The Smach Z AMD+Linux Gaming Handheld Might Actually Ship This Year

Remember the Smach Z from 2015 as the portable AMD-powered Linux Steam gaming system? It went back to the drawing board but now it looks like it will actually ship in 2019.

Smach Z is expected to make its formal debut next week at the E3 gaming conference next week. The Smach Z in its current form is using an AMD Ryzen Embedded V1605B SoC with Vega graphics and still appears to be running Linux. The base model has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for $629~699 USD but goes up to around $989~1099 for 16GB RAM / 256GB storage.

Ahead of E3, the company shared a brief teaser of the current Smach Z prototype in action:

While being announced next week, the Smach Z isn't expected to begin shipping until later in the year. I'll be at E3 for a few days so hopefully will get a chance to talk with the company.