The age of a new generation of gaming consoles is upon us. This holiday season, the PS5 and Xbox Series X will be available to consumers worldwide. However, with Microsoft’s decision to delay its anticipated launch title Halo Infinite to 2021, many might have to rethink which console to get. Others might even think of staying on PCs. If you are among the latter demographic, how about a gaming PC that you can take on-the-go and which allows you to play the latest games?

There’s already a market for such devices which has been filled by the likes of GPD’s portable PCs and the MIA Smach Z. There’s now a new competitor on this niche market which claims to be the “most powerful handheld gaming device”. Enter the AYA-NEO:

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Above is the first video of an early prototype of the device in action; and it was such an early prototype that it was literally held by LEGO bricks. It is currently still in prototype, but has significantly evolved on the design aspect. It sports a Nintendo Switch-like form factor, complete with a touchscreen tablet and detachable controllers. Think of it like Alienware’s concept UFO handheld, but far from being a concept, the AYA-NEO aims to hit the consumer market within 2020 at a reported price tag in the range of $700.

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Yes, if all goes well, this handheld gaming PC will be another option for your console purchase this holiday season along with the PS5 and Xbox Series X; although availability might be limited for the international market as compared to the Chinese one where the device originates. While the AYA-NEO cannot compare hardware-wise with those next-gen consoles, it’s still a PC with the official backing of AMD (according to the official announcement above) and with the entire Steam catalogue at its disposal. For its size, it also sports decent specs (as of writing) as follows:

• SoC: AMD 4500U
• RAM: 16GB DDR4-4266 LPDDR4X
• Storage: 512GB NVMe
• Display: 7-inch 1280x800 IPS screen
• Battery: 47 watt-hour
• Wi-Fi 6
• Detachable joysticks

In the last couple of days, the AYA team has been quite active online with new footage of their device running games such as Death Stranding, The Witcher III, Red Dead Redemption II and Monster Hunter: World, some with the resolution settings set to high and hitting around 40 fps:

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While these are only prototypes, the performance seems impressive considering the sheer size and portability of this device. Sure, one could argue about building a PC with that money but the AYA-NEO is decidedly a niche device aimed at those who want to decently play the latest PC games on-the-go without being too fussy about the need for Ultra visual settings or 60+ fps.

So what are your thoughts on the AYA-NEO from what you’ve seen so far? If it piqued your attention, it might be worth keeping an eye out for the AYA-NEO on its official social media channels linked below from where I sourced the specs and details.

Official AYA-NEO Social Media Channels: Discord, Facebook Group, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Wow, nice to see AYA-NEO getting on GBATEMP !!!!!

btw , long time lurker, just feel like addressing all these questions here.

and let me just say......crysis ? lol
I guess it should be the game that we demo tmr lol.

and...

here is the standard info i am copying from our discord server
(the invites are all those youtube videos )



1) barring any further worsening of the current world situation, AYA may potentially be in your hands by Christmas 2020. This is so that Int'l fans can join AYA in it's celebration of it's official retail release of the device.
2) It will be sold AFTER China's domestic launch (it is easier for RMAs for domestic backers and this helps to weed out any initial batch production issues)
3) Barring any major changes, price for AYA NEO is to be priced below USD$700. This will be AYA's way of giving it back to it's community in recognition of everyone's support as a new player in this handheld space.
4) Price above is slated for 4500U.
5) 4800U may be an option (to be confirmed on both availability and pricing/depending on demand garnered from the community)
6) AYA is not asking for any upfront payment at this point in time until NEO is ready for sale. Decision on how pre-orders will be conducted is still currently undecided.

so no , this is not going to be a Smach Z 2.0 lol~

and yes ,it is NOT cheap, but it is like a computer than a normal console , so
if you don't have switch yet, I think u should buy a switch first lol.
if you are like me who can't stop dying from all those indie games like dead cells.
this might save u a few mins when u respawn lol.

so yes, it is not for everyone~ and no, u dont have to buy it

Cheers

Lee

How about a review unit for GBAtemp?

 

[geargeeksp]

512 gb of internal space sadly isn't enough for current-era games

you can insert your own m2 ssd if u want though lol

 

[geargeeksp]

How about a review unit for GBAtemp?

sounds great, I will reach out to the author of this thread~

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Making a powerful device is easy, getting support for it is hard. It is expensive to cram pc hardware into a small formfactor. Nintendo really should have partnered with Qualcomm to get their mobile hardware into the switch. Nvidia's Shield was good for its time but phones have already surpassed its performance even without active cooling.

this is like a windows tablet with controller , and it has steam epic store and tons of other stuff like
for instance retroarch , I don't get how u can link this with the shield (which I own btw lol, it is pretty nice, if you have big hands lol, this is like worse than the duke controller lol)

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i bet it cant even run crysis.

checkmate atheist

lol crysis 3 is like ps3 era game lol, 4500u can play fallout 3 at ultra high with 60fps at 5watt FYI

 

[Kioku]

sounds great, I will reach out to the author of this thread~

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this is like a windows tablet with controller , and it has steam epic store and tons of other stuff like
for instance retroarch , I don't get how u can link this with the shield (which I own btw lol, it is pretty nice, if you have big hands lol, this is like worse than the duke controller lol)

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lol crysis 3 is like ps3 era game lol, 4500u can play fallout 3 at ultra high with 60fps at 5watt FYI

That fallout 3 example is kinda... Pointless. Crysis 3 is far more demanding, believe it or not...

 

[geargeeksp]

Price is too high, but most importantly the specs of keel too (no mention of GPU either, possibly the most important aspect, but I guess they will announce this nearer the time, as prices and improvements change quickly (could be RDNA 2).

RAM is wasted really, at this resolution too, they'd be much better off just sticking to 8GB on this type of product / specs.

Resolution is low, but obviously bumping this creates a lot more problems with resources required, heat generated and battery drain, given it's a portable device, it would be a major blow, on a 7" screen, this resolution shouldn't be too bad.

512GB NVMe - decent amount of storage, but games are huge nowdays, so drawing the line somewhere is complicated.

lol 8gb of ram and u can't play most of the triple A titles on PC lol , this is 2020 buddy.

Oh, those Chinese.

My levice is vely goo. Is vely powelfu.

I wouldn't be surprised if these explodes whilst someone naive enough to buy it is playing with it while being charged.

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Master, oh master! (・o・)

last time i checked , it was the sumsang note7 in GTA lol

The meme "can my pc able to run Crysis" was out 13 years ago, when I use this meme I believe you still wear diaper at time, so who's the copycat? You.

imho crysis 2-3 which i have beat on ps3 was pretty damn good, but the 1st one i played on pc, well , let just say it is bit too hard for me (game play wise ) , maybe this is like a sign for me to beat the first one on aya lol

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move over switch

nah, I am keeping both lol

The case design looks very familiar. I have definitely seen something similar somewhere but I can't think where

well, uncle A came up with this twilight-zone-ish hoook design and we did not like it , so yeah , I think it is now looking like UFO but the retail edition will be having a different look l~

No gpu?

gpu is in the same chip with the cpu, it is a vega6

I'll believe it when it launches. Smach Z talked a big game (ha!) but failed to deliver (at the time I'm writing this, at least). They promise a lot, time will tell if they can actually produce it.

at least AYA will not take ur money without the NEO being mass-produced fast lol, so it is not going to be anything like the smach Z

Can't wait to see the high temps and one hour battery life

when I was playing the death stranding , it was no hotter than my switch ( though i only own the original switch , not the new revision)

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That fallout 3 is it is kinda... Pointless. Crysis 3 is far more demanding, believe it or not...

i do believe it, so I think we should test it out when i am in shenzhen again.

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Do you think this is VR capable?

this is more powerful than any of ur arm-based VR device, but it is not like a gtx1070 , so u can't really play anything demanding in VR , unless u r ok with throwing up a lot lol

 

[Goku1992A]

The device is good some of you guys forget smartphones cost around $1000 and it doesnt deliver as much power as this device.

 

[geargeeksp]

I guess it's capable of running the Yuzu emulator.

I personally love EMU and I heard from our discord fans ,that his 4500u can do a lot with yuzu , but officially , AYA can't talk about anything emu-related, but we will send them to those who can as soon as we are ready.

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The device is good some of you guys forget smartphones cost around $1000 and it doesnt deliver as much power as this device.

the price at 700usd is only slightly higher than the more common laptop with the same spec ( and lesser thermal solution )
so at its launch , I say it is a bargain if u need one (not that u should pick aya over switch , ps5 and the new xbox , if you don't mind how much a game cost or if ppl here can just hack it , I don't think aya is anything special , unless u can't wait for the game to load like i am lol )

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Whenever I see things like this I imagine they have awful thermals and terrible battery life. Does anyone here own a GPD pocket to confirm? The Switch can get away with it because it's risc and has a custom os but x86 is power hungry and Windows has it's own stuff running in the background eating up power.

it is pretty unfair to judge AYA by how GPD is lol, especially when AYA is by a 7nm 4500u and your pocket is probly still 14nm +++++++++++++++++++++

 

[raystriker]

Will it have Vapour chamber cooling? The 4500U is a mighty fine cpu. If the makers can give the device a bit more thermal headroom and let the cpu boost higher, I'm sold.

 

[geargeeksp]

I am not gonna lie... I was going to assume it would be something like an AMD Ryzen 3 3200G with 8GB of LPDDR4 2133, and maybe a 256GB eMMC module for storage... But these specs blow my mind for a handheld!

to play modern title like the rdr2, AYA is actually just barely enough for low setting at 800p

of course , it is enough for u to just open and play without we go all nuclear scientists on them to "mod" the game with lesser parts , so we can run it at 20 fps lol

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Will it have Vapour chamber cooling? The 4500U is a mighty fine cpu. If the makers can give the device a bit more thermal headroom and let the cpu boost higher, I'm sold.

i don't think I know this term, but the entire thermal solution is enough for 35w , so ~

 

[raystriker]

i don't think I know this term, but the entire thermal solution is enough for 35w , so ~

Okay, that's pretty good. Good luck, and keep up the good work!

 

[geargeeksp]

Okay, that's pretty good. Good luck, and keep up the good work!

thx buddy , with uncle A's aggressive pricing for the launch , I will need a lot of those to help AYA break even and live to have more product lol.

 

[raystriker]

thx buddy , with uncle A's aggressive pricing for the launch , I will need a lot of those to help AYA break even and live to have more product lol.

Yeah I understand. Since AYA is a small company, they probably don't get the same deal from AMD that larger laptop manufacturers get.
That being said, I think the device is well priced. It's priced cheaper or similarly to the other new Ryzen ultrabooks with similar specs I've seen.

 

[geargeeksp]

Yeah I understand. Since AYA is a small company, they probably don't get the same deal from AMD that larger laptop manufacturers get.
That being said, I think the device is well priced. It's priced cheaper or similarly to the other new Ryzen ultrabooks with similar specs I've seen.

AYA is actually backed by AMD directly, so we have the same treatment as every big brands, but the RND cost is the same or actually more ,

AYA uses 16g ram with 4266 and a better "fan and heatsink" as well as being way way and way smaller.

so we will have raise the price after the launch ,we will honor the less than 700usd price for the launch as that was how it was promised from day one. (it is the price that AYA can break even with 10k sold, which I think is some-what possible with some luck)

cheers

Lee

p.s. thanks for your kind words , I understand GBATemp is mostly console gamers so they don't see AYA as PC gamer do.

 

[Prans]

p.s. thanks for your kind words , I understand GBATemp is mostly console gamers so they don't see AYA as PC gamer do.

just a hunch but I think people want everything cheap or free around here...

 

[geargeeksp]

just a hunch but I think people want everything cheap or free around here...

hahah , I hacked all my consoles, so I can totally relate to this vibe here, I think it is cool,

AYA is NOT for everyone, then again nothing is ~ not even the switch lol

 

[limpbiz411]

Here we go again, another device to be a mobile pc dedicated for gaming, that wont see the light of day.

 

[TheCasualties]

Great to see more handheld PC's coming out! I hope this does well.

What ports will be on the device? USB ports and HDMI for mirroring the display to an external TV perhaps?

I'm thinking about mouse and keyboard too.. Kind of defeats the 'handheld' purpose, but it might be nice when you need it for certain games. (Only feasible when you aren't on the go, I suppose)

The only reason I still lean towards a GDP Win is for their integrated keyboard and clamshell design, but I could look past that since the price seems reasonable.

Quite impressed with the Death Stranding demo! I wonder how it does in Chapter 3, where the world is expanded and frames drop a bit.

 

[geargeeksp]

Great to see more handheld PC's coming out! I hope this does well.

What ports will be on the device? USB ports and HDMI for mirroring the display to an external TV perhaps?

I'm thinking about mouse and keyboard too.. Kind of defeats the 'handheld' purpose, but it might be nice when you need it for certain games. (Only feasible when you aren't on the go, I suppose)

The only reason I still lean towards a GDP Win is for their integrated keyboard and clamshell design, but I could look past that since the price seems reasonable.

Quite impressed with the Death Stranding demo! I wonder how it does in Chapter 3, where the world is expanded and frames drop a bit.

spoiler alert !! i have not yet even beat that game lol ( didn't have time to play lol with a 1 year old lol)

but i will play and tell u i guess lolol~

we will 100% have a docking solution like the switch btw.

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Here we go again, another device to be a mobile pc dedicated for gaming, that wont see the light of day.

even that is the case , u will not be paying for it before it see the "light of day".

so no smach z BS for u to laugh about lol

 

[Deleted User]

but can you run Linux on it?

 

[Xzi]

just a hunch but I think people want everything cheap or free around here...

Nah, I wouldn't expect a portable system with these specs to come in at a low price, but nor would I reasonably expect it to compete with Nintendo's offerings (which have an entirely different target audience anyway). I do hope it can find some success, but regardless I feel like the timing for release is bad. Even a lot of PC-centric gamers will be considering purchasing PS5 or XBSX for one reason or another, and then in 3-4 years Nintendo will be releasing "Switch 2" with specs similar to this but for about $300 less. Gotta space these things out.