Life shows us time and time again that there is no surrender. And this Smach Team know a lot. I do not know if you remember, but they had to cancel their portable Steam Machine, called Smach Z, in late 2015, until they re-introduced it, with renewed features, last August.
Today, fortunately, he has started his new campaign on KickStarter, and he is petting it. It has been active for a few hours and he has amassed more than 190000 dollars, of the 250000 who ask for those responsible. And to be marketed in April 2017.
Technical characteristics of the new Smach Z
On the occasion of its rerun, Smach Team has become wet with the characteristics:
- Touchscreen from 6 inches to 1080p
- CPU: AMD Merlin Falcon RX-421BD (12-15w) SoC at 2.1 GHz
- GPU: Radeon R7 at 800 MHz
- RAM: 4GB or 8GB (Pro version)
- Internal storage memory: 64 GB or 128 GB (Pro version)
- Support for Windows 10 and / or Linux
- More than 5 hours of battery life
- Support for WiFi and Bluetooth
- 4G LTE Connectivity (Pro version)
- HDMI Output and USB 3.0 type C
- MicroSD Card Slot
- 1.3 megapixel front camera (Pro version)
As we have already seen Smach Team a few months ago, and as we have just seen once again knowing their current specifications (not definitive), we will have two models of Smach Z : the standard version, with the basics, and the Smach Z Pro, for the That are a bit more demanding.
And what about performance? Smach Team gets wet
On the basis that this will not be like having a high-end laptop PC, but rather one that would take the strain a few years ago, Smach Team has cleared some doubts in KickStarter doing the test with some recent games, such as ‘Overwatch’ (Which runs at 30 fps to 720p and in average quality), and others with a few years behind. Attentive to the full list:
- Alien: Isolation (35 fps to 720p in Ultra quality)
- Civilization 5 (28 fps to 1080p in high quality)
- Company of Heroes 2 (25 fps to 720p in Medium quality)
- Just Cause 2 (35 fps to 720p in Medium quality)
- Jotun (45 fps to 1080p)
- Metro: Last Light Redux (35 fps to 720p in High quality)
- Overwatch (30 fps to 720p in Media quality)
- Skyrim (25 fps to 720p in high quality)
- Spiral Knights (50 fps to 1080p)
- Tomb Raider: Survivor (40 fps to 720p in Medium quality)
- Torchlight II (35 fps to 1080p in Very High Quality)
- Xcom: Enemy Unknown (30 fps to 720p in high quality)
Half Steam Controller, Half Xbox One Elite
Smach Z also surprises by its control, following the approach of haptic pads of the Steam Controller, and with interchangeable insoles, as if an Elite controller of Xbox One were. And as you see, appealing to the most consoling nostalgia: Nintendo 64, Game Cube, Super Nintendo, Mega Drive …
Of course, these Z-Pads will be sold separately. By default this notebook comes with two haptic pads, a joystick (which can be pressed and therefore acts as another button), four front buttons, four triggers and two back buttons.
Smach Z, a laptop that will serve more
Of course, Smach Z will not be limited to the mere fact of playing PC games, whether GOG or Steam through the Big Picture mode, or even old console emulators. It will serve for more things.
Smach Team gives some examples:
- Multimedia center for watching movies or listening to music
- To browse the Internet
- Watch (or make) streamings of Twitch
- Make Skype video calls
But most importantly, it will be an open source laptop. If we want to install another Operating System, Smach Team will facilitate this task without problems.