The AYA Neo is a handheld gaming PC with a 7 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel touchscreen display surrounded by game controllers, an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U processor with Radeon Vega 6 graphics, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD.
After shipping the first small batch of devices to customers in China, AYA announced in February that it would start a crowdfunding campaign for international customers after Chinese New Year. Now the company says close to 40,000 people have signed up to be notified when the campaign goes live… which it hasn’t yet.
Like other PC makers, AYA has been struggling with a global shortage of electronics components, and the company says it’s waiting until it’s in better shape before launching an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.
The company did also announce that accessories including a carrying case, tempered glass screen protector, handle grip, and rocker cap would be available as part of the campaign. The most interesting accessory, though, might be a docking station which will allow you to use the Neo like a desktop computer thanks to is HDMI and Ethernet jacks, two USB Type-A ports, and two USB-C ports.
Since the dock connects to the bottom of the computer, it also leaves you with easy access to the two USB-C ports and headset jack on the top of the Neo.
Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.
- AYA Neo handheld gaming PC crowdfunding delayed (again) [@AYA_device]
The AYA Neo handheld gaming PC with Ryzen 5 4500U crowdfunding campaign has been postponed while the team deals with component shortages. 40K people have signed up to the IGG campaign so far though. One update: Docks, cases, and other accessories on the way. - Samsung SM-T255 [FCC]
Samsung SM-T225 tablet passes through the FCC, could be the new Galaxy Tab A7 Lite Android tablet with an 8.7 inch display that leaked last month. - Steam Link game streaming now works on 64-bit x86 Linux systems [Valve]
Valve and Collabora have announced that the Steam Link app is now available for Linux, allowing you to stream Steam games from a PC to a Linux device over a network connection. Valve recommends using a wired connection for best performance. - PlayStation Store to discontinue movie and TV purchases and rentals [PlayStation Blog]
The PlayStation Store is ending movie and TV purchases and rentals effective August 31, 2021. PS4 and PS5 users will still be able to stream previously purchased content. Sony says the change follows rising use of subscription and ad-supported services. - Razer Tomahawk Gaming Desktop with GeForce RTX 3080 Founder’s Edition and Intel NUC [Razer]
Razer Tomahawk compact gaming desktop with an Intel NUC Compute Element is now available for purchase with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU for $3200. A version without the graphics card is priced at $2400, but it’s currently out of stock. - Raspberry Pi RP2040 boards are coming with… HDMI? [CNX Software]
The Raspberry Pi RP2040 doesn’t officially support HDMI. But at least two new boards designed around the Raspberry Pi Pico have HDMI ports. What gives? They use it for DVI output, which means you get video but not audio. - Chrome’s new Commander displays Chrome commands as you type [Techdows]
Google Chrome Commander is a new feature that lets you lets launch browser actions, open bookmarks, and access history from a drop-down menu as you type. Currently available as an experimental feature in Chrome 91 Canary, it might roll out widely later. - Introducing Microsoft Power Fx: the low-code programming language for everyone [Microsoft]
Microsoft introdues Power Fx, an open source, low-code programming language based on MS Excel so that it uses syntax that’s already familiar to many users.
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By the time the fore mentioned campaign starts ,AYA should upgrade the CPU with a 4600u or 4700u solution even if it has to increase the price
I originally hoped that it would have the 4700U for the extra GPU cores. As it is, we’re facing a strange situation where next gen hardware has been announced but people are still trying to get a hold of last gen tech. I originally wanted a small (~10 inch) AMD powered UMPC but all the vendors keep using Intel. I finally just pre-ordered a Ryzen 5000/Nvidia 3000 laptop. The only way I’ll cancel my pre-order is if other vendors offer a similar product in stock for less. Right now best guess is delivery around the end of May or in June.
That’s how these things become perpetually delayed. They have to put a stake in the ground at some point and finish. Especially for their very first attempt at this whole thing. Don’t want another Smach Z with forever delays.
I would agree if the chipset kept changing during development but in this case I’m saying that they should have gone with the 4700U from the outset. This would have cost $50 more but the current delays would be less of an issue for buyers since the hardware was better to begin with. Right now a 4500U isn’t that bad but it will seem outdated in 6 months when these start shipping to most people. A 4700U would still be competitive in this form factor 6 months from now.
I sort of disagree.
I think AYA Neo should have been designed with the 4800U from the start. And they should’ve bumped the retail price up an extra $50 to cover it.
On top of this, they needed to put the Right-Joystick at the top, since hitting the Action Buttons causes you to accidentally rest your palm and move the camera controls in-game. The OneGX 1 Pro and the Nintendo Switch JoyCons also suffer from this, but it’s not an issue on the GPD Win 3 and Razer JungleCat. As it is, I would rather stick to using a cheap and capable GPD Win 2, and simply skip all three options (all have weak iGPU, look at Apple’s M1 iGPU, and that’s their first-gen).
Now, that I think more about it, while having an eGPU solution would’ve been neat…. overall it’s not worth it. It’s too clunky and pricey. People are probably better served using a PS5/Xbox, or a Gaming Laptop/Desktop at home instead. I think they should make this the best possible experience while in the Handheld Mode. That means a better thermal balance between the GPU and CPU. So upgrading it from a 4000-series to 5000-series should be pointless…. hopefully AMD delivers the goods with the 6000-series.
I noticed the mobile 2000-series had 14nm, Zen-1 and Vega iGPU. I was expecting the mobile 4000-series would have Zen-2 and RDNA-1 but that didn’t happen. Shame. Then I was hoping the mobile-5000 series would have +7nm, Zen-3 and RDNA-2 and that’s not happening. Maybe in 2022, we will get TSMC-5nm for Mobile 6000-series, with a beefier RDNA-3 GPU and more efficient Zen-4 CPU…. if that happens in a 10W-25W TDP, then AYA/GPD should definitely go for an updated model with all the bells, whistles, and features. These are devices that people intend to keep for many years, just like a console, so in that case the extras really are worth it.
Too bad for the delay. Although, I am impressed that the AYA folks actually hired someone who speaks/writes English decently to communicate with their potential English speaking customers. I wish them luck.
Meanwhile, GPD still hasn’t hired anyone who speaks English okay. Not even looking for “well” since I don’t even consider myself as knowing English well. GPD’s social media person has caused so much confusion where people have varied interpretations of what GPD is trying to say. It’s a mess and GPD comes off as very unprofessional despite having produced several devices now.
I think GPD should fire/replace their social media/tech support person. It’s not even just this person’s English. My native Chinese speaking friends have also had wasted time trying to communicate with this GPD employee. So much confusion.
I remember reading, I think here, that the games played through a win3 connected to its dock would struggle with gaming, or at least look less than great, when connected to a secondary screen, even with the xe chip. I’m assuming that would be the same with the Aya Neo and its dock. It would be okay for basic windows 10 activities on a second screen but a big ask if you wanted to use that bigger screen for gaming as well with the dock.
Sounds great except for that terrible resolution. I’m sure it would perform good in games, but I wouldn’t want to use that display for much else.
Well, it’s a gaming device without a physical keyboard. I don’t think they plan on users doing much non-gaming stuff on it.
For me though, I’m actually planning on getting the OneGx1 Pro despite it costing 2x more because it has a physical keyboard and built-in LTE. I’d like my gaming handheld to double decently as a UMPC too. To me, the Win 3 effectively doesn’t have a physical keyboard either.
If the OneGx1 Pro had a 4800HS or 4800U then I’d be with you on that. It’s definitely a nice design but way overpriced as is.
None of these designs are pocketable, so you’ll need to keep it in your backpack. Which defeats the purpose to a huge extent.
Instead of the AYA, GPD, or OneGX…. I would rather get the ASUS Flow X13, which is a tablet-ultrabook with much more capable battery, thermals, and dGPU. It even has a eGPU box you can buy separate to have a 16GB-rtx3080. Wowser!
As for a truly pocketable console, I’d use the Razer JungleCat, and either use it with the official Samsung Note9 case. Or I’d use it with a Sony Xperia 5.2 phone, and 3D print the module/case for myself.