In an interesting twist from the world of mods, a group of talented Chinese tinkerers has transformed Sony’s PlayStation 5 into a rather impressive portable setup—albeit with a design that echoes the hefty style of old-school gaming laptops. Shown on Weibo, the creation dubbed BBook AI offers a look that’s hard to ignore with its massive 17.3-inch screen and weight tipping over 9 pounds.
Now, diving into the guts of this intriguing beast, the BBook AI Original Edition is constructed out of a 3D-printed shell, snugly housing the PS5’s internal components. The standout feature here is undoubtedly the large 17.3-inch 4K IPS panel, which proudly boasts 100% DCI-P3 color coverage. However, the experience slightly dulls due to its limited 60 Hz refresh rate—a bit of a letdown for serious gamers expecting buttery smooth visuals.
Connectivity options include an HDMI 2.1 port for those who fancy hooking it up to an external monitor, even though this essentially steers away from its all-in-one portable intent. There’s no battery under the hood, so you’re tethered to an AC outlet for power. It’s not the modders’ fault, really; the PS5 demands about 200W, which means a paltry 30-minute lifespan even if it had a 100Wh battery.
In its spec roster, BBook AI runs on an eight-core CPU grounded in Zen 2 architecture, along with a GPU sporting 36 Compute Units based on RDNA 2 tech, backed by 16GB of non-upgradable unified GDDR6 memory and 825GB of PCIe 4.0 storage—a neat twin of the original PS5, inside a chunky suit. The price tag? A hefty 19,999 Yuan, which translates to roughly $2,750, towering at 5.5 times over a regular PS5, which makes the heart skip a beat or two.
For connectivity delights, you get a USB Type-A 10 Gbps port nestled on its right. Fair play, it gets ear-piercingly loud at 71.3 dB, rivaling the roar of a sports car. But, this device does sport a full-fledged PS5 operation within, making it probably the first PC-like setup to joyfully run Astro Bot. So, does your current gaming laptop offer that kind of bragging rights?
Despite the noble aim for portability, the complete setup, including the adapter, nearly doubles the weight of a Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 8 powered by RTX 4090, which also generously packs a 99Wh battery. For the thrifty gamers out there, a more economical route would be opting for a PS5 accompanied by a portable monitor. The wild experiment of the BBook AI, while academically impressive and a fun endeavor, is perhaps best enjoyed as a quirky DIY project rather than a practical investment.
