Khadas xPlay Review - Fantastic lapdock, with 1 big caveat
as always, not pro journalists, but we're attempting to be fair, accurate and come at products with mobile computing and DeX specifically in mind.
I reached out to Khadas to see if they'd be interested in providing us with a review unit, and they were quite enthusiastic about the opportunity. As always, no money has changed hands, Khadas has had no input on the review, they'll see it at the same time as everyone else.
Let's begin
The Khadas Mind xPlay
I stumbled across this interesting lapdock a month ago or so, and was immediately intrigued by the Surface Pro form factor. My main pc and home, as well as my main work PC have been Surface pro's for the last decade or so. I absolutely love the ability to have a full laptop, or tablet, or dock it to make a full desktop, without really giving up any abilities, in all 3 formats.
Alldocube really briefly made a lapdock in this style (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XFeRWr17Vc) but it's really never caught on, for whatever reason
Khadas to the rescue!
I just want to start out by saying that Khadas isn't truly marketing this device as a true Lapdock for DeX/android desktop, but as rather a laptop shell for the line of miniPC's, called Mind
It's very very similar to what Nex is doing, but they've gone with a miniPC format, rather than a phone.
The xPlay however does have 2x USB-C ports on the left side of the chassis.
The top port is the video in port, while the bottom is used for power in.
The ports have other usage when a MIND is connected, but it's irrelevant to our review
The Screen
The Tablet-esque screen is a 13" 2880x1920 LCD (IPS I believe) screen (3:2 screen ratio). It covers 100% of the sRGB gamut, with 500 nits of brightness, and a 60hz refresh rate. This initial version is NOT a touchscreen however.
Like the surface pro, it has a kickstand at the back, with a very firm hinge, allowing you to set the screen at whatever angle works for you (0-120 degrees)
Up top, there's a power button on the top left, and volume buttons on the top right. Volume buttons interact with the host device.
Size wise, it's pretty identical to a surface pro, 290mm x 200mm x 9.5mm, weighing roughly 820g
On initial boot, the screen will display the current battery level. You'll have to pay attention, as thats unfortunately the only way you can see power level of the lapdock. This is due to it being intended to be integrated with the MIND. There's also no kind of OSD, or any way to adjust the display. Luckily, the screen is beautiful out of the box, and I didn't feel the need to make any changes to it, at all.
Like the surface pro line, the keyboard is a magnetic attachment, with connection made via pogo pins in the bottom. Folding the keyboard up also magnets shut, and puts the lapdock to sleep/off.
The monitor/tablet has 2x 2w speakers built in, and they're legitimately the best lapdock speakers out there. They sound VERY similar to my surface pro. You absolutely do not NEED headphones with this unit!
It does have a 2mp webcam built in, but DeX will not use it. I was pleasantly surprised that my Surface (win11) was happy to use it, labeling it as USB Camera.
Like the surface, a white LED pops on to let you know the camera is active. The image isn't going to blow your socks off, but it's just fine for Teams or whatever.
Battery
While you can't easily see battery levels from DeX/Steam/external device, it does contain a 4150 mAh (11.5v) battery. This equates to an almost 50Wh battery, very very similar to nexdock and uperfect offerings (bigger battery actually)
Khadas claims 3+ hours of demanding multitasking sessions, but this is with their miniPC MIND connected. I've gotten much closer to 6 hours with DeX usage, and not run it dead yet.
One of the main drawbacks of this not being a true lapdock, it doesn't do any kind of PD, or reverse charging. I've generally always turned off that feature on all my lapdocks, but there's been times where I was using everything plugged in, and wanted to keep my more power hungry steam deck mostly charged...
Sadly that's not currently an option with initial version (again, this was never really intended to be used aside from the MIND)
Here's my s21 ultra connected to the xPlay. Boots up right away, and everything mostly works. Resolution wise, DeX does NOT support 3:2 (ADB can solve that) but it did grab 2560x1600 (16:10) and actually looks pretty good. I did use LADB on the s21u to force the proper resolution, but because I use so many different lapdocks/monitors, I just reverted to the basics.
DeX doesn't do 3:2, but 16:10 looks good
The Khadas xPlay also does not have any artificial restrictions on the number of apps you can open either
That's 7 open, and I'd wager I could get the full 20 np
I tested several other portable devices as well:
Steam Deck was happy to do 2880x1920 in gaming mode, as well as desktop mode.
My new Lenovo Legion y700 (in the legion g9 controller case) running android 15, was happy to do Projection mode (they're version of DeX). Like DeX you get a complete 2nd desktop, which was happy to negotiate 2880x1920 (it can actually do 144hz external)
And then the obvious pairing:
Surface Pro 8
The elephant in the room here, it won't talk to my s25.
Samsung was able to confirm to me earlier in the week, that with the SoC change from the SD8 to SD8 Elite, they're enforcing more strict DP Alt Mode, and PD protocols. And because the Khadas xPlay was never really intended to be used this way, it's fallen victim to the change. Is it possible a firmware update could fix it? Not sure. I suspect there's some hardware pathway stuff that would prevent a simple patch update, but we will have discussions going forward
The Keyboard
Keyboard is fairly similar to the Surface Pro, as it's a magnetic attachment, and folds up flat against the screen to act like a shut off, and screen protector when carrying. It lies flat on the desk tho, it doesn't have the 2nd bend to give it a bit of angle like the surface keyboard.
That being said, it's still a very decent keyboard. The keys have smooth travel, if a bit shallow, but good tactile response. The function row defaults to media keys however, and there doesn't seem to be a way Fn Lock. Bit of a downer for excel warriors.
There's also no backlight to the keyboard. It is what I'd call a full size 79 key keyboard, no numpad. Very standard/familiar layout, and I had no issues maintaining my ~60wpm typing on it.
Let's talk about the integrated trackpad
holy shit, it's great. video to demonstrate true palm rejection
true palm rejection on windows
and it seems to work on android too!
so yeah, the trackpad is great. 2 and 3 finger gestures seem to work. Using 2 finger swipe to do back/forward was great
Overall Conclusion
I love the Surface Pro form factor, so this really scores big points with me. It worked very well with every device I own, except for the s25.... And that's a bit of a problem going forward. I suspect every 8Elite bearing device is going to have issues, not just Samsung devices....
This devices is 100% intended to be used with a MIND miniPC, but it does function 95% with most other usb-c video out devices
I am really a big fan of this device, but time will tell which lapdock ends up my go to. It's starting to show it's age a bit, but the nexdock 360w still continues to be my most used lapdock, followed closely by the XL and uperfect 15.6 (i can almost not tell them apart)
Its currently available from Khadas.com for $399 usd