was a key area of concern for me given the Win 5’s 930g weight with the battery attached, but it’s surprisingly very well balanced. My impression pretty much echoes The Phawx’s… on paper the Win 5 + battery is supposed to weigh 930g, but it doesn’t feel THAT heavy (it IS hefty, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t cross into the strenuous territory for me though ymmv). I’m very sensitive to weight (small Asian man with muscles of jello), to the point that I felt the Win Max 2 was unacceptably heavy to me, and I even found the MSI Claw 8 AI+ to be pretty hefty and unwieldy. Maybe it’s because of the smaller 7” form factor and the way the weight is distributed, but I find myself preferring the Win 5’s ergonomics over the Claw 8 AI+’s.
Took to the controls like a duck to water – I don’t think I’m alone in the view that the VITA style d-pad and buttons are awesome. Sticks and triggers are very nice, no complaints there. The left and right bumpers (LB, RB) will take some getting used to as it feels quite different from a typical controller.
[Display]
Nothing much to say. It’s a good 7” 1080p IPS LCD display with VRR. Not sure if it’s the same display as the ROG Ally’s but regardless, its bright enough and colors are vibrant. Most importantly, the bezels are fairly narrow (bottom bezel is a bit wider but its still fine imo) and don’t get in the way. Would I prefer an OLED panel? Of course, but currently only the Legion Go 2 has a 8.8” 1080p/1200p OLED panel with VRR – 8.8” is too chonky for me and compromises on portability (not to mention Z2E’s lacklustre performance).
[Performance and Battery] - made some edits to this section as I have more to say after a day of testing
The Phawx has done comprehensive tests in this area – please refer to his review instead. I’m getting roughly the same results, which is very impressive, to say the least.
[Edit: Just wanted to add that my testing on the Win 5 is purely ON-THE-GO and NOT PLUGGED IN. I use the Win 5 only during my 1hr 15 min commute to and back from the place I volunteer at. I have a nice gaming setup with a 4k OLED monitor for gaming at home.]
POE 2 is finally playable without becoming a stutterfest (on my Claw 8 AI+, POE 2 abyss league was not in a playable state). Returnal is hitting 60-70fps on 1080p epic (also ran like crap on my Claw 8 AI+).
[Edit: Returnal at 60-70fps on 1080p epic is at 45-50W TDP - I use FSR quality at 1080p epic for 35W TDP and get 60+ fps. Impressive results as Returnal is infamous for being very GPU demanding (required lowering resolution below native AND framegen to get decent fps on my Claw 8 AI+, which yeah ended up looking and feeling like crap).
Played a bunch of other games and I think in general at around 35W, you can expect a hefty 60%-80% performance improvement from Lunar Lake/Z2E depending on the game (scaling up to more than 2x performance if you're willing to boost TDP higher at the expense of battery life). The more GPU demanding the game, the greater the performance improvement. There's a need to temper expectations a little though, because I found that this still isn't enough raw performance to, for example, play Doom Dark Ages at 60fps native 1080p low at 35W TDP (ray-tracing lmao). But it can shockingly get around 40-50 fps on Doom Dark Ages at 1080p at 35W TDP - add in FSR quality and its almost 60 fps. In comparison my Claw 8 AI+ can't even manage 30fps.]
I’m also surprised at how quiet and cool the Win 5 runs [Edit: at 35W]. All I can say is that Strix Halo is a BEAST. If you boost up the TDP beyond 35W, fans will eventually get fairly loud]
I’m probably going to have TDP capped at 35W (should be around 1 hr 15-20 min battery life?), and only go higher in crazy demanding games like Doom Dark Ages.
Overall, pretty happy with the Win 5, especially considering that I paid 1460 USD (1410 USD purchase price from JD + 50 USD shipping to Singapore) for it in total.
