I’ve been testing this for just a few weeks now, it’s known as the AYANEO Air and it’s technically the world’s first handheld gaming PC with an OLED show.

It’s a step up from the everyday handhelds I assessment on this web site, as this factor packs a robust Ryzen 5560U processor opening up quite a lot of alternative for taking your favorite AAA video games on the go together with retro emulation.

AYANEO are new to the hand-held market however they’re releasing some a number of the finest handheld gaming PC’s in the marketplace and are immediately competing with the Steam Deck.

But though I’m in love with this system, it has an enormous bottleneck that must be spoken about, and it’s seemingly why handheld gaming PC’s of this measurement might wrestle on this aggressive quick paced market alongside loopy demand.

AYANEO Air Base Specifications

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5560U Zen 2
• GPU: Radeon Vega 7 Graphics
• RAM: 16GB
• Storage: 128GB SSD
• Screen: 5.5-inch – 1920 x 1080 OLED
• RAM: 8GB DDR4 @3200MHz
• Price: $650+

AYANEO Air Pro Specifications

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5826U Zen 3
• GPU: Radeon Vega 8 Graphics
• Storage: 512GB/1TB/2TB SSD
• Screen: 5.5-inch – 1920 x 1080 OLED
• RAM: 16GB/32GB DDR4 @4266Mhz
• Price: $800+

How does the AYANEO Air really feel?

I’ve the bottom mannequin and the professional mannequin in for this assessment. The base Air encompasses a 2.3ghz Ryzen 5 5560U Processor, 16GB’s RAM, 512GB of inner storage, a shocking 5.5” AMOLED 1080P show and a 7350MAH battery capability.

The professional is barely extra highly effective and barely thicker that includes a Ryzen 7 5825U, 16GB’s RAM and a big 10,000MAH battery capability.

The base mannequin is 18mm skinny on the center, which is extremely skinny for one thing this highly effective, the professional mannequin is available in at 21.6mm on the center, once more, nonetheless very skinny, impressively skinny the truth is.

This on paper is like nothing in the marketplace, it’s a tiny powerhouse that’s able to tackle no matter it’s important to chuck at it.

The unbelievable show matched with the proper ergonomics makes it an extremely snug handheld to play on for… that is the place i say lengthy intervals of time, however it’s usually quick intervals of occasions… you’ll see why.

They have added massive, barely flared shoulder buttons which have quite a lot of journey to them. These really feel nice when enjoying racing and taking pictures video games, however not a lot if you’re enjoying quick paced video games. The shoulder buttons match the distinctive gradient that goes throughout the highest of the system which is one thing I haven’t seen earlier than.

The high additionally encompasses a fingerprint reader too, once more, one thing I haven’t seen in a handheld but, it is a good addition, though it makes one thing extra sophisticated than it needs to be and may generally be slightly buggy.

While I’m as regards to buttons I must deliver up the small motion buttons, at first I didn’t like them, they’re noticeably smaller than conventional handhelds, however I grew to fall in love with them, the identical goes with the stunning analogue sticks which might be made with hull sensing expertise that mainly stops drift, oh and so they mild up! How cute.

The entire aesthetic of the AYANEO Air is small, however that’s what makes it such a cute, transportable system, and that i hate to say it, however that is most likely probably the most snug handheld PC i’ve ever performed on, it makes the Steam Deck feel and look like i’m enjoying with King Kong’s massive toe.

But with magnificence comes the beast, and since it makes use of Windows 11, it’s an absolute ache within the bottom to navigate. So a lot in order that they despatched us a keyboard to make use of when setting it up, and that’s the downfall with it being so small, the display screen is so tiny that it’s practically inconceivable to make use of with simply the touchscreen, so id virtually say it’s necessary to make use of it with a keyboard when setting it up.

And as a result of the display screen is simply 5.5” vast it does make textual content fairly onerous to see when enjoying sure video games, the identical goes for focusing on enemies which might be distant in taking pictures video games for instance.

AYANEO was good sufficient to create their very own launcher which homes a bunch of settings, it may possibly load your video games library and it’s a much better expertise than operating Windows and even the Xbox library.

It’s simple to grasp, it lets you customise your RGB mild setup and it pulls in your library from a large variety of different launchers too, heck you’ll be able to even add shortcuts to your emulators which makes it an ideal multi function hub.

But as a result of it’s so new I bumped into quite a lot of bugs that made this rather less fluid than I’d have favored, I do suppose these might be simply fastened and it’s seemingly AYANEO are already engaged on it for after they ship prospects merchandise.

Now let’s speak about efficiency, as a result of I used to be blown away with what this may do.

How does the AYANEO Air carry out?

Straight out of the field I attempted testing this with some bigger PC video games. I began with a bunch of Halo video games, together with Halo Reach which ran very properly at low settings on the bottom mannequin, to a degree the place it’s probably the most enjoyable I’ve had on a handheld this 12 months.

It was a way of “wow, handhelds are really going places”. Yes, low settings is probably not the very best, however it goes to indicate you which you could nonetheless play a few of your favorite PC video games on the go with none hiccups on the bottom mannequin.

AYANEO has urged most AAA video games can run at 720p 30fps on the bottom mannequin, and from testing, I agree with them on this. It would require some minor tweaking throughout completely different video games, however that’s simple to do.

I then tried a few extra strenuous video games, and bought to a degree the place the bottom mannequin was at its restrict, and that was Sea of Thieves, it was capped at round 20FPS the identical goes for Forza Horizon 5, i discovered low body charges, and at occasions even error messages.

But the Pro model has barely extra energy, permitting you to play most AAA video games past 720p 30FPS, the truth is on Forza Horizon 5 it was operating fortunately at 720p properly past 30FPS for instance, proving that the Pro model can play AAA video games properly, on the go.

Games like Fortnite will run high quality too, the identical goes for 2D platformers or older much less energy consuming PC video games, this may completely crush it.

Smooth 1080p gaming with AAA video games is the place it may possibly’t go, that’s its limits.

In phrases of emulation, I’ll be trustworthy, the AYANEO Air is just overkill for that type of stuff. The setup course of with out a keyboard could be a ache when navigating the web and establishing your ROMs so bear in mind to have a bluetooth keyboard mendacity round should you’re trying to set this up for retro video games.

It dealt with most issues I threw at it together with God of War on PSP flawlessly, massive PS2 video games like GTA San Andreas and even Gamecube video games. Many would say that is the place “retro gaming” ends and if that’s the case then sure, the AYANEO Air can seemingly run your whole retro video games extremely properly with silky easy framerates, however you don’t purchase one in every of these items for emulation.

Yes it’s a bonus, however the magic is within the PC video games, and so it needs to be for this sort of value. The base begins at round $650, whereas the Pro variations are nearer to $1000.

The largest downfall with the AYANEO Air is battery life, and it hurts me to say this, however the battery life is completely horrible.

I used to be extremely impressed with this system by my assessment course of. I used to be having a lot enjoyable enjoying each sport I wished, which to me is an unbelievable feat for a transportable handheld of this measurement, however due to the dimensions, some areas needed to be lower, and that was battery capability.

When testing, a typical gaming session on the bottom mannequin may solely final round 90 minutes. That’s proper MINUTES. The 7000mah battery matched with the consumption it must energy the video games I wished was simply an excessive amount of, and I begged the query, is it actually transportable if I can solely use it for 90 minutes?

I suppose that might get you thru the typical bus or practice journey however you’ll must cost it on the opposite finish, SIGH

Yes you’ll be able to pull just a few additional minutes out of it by reducing brightness, reducing quantity and turning off RGB lighting however even contemplating that could be a little ridiculous.

The Pro model nonetheless did final barely longer, and that’s as a result of it has a bit extra battery capability, I used to be pulling simply over two hours out of it earlier than it wanted juice.

This quick gaming expertise is what bottlenecks the entire system, I shouldn’t be consciously worrying about what battery life I’m at, I needs to be immersed within the video games, however everytime I play on the system I fear, and that isn’t a enjoyable expertise.

It’s an actual disgrace, as a result of the AYANEO Air was near being one in every of my favorite handhelds of the 12 months. It’s completely sized, it packs energy that I haven’t examined earlier than in a handheld and the AYANEO expertise from the unboxing to the inbuilt launcher is undoubtedly premium

Many say the display screen is just too small, however I feel it’s good, something greater and I don’t suppose you’ll be able to class it as transportable, the Steam Deck to me personally, isn’t transportable, however that is.

Some of you watching could also be pleased with a 2-hour battery life, however I’m not and though at present that’s the solely difficulty I’m going through, there might be points outdoors of the hand-held that prospects can’t management.

It’s too early for me to inform, however I’ve to say it after I assessment these merchandise as a result of these days the hand-held business is having some issues.

I’m not saying this may occur with AYANEO merchandise, however it may, this difficulty is concerning fulfilling orders and launching new merchandise earlier than even delivery orders of their “older” gadgets.

For instance the AYN Odin are simply delivery prospects orders that they positioned a 12 months in the past and the Analogue Pocket has delays of virtually a 12 months. AYANEO has introduced so many new handhelds not too long ago that I can’t assist however marvel in the event that they’ll be capable of fulfil everybody’s orders effectively, particularly with the loopy quantity of SKU’s.

Perhaps they’ll be capable of, however I simply thought it was value mentioning as a result of I personally don’t understand how they’ll handle it due to how new they’re, i’ll allow you to determine.

Overall I’m blown away with the AYANEO Air, it’s by far probably the most highly effective  transportable handheld i’ve reviewed, it has performed the whole lot I’ve chucked at it, it’s extremely snug and the construct high quality is on par, if not higher than the Steam Deck, it’s only a disgrace that the battery life actually brings down the general expertise.

I’ve to applaud AYANEO, they’re very new to the scene and are already proving themselves, however i simply hope that may handle everybody’s orders effectively and reply to customer support inquiries in addition to Steam can, solely time will inform.

A 29 12 months outdated fella that’s had a Gameboy dependancy ever since he was a toddler. Brandon is the founding father of RetroDodo and created a YouTube channel with 240,000 subscribers devoted to retro gaming merchandise. He now desires to create the No.1 web site to showcase the newest retro merchandise from across the globe.