Ayaneo’s ever-expanding range of handheld gaming PCs is about to get more form factors. As part of its 2023 strategy event, the company introduced an Air Plus that boasts a larger screen than the base Air (6 inches versus 5.5) and, crucially, a much larger 46.2Whr battery (versus 28Whr). We still wouldn’t expect the new version to last long with more demanding titles, but it might be better-suited to extended casual game sessions.
The Windows-based Air Plus will be available in two lower-end Intel configurations (Celeron and Core i3) as well as speedier AMD models (Ryzen 5 7520U and Ryzen 7 6800U). Performance should scale the more you’re willing to spend, then. Final pricing isn’t available, but Ayaneo expects to start pre-orders after Lunar New Year celebrations end on February 5th.
The company is also expanding into sliders with (what else?) the Ayaneo Slide. To some degree, it’s an answer to the GPD Win 4 — you can pop the screen up when you need a keyboard for text input or simply navigating games that aren’t gamepad-friendly. Ayaneo said little else about the Slide during its event, but did confirm the system would be based on AMD’s recently-launched Ryzen 7000 mobile APUs and ship sometime in the second quarter of the year.
It’s too soon to say how well Ayaneo’s latest offerings fare against its biggest rival, Valve’s Steam Deck. The company has promised an updated front end (Ayaspace 2), but it’s not clear if this will be enough to overcome the limitations of running Windows on a handheld. With that said, it’s clear Ayaneo isn’t sitting still in the face of stiffer competition.
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