Smach Z: An Upcoming Portable Gaming PC with AMD Radeon R7 Rivalling Nintendo Switch

Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation Portable are handheld gaming devices for the gamers on the go. Several companies have tried to compete with these gaming devices but have not been successful. A new device called Smach Z looks promising at giving a tough competition to Nintendo Switch.

The Spanish company called Smach is dreaming of putting processing power of a PC into a handheld gaming device called Smach Z. The portable gaming device will be compatible with Steam games and the project has already gathered more than $5,03,239 on Kickstarter. The project actually started back in 2015 well before the Nintendo Switch, reported TheVerge.

Smach Z is powered by an AMD RX-421BD SoC which features an AMD Merlin Falcon CPU operating at 2.1GHz and integrated AMD Radeon R7. This setup is powerful enough to play Skyrim or Overwatch. The base model of Smach Z has 4GB RAM and 64GB storage.

The upgraded version is called Smach Z Pro and it doubles the storage at 128GB and RAM to 8GB. Additionally, it also adds a front-facing camera and 4G connectivity to the gaming console. Both versions have a 6-inch screen with 1080p resolution, reported Slashgear.

Other specifications of the Smach Z include a microSD card slot for storage expansion and a USB 3.0 Type-C port, HDMI video out, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. As per the claims, battery life is rated for 5 hours. There is an option to purchase the device with Microsoft Windows 10 or Linux.

As per the benchmarks published by the company on its Kickstarter page, the device fairly handles modern games such as Overwatch, Skyrim and Just Cause 2. Smach Z can also be used a controller for playing games on PC and users can browse the internet, connect a mouse and keyboard and use it as a portable PC.

The Kickstarter project looks promising and it is rivaling Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation Portable. The Smach Z is expected to retail around $328 and the Smach Z Pro around $548. The expected date of release of Smach Z and Smach Z Pro is April 2017.