The AYA Neo handheld gaming computer is now available for pre-order in China for about $600, and the developers of the little gaming PC say it may eventually be available in other parts of the world through an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.
International customers may end up paying more though – the company behind the Aya Neo say that the little gaming computer ended up costing more to produce than anticipated. So while the plan is to stick to the originally promised pricing for the “AYA Neo Founder” edition that’s up for pre-order now, the price will likely go up in the future in order to help recoup costs.
While there are a growing number of handheld gaming computers on the market, there’s nothing quite like the AYA Neo available right now.
With a 7 inch display surrounded by game controllers on the left and right, the AYA Neo looks more like a Nintendo Switch than a typical gaming PC. But under the hood it’s very much a PC, thank to an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U processor with Radeon 6 graphics, 16GB of LPDDR4x-4266 memory, and a 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD.
The system runs Windows 10 and in a launch announcement, Aya founder “Uncle A” showed the little computer running the remake of Resident Evil 3 released earlier this year running at about 60 frames per second.
The AYA Neo has all the game controller functions you’d expect from a gaming PC. Its controllers are modeled after Xbox controllers and feature a D-Pad, A, B, X, and Y buttons, four shoulder buttons, and analog sticks that also work as L3/R3 buttons when pressed down. And inside each game controller there are vibration motors.
But since there’s no keyboard, there are also four extra keys on the bottom of the left and right controllers:
Left controller buttons:
- RGB key (adjust lighting effects for the RGB lights inside the controllers)
- Xbox home key
- Xbox Select
- Xbox Start
Right controller buttons:
- Windows key
- Ctrl+Alt-Del key
- Esc key
- Show or hide an on-screen keyboard key
Those extra keys on the right could be particularly helpful if you need to exit an app or open the task manager without connecting a keyboard, since there are still some Windows 10 features that are hard to access without a physical keyboard.
You can also connect a wired or wireless mouse and keyboard if you do want to use the AYA Neo as a more traditional PC.
Buttons that you’re not likely to need very often are also flush with the case so that you’re less likely to hit them accidentally. That includes the RGB light key, the on-screen keyboard key, and the power button, which is on top of the device, next to volume up and down buttons.
On the bottom of the system, there are stereo speakers and a USB Type-C port. The are two more USB-C ports, a 3.5mm audio jack and vents on the top.
Here’s an overview of the specs for the AYA Neo Founder Edition:
Display | 7 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel IPS LCD 5-point multitouch |
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 4500U 6-core/6-thread |
GPU | AMD Radeon Vega 6 |
RAM | 16GB DDR4-4266 LPDDR4X |
Storage | 512GB WD SN550 PCIe NVMe (M.2 2280) |
Power | 12,300 mAh, 47 Whr battery 65 W fast charging |
USB Ports | 3 x USB-C |
Audio | Stereo speakers 3.5mm audio |
Wireless | WiFi 6 Bluetooth 5.0 |
Cooling | Copper radiator 2 x 8mm copper heat pipes Fan |
Other | Built-in game controllers gyroscope gravity sensor |
Dimensions | 255mm x 106mm x 20mm |
Weight | 650 grams (~1.4 pounds) |
You can watch the AYA Neo Founder Edition launch video below. It’s in Chinese, but there are subtitles:
via AYA (YouTube), cnBeta, /r/gpdwin
Hey this is the buyer just asking can I play this console and English the aya neo and how to pre order the aya neo please text me back and let me know please thank 😊
I will wait till someone ports Android on it.
I want to see Ubuntu 20.10, 6 core ryzen in my pocket, yes please
The clear case is pretty nice. Reminds me of a Gameboy Color.
Isn’t tiger lake Xe graphics better than this?
Yes, but Tiger Lake wasn’t available when development began on the AYA Neo.
Where is the link? I’m in China. How do I order this?
See if any of the links in this article work:
https://hot.cnbeta.com/articles/game/1051101.htm
When I click them, they redirect to the home pages for Tabao and JD, but I assume that’s because I’m in the US. Let me know if they work!
If they can truly deliver what they’re promising…this would be incredible.
This looks fantastic. The only thing that makes me nervous is that the company making it hasn’t made anything like this before, but for the price and ergonomics/screen size, I’m willing to give it a hopeful shot.