The Ayaneo Air Plus is the next would-be Steam Deck killer

Should you’ve been following the hand held PC craze of late, you’ll comprehend it’s a really kinetic class. And with ASUS throwing its hat within the ring, anticipate to see much more gaming handhelds making an attempt to steal a little bit of the Steam Deck’s lunch. Ayaneo, a comparatively unknown participant simply a few years in the past, has grow to be one of many extra prolific names on this house and its latest handheld, the Air Plus, is its newest effort to tempt people over to the nice and cozy waters of moveable PC gaming.

If the Air Plus seems to be acquainted, that’s as a result of it’s the third iteration of Ayaneo’s “Air” sequence and it comes with a alternative of both AMD or Intel chipsets. The mannequin we’re right here has the Ryzen 6800U processor, which means it’s technically similar to the Ayaneo 2 we reviewed a number of months in the past. Why make two handhelds with very related specs? As a result of many individuals need the efficiency of the Ayaneo 2 in a extra moveable kind issue. Whereas each are moveable within the broadest sense of the phrase, the Air Plus is a shade smaller than a Nintendo Change (albeit considerably thicker), not like the Ayaneo 2 which has a profile nearer to the Steam Deck.

We should always make clear proper up high that this technology of Home windows-based gaming handhelds don’t come low cost. Whereas the entry-level 64GB Steam Deck will set you again $400, the bottom Ayaneo Air Plus prices $790 for early birds earlier than it will definitely retails for $979. That’s a lot more cash — even for those who selected the Steam Deck with the identical inside storage (512GB), it could nonetheless solely price $649. That mentioned, lots of people actually don’t like the scale and weight of Valve’s handheld and recognize the additional flexibility and energy most of those alternate options supply. The success of Ayaneo’s last Indiegogo campaign tells us there’s an urge for food for these units regardless.

Whereas measurement is a key promoting level right here (the Steam Deck is over 2 inches wider and an inch taller), maybe extra importantly, Valve’s handheld is over 5 ounces (145g) heavier. That further heft does permit for extra controls; there aren’t any touchpads or rear buttons right here. That mentioned, the Ayaneo sneaks in a number of intelligent controls alongside the highest and on the decrease edge for duties like citing the onscreen keyboard or leaping out of Ayaspace to the desktop. The Air Plus additionally sports activities two USB-C ports which opens up the likelihood to make use of peripherals concurrently charging it.

The Air Plus isn’t fairly a straight processor improve from the Air Professional — there’s additionally a bigger battery (46.2Wh up from the Professional’s 38Wh and the unique Air’s 28Wh), together with a brand new 6-inch 1080p show. There are additionally another minor beauty tweaks that put the facility button and headphone jack on the left and proper, respectively — the inverse of the fashions earlier than them. The Plus can also be about half an inch (13mm) wider than the unique Air and Air Professional, which implies for those who had a case for a type of, it received’t match the brand new mannequin. Sorry.

The primary time you activate the Ayaneo Plus, you’ll undergo a minor little bit of Home windows setup. After that you simply’ll be dumped into Ayaspace, the corporate’s launcher that’s designed to make the expertise really feel a bit extra like a console than a tiny PC. It’s price declaring that Ayaspace is purposeful however you’ll commonly end up coping with Home windows. Navigating it’s simple sufficient, with the left analog stick controlling the mouse aided by a bodily shortcut button up high that brings up the on-screen keyboard. Nevertheless it’s additionally not the smoothest expertise for those who’re coming over from one thing just like the Steam Deck.

For essentially the most half, compatibility with the Air Plus must be better than that of Valve’s rival, simply by advantage of it working vanilla Home windows. And as true as that’s, you’ll be able to nonetheless end up hitting a number of bugs and glitches. Once I put in Crimson Useless Redemption 2 (RDR2) I needed to google round to learn how to enter full display screen mode (trace: change the graphics API in superior settings to DirectX 12). Once I tried to put in Hotline Miami, I used to be prompted to put in the .NET framework, which is about as enjoyable because it sounds after which it loaded in a window far too huge for the show (utilizing Ayaspace’s decision picker after which alt-tabbing out and again into the sport fastened).

Quirks like this are undoubtedly the exception not the rule, however widespread sufficient that for those who’re searching for that devoted gaming console expertise, know that it’s not fairly there but. You’ll be able to disable Ayaspace if you want and use one thing like Steam’s Massive Image mode if that’s the place your video games are. You would additionally simply launch issues proper from the desktop, too. However for all its shortcomings, Ayaspace does have some useful options and is an honest expertise most of the time. Some industrious people have even managed to get SteamOS working on Ayaneo units, however the compromises nonetheless don’t make it a beautiful different. In spite of everything, when you’re in a sport you quickly neglect in regards to the OS behind it.

Nonetheless you get there, as soon as launched, the whole lot look nice on the 6-inch IPS show. It’s a disgrace that it’s not an OLED panel just like the one on the Air Professional, however the bigger measurement greater than makes up for it, and it’s good and brilliant with an honest distinction ratio and shade replica. Facet by aspect with the equally sized show on the Ayn Odin, the 2 are fairly shut, however the Ayaneo is a bit more vibrant.

I’ve been chipping away at Disco Elysium for too lengthy now, however having the possibility to deliver it with me on my travels with the Air Plus has exponentially elevated my play time. Whereas it’s not essentially the most processor-intensive sport, its distinctive artwork type seems to be implausible right here, and it runs at a full 60 fps at 720p utilizing simply 10W TDP (thermal design energy) — broadly talking, the setting that determines the quantity of energy you’re prepared to offer to the CPU on the expense of battery life. With these settings I used to be usually getting about three hours of play time per cost.

With one thing extra intensive, like RDR2, you’ll should jack the TDP up because it received’t run easily at 10W. With medium settings and even simply 12 TDP I used to be having fun with 40 to 50 fps and about two and a half hours of battery life. If I wished Arthur’s expeditions up into the snowy mountains to look further slick, 15W or 20W TDP would make 1080p and 60 fps doable however with a extreme hit on play time — dropping right down to about 1.25 hours. This could attain again as much as two hours for those who sacrifice both fps or drop again right down to 720p.

So yeah, that’s not a implausible outlook for extra demanding video games on increased settings, however with a number of minor concessions you’ll be able to nonetheless have an excellent expertise, one that may see you thru an excellent chunk of a flight or kill a lazy afternoon with out having to hangout close to an outlet. Should you’re into much less demanding video games like Persona 4 Golden or definitely issues like Hotline Miami, Trine or Celeste you’ll be able to doubtless get away with a decrease TDP and flirt with round 4 hours of play time. There’s sufficient anecdotal proof that the Steam Deck can typically run video games nicely at decrease TDPs, giving it longer play occasions for sure titles, however both means these machines are all energy hungry proper now.

For the courageous, the Plus will go as much as a most of 28W TDP, which implies it could actually run numerous AAA titles at increased settings, however you’re going to wish to do this whereas plugged in. And, arguably, that defeats half the aim of a transportable system. However if you wish to deliver your video games with you if you journey, slightly than depend on WiFi for streaming, or just desire to play on one thing like this even when at residence on the sofa (which is me, to be honest), that is clearly much less of a problem. In truth, proper now, one may argue that these handhelds are most tasty to these searching for a hybrid possibility that permits them to interrupt free from the PC even when that’s simply to play within the lounge and tackle the odd flight.

No matter your motives, for those who’re excited by handheld gaming PCs, then the Air Plus is a reliable, if decadent different to the Steam Deck that gives typically increased efficiency. If Ayaneo can refine the software program expertise and, (at the very least going ahead), the worth, this complete class may get much more fascinating.