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So, let me get this straight. ONE-Netbook just dropped the specs for their new handheld, the OneXPlayer OneXFly Apex, and they’re bragging about a 120-watt TDP.
One hundred and twenty watts.
In a device that’s supposed to fit in your hands. This isn't a feature; it’s a cry for help. It’s like putting a V8 engine in a go-kart and calling it an "innovative transportation solution." You’re not innovating, you’re just creating a more expensive and spectacular way to crash.
A Spec Sheet at War With Common Sense
The Spec Sheet Fever Dream
Look, I get it. The heart of this thing, the AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 APU—or "Strix Halo" if you're into codenames—is supposed to be a monster. It’s the new silicon that’s meant to finally, finally blur the line between a handheld and a legit gaming laptop. And I admit, a part of my cynical, withered soul is genuinely excited to see what that chip can do. An 8-inch, 120Hz VRR screen is also exactly what you want to see. It’s a beautiful display on paper.
But then reality comes crashing back in, and it’s holding a fire extinguisher.
To handle that 120W of raw, hand-cooking power, they’ve engineered a cooling system that includes a "detachable silent liquid cooling" solution. What does that even mean? Is it a little backpack for my handheld? A sidecar I have to bolt on? The entire point of a handheld is portability, and they’re selling an accessory that sounds like it needs its own carrying case. This is a bad idea. No, 'bad' doesn't cover it—this is a profoundly stupid idea born from a marketing meeting where someone said "more is better" and nobody had the guts to disagree.
It reminds me of those ridiculous third-party cooling fans people used to clip onto their Xbox 360s. They were loud, ugly, and barely worked, but they let you pretend you were solving a fundamental design flaw. That’s what this is. A band-aid for a self-inflicted wound.
And the battery. An 85Wh removable battery. That’s the one spec on this list that makes a lick of sense. Offcourse it has to be removable, because at 120W, you’ll be lucky to get through a single round of Apex Legends before it’s dead. You're not buying a gaming device; you're buying into a battery-swapping ecosystem. You'll need a bandolier of these things just to play through a commute.
This whole thing feels less like a product and more like a dare.
An Apex Predator in an Imaginary Food Chain
But Who Is This For? Seriously.
This is where the whole fantasy collapses. The rumor mill, which is usually pretty on the money with these things, is putting the price tag somewhere around $2,300.
Two. Thousand. Three. Hundred. Dollars.
For a handheld. A handheld that will still be thermally throttled, that will still have the ergonomic compromises of a handheld, and that will be obsolete in 18 months. You can buy a monster of a gaming laptop for that price. You could build a screaming desktop PC and still have money left over for a Steam Deck for when you actually want to leave the house.
We’re already seeing this play out. GPD is making a device with the same chip, the Win 5, and from what I hear, the hype train for that one never even left the station because of the insane price. So ONE-Netbook’s answer is to make their version… bigger? With a larger battery to feed the hungrier furnace inside?
They’re all trapped in the same arms race. GPD, AYANEO, ONE-Netbook. They’re so obsessed with chasing the title of "most powerful" that they've completely lost track of the user. They're not trying to be the best handheld; they're trying to be the best laptop in a handheld's body, and it ain't working. They're building the apex predator of a food chain that doesn't exist.
Then again, maybe I'm the one who's crazy. Maybe there’s a secret society of rich tech enthusiasts who see a $2,300 price tag not as a bug, but as a feature. A way to prove they have the absolute best, even if the experience of using it is a mess of external cooling contraptions and pocketfuls of spare batteries. Maybe I’m just not the target audience, and honestly…
If that’s the case, I’m perfectly fine with it.
This Is Getting Stupid
Let's be real. This device isn't for gamers. Gamers are practical. We want performance, sure, but we want it at a price that makes sense, in a form factor that doesn't require a separate cooler and a bag of batteries. The OneXFly Apex is a tech demo, a proof-of-concept masquerading as a consumer product. It's a trophy for people who care more about benchmark scores than they do about actually playing games. The handheld market found its soul with the Steam Deck by balancing power and price. This? This is the industry trying its hardest to lose it again.
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