Ayaneo Air 1S review – ‘air’ on the side of caution

I like enjoying video games on my Nintendo Swap sat on the couch subsequent to my associate – it’s how we spend most of our time collectively – however typically I need 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 totally different room of the home, which is why I used to be tremendous excited to provide a handheld PC a strive for this Ayaneo Air 1S evaluation. Attending to expertise PC-level gameplay from the consolation of my couch seems like an ideal mixture. Let’s see if this highly effective little bit of package 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 totally different we’ve bought a complete information to one of the best transportable gaming consoles so that you can peruse, plus deep dives into some fashionable picks in our Steam Deck evaluation, Aokzoe A1 evaluation, and Ayaneo 2 evaluation. Plus, you will discover out extra about how we take a look at these gadgets on our devoted web page.

Proper, strap in for a probably bumpy trip as we embark on this Ayaneo Air 1S evaluation.

Professionals:

• Play your complete PC gaming library on the go
• Stunning design and ergonomic type issue

Cons:

• The display 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 presently accessible to buy through Ayaneo’s Indiegogo web page with a barely decreased MSRP and a present package deal as an ‘early fowl’ perk. This machine could also be highly effective, but it surely comes at a value. Right here’s a breakdown of all of the totally different variations:

• 16GB+512GB – $799 early fowl/$899
• 32GB+1TB – $955 early fowl/$1,099
• 32GB+2TB – $999 early fowl/$1,129
• 32GB+2TB Ayaneo Air 1S Skinny – $999 early fowl/$1,129
• 32GB+2TB Ayaneo Air 1S Retro Energy – $1,029 early fowl/$1,179
• 32GB+4TB Ayaneo Air 1S Retro Energy – $1,099 early fowl/$1,259

The entire 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 fees 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 rivals, notably the Asus ROG Ally which may begin at just below $600. The Steam Deck is even cheaper than this, but it surely doesn’t afford you an identical flexibility because the Ayaneo given its Steam-specific OS.

Specs

Design

After I first opened the Ayaneo Air 1S, I used to be instantly impressed. I’ve bought the Retro Energy model and whereas it’s not my first selection of design, I like how reminiscent it’s of the unique Sport Boy. It’s actually gentle at 450g – barely heavier than a Nintendo Swap – and a pleasant, compact dimension that feels nice in my arms.

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 crimson if you’re operating low on cost.

The entire buttons have an important 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 colour palette of the Retro Energy. The Corridor sensing joysticks are a pleasure to make use of too, particularly when utilizing one in all them instead of 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, that means you possibly can cost your machine whereas utilizing a docking station (try our Syntech docking station evaluation for an important advice) 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 customary, however you should buy one for an additional $89 (ouch). Nonetheless, the USB-C port ought to make it appropriate 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 – every little thing appears lovely when it’s operating on the Ayaneo. The excessive pixel density and brightness of the AMOLED display make for a colourful, vibrant show that places my PC monitor to disgrace. The factor is, this solely lasts for thus lengthy. Throughout my testing, I used to be initially operating 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 the complete backside half of the display started to visually glitch, making every little thing fuzzy and unreadable. On prime of that, the display was so sizzling that it felt prefer it might soften at any second. The console itself didn’t really feel too heat, however the warmth emanating from the display 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 fairly useful instrument that collates all your video games from throughout Steam, Epic Video games, Battle.internet, and different launchers into one place so you possibly can swap between titles simply. No less than, in idea. I had a very onerous time getting the Ayaneo to acknowledge all the video games that I’d downloaded and kind them into the AyaSpace, so I discovered myself launching video games through their desktop shortcuts like I’d on a PC.

The Aya button can also be the way you navigate the console whilst you’re enjoying a recreation, overlaying every little thing from adjusting the FPS and fan pace on the fly to supplying you with button shortcuts if you’re not utilizing a keyboard. That is the place I performed about with the fan settings to try to remedy the HSR downside, however to somebody comparatively un-tech-savvy, I discovered all of it actually onerous 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 technique after I’m dealing with a chunk of package price over $1k.

The Aya button’s useful taskbar ought to be the equal of a plumber’s instrument belt, supplying you with every little thing you can want precisely if you want it. However I’ve discovered it virtually inconceivable to make use of. Any time I exploit the directional pad to navigate the Aya menu and regulate the FPS or fan settings, my character or cursor in my chosen recreation continues transferring. Equally, I’ve put in a shortcut within the taskbar to shut the sport I’m presently enjoying so I can get again to my desktop, and for some cause, this simply doesn’t work. I don’t know why! It’s extremely irritating, having to make use of the window button to primarily Alt+Tab out of the sport after which use my finger on the molten sizzling display to power shut the sport.

The display dimension, whereas nice for truly enjoying video games, is lower than superb when you have to use an on-screen keyboard or go a captcha take a look at. It’s just a bit bit too small, making typing fairly troublesome if you happen to don’t have essentially the most slender fingers on the earth. I attempted utilizing my associate’s Microsoft Floor Pen to see if that might be appropriate, 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 technique to navigate this challenge is definitely to show the machine on its facet so the display is longer quite than wider, and kind on it like a smartphone.

The battery life isn’t precisely nice both. I can get a strong 90 minutes of gaming in earlier than I drain it from full cost to virtually 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 rivals in that regard. My important challenge 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 injury it.

The sound can also be sub-par, with the Hyper Sound stereo audio system sounding tinnier than my iPhone. Fortunately this appears to be a speaker challenge quite than an audio processing one because the sound is nice by means of wired headphones, however I don’t need to sit there carrying headphones the entire time whereas I’m making an attempt to play video games and socialize with my associate on the similar time.

With 2TB of storage plus room for an SD card, there’s greater than sufficient room on your complete video games assortment, which I do admire, particularly as I play a whole lot of video games with large file sizes (taking a look at you, Genshin Affect). However sadly this doesn’t make up for all the different pitfalls.

Verdict

Total, I believe the Ayaneo Air 1S has a whole lot of potential, particularly for somebody extra tech-savvy than me. I like which you could play video games from quite a lot of companies, the show is beautiful, and video games run easily on it earlier than the display begins to glitch. I simply suppose there’s much more that could possibly be finished to make this the optimum handheld console for me.

I’d quite 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’d be paying for.

Should 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.

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