September 2021 – Page 40 – news.buyenne.com

Chinese device maker GPD has been making handheld computers for a number of years, including models designed for gaming, general purpose usage, or IT administration duties.

But the upcoming GPD Pocket 3 will have three features the company has never offered before.

The GPD Pocket 3 will have an 8 inch display, Intel Jasper Lake or Tiger Lake processor options, and a QWERTY keyboard that’s just (barely) large enough for touch-typing. It also has a small touchpad above the right section of the keyboard and mouse-click buttons above the left side. There’s a power button in between them.

The Pocket 3 is also the first GPD device to feature:

A convertible tablet-style design
Stylus support
A modular design (one of the ports can be changed)

GPD’s latest handheld looks like a mini-laptop at first glance, but you can rotate the screen vertically 180 degrees so that it faces away from the keyboard, and then close it down over the keys for use in tablet mode.

While the Pocket 3 doesn’t come with a stylus in the box, it’s designed to work with an optional digital pen that you can use to write or draw on the screen with 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity.

And that modular feature allows you to choose what kind of port or other feature to have in the back right section of the Pocket 3. The mini-laptop ships with a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A module, but you can swap it out for one of two other modules, which are sold separately:

Serial RS-232 COM port
KVM & USB-input port

The serial port allows you to connect hardware like barcode printers, scanners, or other gear for use in commercial, retail, healthcare, or industrial industries. This is clearly an option aimed at IT pros.

Also for IT pros? The KVM & USB input module, which allows you to connect to another computer for device administration purposes. It lets you:

Plug in an HDMI cable and the GPD Pocket 3 becomes a display for a server, PC, or other hardware.
Connect an HDMI input and a USB input and use the Pocket 3 to view and control a connected machine without the need for remote desktop or cloud software.

GPD also notes that the Pocket 3 supports up to two external displays.

If you opt for a model with a Pentium Silver N6000 processor you get an HDMI 2.0b port and a USB-C port allowing you to connect up to two 4K displays with refresh rates up to 60 Hz.

The Core i7-1195G7 model has an HDMI 2.0b port and a Thunderbolt 4 port, which means you can plug a 4K@60Hz display into the HDMI port, while the Thunderbolt port works with displays up to 8K@60Hz.

While GPD hasn’t announced pricing, availability, the company plans to launch an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for the Pocket 3 soon, and the company has been doling out details a little at a time over the past month.

Here’s a run-down of the key specs for the GPD Pocket 3, which will be available in two versions (better specs are highlighted in bold):

GPD Pocket 3 specs
Processor	Intel Pentium Silver N6000 4 cores / 4 threads 1.1 GHz base / 3.3 GHz turbo 1.5MB L2 cache 4MB L3 cache 6W / 10W TDP Tremont architecture	Intel Core i7-1195G7 4 cores / 8 threads 2.9 GHz base / 5 GHz turbo 5MB L2 cache 12MB L3 cache 12W – 25W TDP Tiger Lake UP3 architecture
Graphics	Intel UHD 630 32 execution units 350 MHz base / 850 MHz max 256 shaders 4K@60 Hz DirectX 12 OpenGL 4.5	Intel Iris Xe with 96eu 96 execution units 400 MHz base / 1.4 GHz max 768 shaders 8K@60 Hz DirectX 12.1 OpenGL 4.6
Display	8 inches 1920 x 1200 pixels 248 ppi IPS LCD 500 nits 10-point multitouch 180 degree hinge	8 inches 1920 x 1200 pixels 248 ppi IPS LCD 500 nits 10-point multitouch 180 degree hinge
RAM	8GB LPDDR4x-2933	16GB LPDDR4x-3733
Storage	M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe 1.3 SSD 512GB	M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 x4 NVMe 1.3 or 1.4 SSD 1TB
Modular port	USB-A (included) RS-232 (sold separately) KVM / USB input (sold separately)	USB-A (included) RS-232 (sold separately) KVM / USB input (sold separately)
Other Ports	1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C 2 x 3.2 Gen 2 USB Type-A 1 x HDMI 2.0b 1 x 2.5 Gbps Ethernet 1 x 3.5mm mic/headphone combo	1 x Thunderbolt 4 2 x 3.2 Gen 2 USB Type-A 1 x HDMI 2.0b 1 x 2.5 Gbps Ethernet 1 x 3.5mm mic/headphone combo
Wireless	WiFi 6 Bluetooth 5.0	WiFi 6 Bluetooth 5.0
Keyboard	QWERTY chiclet-style keys Backlit	QWERTY chiclet-style keys Backlit
Webcam	2MP 77 degree field of view	2MP 77 degree field of view
Battery & Charging	38.5Wh 10,000 mAh battery 45W USB-C charger (20V/2.25A)	38.5Wh 10,000 mAh battery 45W USB-C charger (20V/2.25A)
Audio	Stereo speakers 3.5mm audio jack	Stereo speakers 3.5mm audio jack
Security	Fingerprint reader TPM 2.0	Fingerprint reader TPM 2.0
Cooling	Active (fan)	Active (fan)
Stylus	Microsoft Pen Protocol 2.0 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity Sold separately	Intel Core i7-Microsoft Pen Protocol 2.0 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity Sold separately
Materials	Aluminum unibody chassis	Aluminum unibody chassis
Dimensions	198 x 137 x 20mm	198 x 137 x 20mm
Weight	725 grams	725 grams

While the modular capabilities of the GPD Pocket 3 make it clear that the system is designed for use in professional settings, it’s also got the kind of horsepower that makes it an option for play as well as work.

The Pocket 3 doesn’t have built-in game controllers like the GPD Win and Win Max line of devices, so it’s clearly not designed specifically for gaming. But if you opt for a model with a Core i7-1195G7 processor and Intel Iris Xe graphics, it should be able to handle gaming reasonably well.

GPD released a short video showing Devil May Cry 5 running on the little computer:

If the GPD Pocket 3 design is giving you déjà vu, that may be because we’ve seen something very similar recently. The One Netbook A1 is a handheld computer released in 2020 which has a 7 inch, 1920 x 1200 pixel touchscreen display, and 180-degree swivel-style hinge that allows it to fold down over the keyboard for use in tablet mode, and support for an optional pressure-sensitive stylus.

One Netbook’s A1, which seemed to be the company’s response to the GPD MicroPC, also has a Gigabit Ethernet port and RS-232 COM port. The computer is powered by an Intel Core m3-8100Y processor and has 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a starting price of around $660 at the moment.

Now it looks like GPD is taking a page out of One Netbook’s playbook for the upcoming Pocket 3, although the GPD version will have a larger touchpad (rather than an optical pointing stick) and newer Intel processor since the Core m3-8100Y has been discontinued.

A few other expected features include a webcam, a full-sized HDMI port, two USB Type-A ports, a headset jack, and an Ethernet port.

via @softwincn and /r/GPDPocket

This article was originally published September 23, 2021 and last updated October 20, 2021.

The post GPD Pocket 3 handheld computer will be a convertible tablet with stylus support (and modular port options) appeared first on Liliputing.

Lotus Cars is developing a lightweight electric vehicle architecture for sports cars. It uses a die-cast rear subframe that packages the drive unit. For two-seaters, the battery pack goes behind the passenger compartment. [credit: Lotus Cars ]

Of all the automakers that are undergoing the transformation from internal combustion to electric propulsion, few have my interest quite like Lotus. Partly that's because I first became a car nerd after discovering the Lotus Seven. But it's also because light weight has always been a core Lotus attribute, and while electric vehicles have much to recommend them, "light" they typically are not.

This would be immaterial until relatively recently, because the small British sports car company didn't have the resources to consider a switch to electric. But in 2017 Lotus was bought by Geely, also the owner of a freshly revitalized Volvo. As is the Geely way, Lotus got some much-needed investment and has been set to work on electrification.

In April of this year Lotus revealed that its plans now include four new platforms, three of which are entirely electric. This week we got a glimpse into the way the company is thinking about EVs, as it released some details about its lightweight elective vehicle architecture (or "Project LEVA" in Lotus-speak). The key is a newly developed rear subframe that's far lighter than the one in the V6-powered Emira (unveiled in July as the last internal combustion engine-powered Lotus).

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