I really like enjoying video games on my Nintendo Swap sat on the couch subsequent to my accomplice – it’s how we spend most of our time collectively – however generally I wish to play one of many many cool video games that I’ve on PC whereas nonetheless spending time with them. Normally, that is fairly inconceivable as my PC is in a totally completely different room of the home, which is why I used to be tremendous excited to present a handheld PC a strive for this Ayaneo Air 1S overview. Attending to expertise PC-level gameplay from the consolation of my couch feels like an ideal mixture. Let’s see if this highly effective little bit of equipment lives as much as my expectations.
The Ayaneo Air 1S is way from the one handheld PC in the marketplace, so if you happen to’re after one thing somewhat completely different we’ve obtained a complete information to the perfect moveable gaming consoles so that you can peruse, plus deep dives into some standard picks in our Steam Deck overview, Aokzoe A1 overview, and Ayaneo 2 overview. Plus, you’ll find out extra about how we check these gadgets on our devoted web page.
Proper, strap in for a doubtlessly bumpy journey as we embark on this Ayaneo Air 1S overview.
Execs:
- Play your total PC gaming library on the go
- Stunning design and ergonomic kind issue
Cons:
- The display screen will get so sizzling that it glitches
- Poor sound high quality
- Costly
- Extraordinarily fiddly to make use of
Value and availability
The Ayaneo Air 1S is at present accessible to buy through Ayaneo’s Indiegogo web page with a barely lowered MSRP and a present bundle as an ‘early chook’ perk. This machine could also be highly effective, but it surely comes at a value. Right here’s a breakdown of all of the completely different variations:
- 16GB+512GB – $799 early chook/$899
- 32GB+1TB – $955 early chook/$1,099
- 32GB+2TB – $999 early chook/$1,129
- 32GB+2TB Ayaneo Air 1S Skinny – $999 early chook/$1,129
- 32GB+2TB Ayaneo Air 1S Retro Energy – $1,029 early chook/$1,179
- 32GB+4TB Ayaneo Air 1S Retro Energy – $1,099 early chook/$1,259
All the listings on Indiegogo provide free worldwide delivery and from our expertise, they ship from a warehouse in China. You is likely to be topic to customs expenses relying on the place you’re based mostly, however we didn’t face any points with that.
Whereas not fairly as expensive because the Aokzoe A1 or Professional, the Ayaneo Air 1S is fairly up there in comparison with a few of its opponents, notably the Asus ROG Ally which may begin at slightly below $600. The Steam Deck is even cheaper than this, but it surely doesn’t afford you a similar flexibility because the Ayaneo given its Steam-specific OS.
Specs
CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 7840U, Zen 4 structure / 8 cores, 16 threads / 5.1Ghz max important frequency |
Graphics | AMD Radeon 780M / RDNA 3 graphics framework |
RAM | 16GB / 32GB |
Storage | 512GB / 1TB / 2TB, plus room for SD card |
Display | 5.5-inch AMOLED display screen / decision 1920 x 1080 / pixel density 404PPI / 350Nit brightness |
Battery | 38Wh, 10050mAh |
Ports | Two USB-C / two USB-C to USB-A adapters / 3.5mm audio jack / TF card slot |
Design
After I first opened the Ayaneo Air 1S, I used to be instantly impressed. I’ve obtained the Retro Energy model and whereas it’s not my first alternative of design, I really like how reminiscent it’s of the unique Sport Boy. It’s actually mild at 450g – barely heavier than a Nintendo Swap – and a pleasant, compact measurement that feels nice in my fingers.
The curved form of the again makes for a very ergonomic design, because it doesn’t trigger the identical wrist fatigue that I can get from holding my Swap for too lengthy. The refined RGBs within the joystick ring are a pleasant contact too, turning pink while you’re working low on cost.
All the buttons have a fantastic tactile really feel to them and the triggers really feel nice. I’m normally not a fan of a matte end on issues but it surely works very well on the Ayaneo, particularly with the beige-brown coloration palette of the Retro Energy. The Corridor sensing joysticks are a pleasure to make use of too, particularly when utilizing one in all them rather than a mouse to maneuver your cursor. I haven’t had any points thus far with misinterpret inputs and the caps are replaceable if you happen to handle to put on them down.
The 2 USB-C ports are positioned on the highest and backside of the Ayaneo, which means you possibly can cost your system whereas utilizing a docking station (take a look at our Syntech docking station overview for a fantastic suggestion) and swap out the hand-held controls for a Bluetooth controller or mouse and keyboard. Sadly, the Ayaneo doesn’t include a docking station of its personal as commonplace, however you should buy one for an additional $89 (ouch). Nevertheless, the USB-C port ought to make it suitable with most third-party fashions in the marketplace.
Efficiency
Sadly, that is the place issues begin to get somewhat bumpy. I’ll begin with the positives – all the things appears to be like stunning when it’s working on the Ayaneo. The excessive pixel density and brightness of the AMOLED display screen make for a colourful, vibrant show that places my PC monitor to disgrace. The factor is, this solely lasts for therefore lengthy. Throughout my testing, I used to be initially working Honkai Star Rail on the very best settings as a result of that’s what it defaulted to, it seemed phenomenal and ran with none lag.
I solely managed to play for about ten minutes earlier than your entire backside half of the display screen started to visually glitch, making all the things fuzzy and unreadable. On prime of that, the display screen was so sizzling that it felt prefer it may soften at any second. The console itself didn’t really feel too heat, however the warmth emanating from the display screen was terrifying. I’ve since fiddled with the fan settings somewhat and adjusted my graphics settings right down to medium, however I nonetheless expertise this visible glitch after enjoying for greater than twenty minutes or so.
Because the Ayaneo is basically a tiny PC that runs Home windows 11, it’s fiddlier than different handhelds with devoted OSs constructed for gaming just like the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Swap. Ayaneo’s distinctive AyaSpace 2 is a reasonably useful device that collates your entire video games from throughout Steam, Epic Video games, Battle.web, and different launchers into one place so you possibly can change between titles simply. A minimum of, in idea. I had a very laborious time getting the Ayaneo to acknowledge the entire video games that I’d downloaded and type them into the AyaSpace, so I discovered myself launching video games through their desktop shortcuts like I might on a PC.
The Aya button can be the way you navigate the console when you’re enjoying a sport, protecting all the things from adjusting the FPS and fan pace on the fly to supplying you with button shortcuts while you’re not utilizing a keyboard. That is the place I performed about with the fan settings to attempt to resolve the HSR downside, however to somebody comparatively un-tech-savvy, I discovered all of it actually laborious to navigate. There’s little or no by means of an instruction booklet that comes with the Ayaneo, so I’ve discovered myself studying by means of trial and error, which isn’t actually my desired methodology once I’m dealing with a chunk of equipment price over $1k.
The Aya button’s useful taskbar needs to be the equal of a plumber’s device belt, supplying you with all the things you may want precisely while you want it. However I’ve discovered it nearly inconceivable to make use of. Any time I take advantage of the directional pad to navigate the Aya menu and modify the FPS or fan settings, my character or cursor in my chosen sport continues shifting. Equally, I’ve put in a shortcut within the taskbar to shut the sport I’m at present enjoying so I can get again to my desktop, and for some motive, this simply doesn’t work. I don’t know why! It’s extremely irritating, having to make use of the window button to basically Alt+Tab out of the sport after which use my finger on the molten sizzling display screen to pressure shut the sport.
The display screen measurement, whereas nice for really enjoying video games, is lower than excellent when you must use an on-screen keyboard or go a captcha check. It’s just a bit bit too small, making typing fairly tough if you happen to don’t have essentially the most slender fingers on this planet. I attempted utilizing my accomplice’s Microsoft Floor Pen to see if that might be suitable, because the Ayaneo is technically a pill pc, however no luck there. I used to be simply left struggling to sort. I’ve discovered the simplest strategy to navigate this subject is definitely to show the system on its aspect so the display screen is longer reasonably than wider, and sort on it like a smartphone.
The battery life isn’t precisely nice both. I can get a stable 90 minutes of gaming in earlier than I drain it from full cost to nearly dying. It looks as if that is pretty widespread throughout handheld PCs although, so it’s not just like the Ayaneo is doing any worse than its opponents in that regard. My important subject with the battery is that I’m afraid to make use of it whereas it’s charging in case I add much more warmth to an already scorching console and harm it.
The sound can be sub-par, with the Hyper Sound stereo audio system sounding tinnier than my iPhone. Fortunately this appears to be a speaker subject reasonably than an audio processing one because the sound is nice by means of wired headphones, however I don’t wish to sit there sporting headphones the entire time whereas I’m attempting to play video games and socialize with my accomplice on the identical time.
With 2TB of storage plus room for an SD card, there’s greater than sufficient room to your total video games assortment, which I do recognize, particularly as I play lots of video games with huge file sizes (taking a look at you, Genshin Affect). However sadly this doesn’t make up for the entire different pitfalls.
Verdict
General, I feel the Ayaneo Air 1S has lots of potential, particularly for somebody extra tech-savvy than me. I really like which you could play video games from quite a lot of providers, the show is attractive, and video games run easily on it earlier than the display screen begins to glitch. I simply suppose there’s much more that might be carried out to make this the optimum handheld console for me.
I might reasonably use one thing with much less energy and a less-open OS that doesn’t make me really feel unhappy and dissatisfied each time I boot it as much as board the Astral Specific or pocket heal in Overwatch 2. The worth level additional solidifies this for me, as I’m not getting the additional advantage that I might be paying for.
When you don’t thoughts having to tinker a bit together with your tech earlier than it’s able to go, otherwise you’re simply in search of one thing actually fairly to play some low-intensity video games on, the Ayaneo Air 1S is likely to be for you. I’m not fully counting it out, but it surely’s left a little bit of a bitter style in my mouth.
When you’d reasonably optimize the gaming expertise in your telephone, take a look at our information to the perfect gaming iPhone and the perfect gaming telephones. We’ve additionally obtained a fantastic breakdown of the notorious iPhone vs Android debate that can assist you make your choose.
Ayaneo Air 1S overview
The Ayaneo Air 1S has the potential to be a really highly effective piece of equipment in the suitable fingers – however for a handheld PC newbie, we’d advocate staying away. Its stunning design can solely make up for therefore many glitches and clunky menus.