Tenku Luna: Japan's Entry into the PC Gaming Handheld Market
There's a new player that has entered the successful PC gaming handheld market, and this one is Japanese. Say hello to the Tenku Luna, which is being proudly touted as the first of its type from a Japanese company. So, what is the hype, and do you care. Let's dig in and find out.
What's Under the Hood of this New Contender.
At first glance, the Luna might appear to be some other mass-market handheld available today, but it's got some special sauce of its own. It's a 7-inch device, weighing in at 666 grams, and it's loaded to bring the goods without breaking the bank.
Internally, the Tenku Luna packs an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U APU. Now, yes, this is an older generation chip than the downright newest out there, but it's no slouch. This APU is notoriously for providing performance equivalent to basically the Ryzen Z1 Extreme and the Ryzen 7 8840U for most gaming chores. That is to say, you can reasonably expect it to play most modern triple-A games, especially if you're aiming to play at silky smooth frame rates at 720p or maybe a bit above.
Plentiful Specs for Gliding Gameplay
This is where the party gets started. Tenku is not skimping on the RAM. The Luna goes live with a generous 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM, clocked at a fast 6,400 MT/s. That is a significant jump over the 16GB so widely used as the standard in most rival models, perhaps giving you more wiggle room on resource-hungry games and multitasking.
Storage is also amply provided, with choices of 1TB or 2TB. And if all this is not sufficient, there's a microSD 4.0 card reader to further augment your collection of games. Lighting it all up is a 50.04 Wh battery, complete with 65W fast charging, so you can top up and get back in the game in next to no time. Connectivity is also current, with Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E onboard.
A Display Built for Speed
Appearance-wise, you'll be experiencing a 7-inch IPS display. It is a full-on 1080p display with a standard 16:9 ratio, but the big plus here is the 120Hz refresh rate. This should translate to as smooth and responsive as can be and some pretty stunning-looking fast-paced games.
Price and Availability: The Japanese Advantage.
So far, the Tenku Luna is launching only in Japan. It launched with a competitive price tag of JPY 79,800 (around $552 USD), lower than its usual price of JPY 86,900 (around $601 USD).
Pre-orders are expected to start shipping on May 30th. As for when the rest of the world might get their hands on the Tenku Luna, there's no official word just yet. But given its specs and competitive pricing, many will surely be keeping an eye out for news of an international release.
The Tenku Luna seems to be an exciting new player in the rapidly expanding world of PC gaming handhelds. With its Japanese roots, solid core specs, and focus on high-refresh-rate display, it's definitely one to watch.
