Check out our AYA NEO tear-down here: ruclips.net/video/f7vhZw4QiYY/видео.html Check out our recent Intel NUC Mini-PC review for related ultra-small gaming PC coverage: ruclips.net/video/aNK_VfUeBbQ/видео.html Grab a GN Modmat, Mouse Mat, or other item: store.gamersnexus.net/
It’s really cool to see how these types of devices are now possible with their power and form factor. I still remember the chunky Razer Edge Pro tablet PC that was showed off years ago that was so unwieldy. It’s nice to see what progress has been made lol.
Yup, and with the upcoming generations of mobile chips and the renewed focus on iGPU development (Intel with their Xe, AMD should follow suit at some point, RDNA was said to be built for scalability) they could get even better. Then you add USB 4 (i.e. Thunderbolt 3) at some point down the line and make a dock that connects to an eGPU, and voila. =)
@@jubuttib The One GX1 Pro handheld/netbook, already has a Intel Tiger Lake i7, Iris Xe iGPU. Also, you can connect that straight to an eGPU, through it's Thunderbolt 3 port. I hate plugging others peoples videos, however watch ETA PRIME's video called "OneGx1 Pro Mini Gaming Laptop" for a review.
@@falxonPSN if I’m not mistaken any firmware is hackable for the psvita. I’ve been away for awhile and sold my vita last year. Firmware 3.60 to 3.65 were hackable without even trying lol. And they have micro sd card adapters now so you aren’t locked to Sony’s BS proprietary memory pricing for it. Go to Reddit vitahacking sub and you can find all the answers to it.
It has potential. For such small team and small company we'll have to wait a lot. If they optimize efficiency (with new RDNA, ZEN, DDR5), then automatically battery life, TDP and dimensions improve because for 10Watt consumption you need smaller battery, radiator and fan, thus lower weight and size.
@Steven Turner yeah Steam deck ... kind of a disappointment considering Valve's resources I was expecting something better but they just milk cheaper old gen zen 2 for all it's worth. Zen 3 cpu with 12 RDNA 2 cores would have been so much better with same or lower power consumption but I guess they will want to release a Steam Deck Pro at some point. Gaming hardware is a joke at this point every manufacturer is just spitting in customers faces and unfortunately most customers don't know enough about the tech to ask for something better.
@Steven Turner Yeah i'm guessing they looked at the competition out there and decided this was enough considering they outperform by maybe 10 - 20 percent it's decent I was just hoping for more. : ))
There's already quite a few videos out there, comparing the AYA NEO, GPD Win3 and One GX 1 Pro. TBH, all 3 seem to have their fair share of Pro's and Cons. ETA PRIME has done many good videos, on all of them. However, I suspect that if Alienware's: UFO ever lands, it would vaporise all of them
Aya’s approach to right to repair is actually a pretty good compromise between company and user. From what I understand in this video, if the device is legitimately faulty and breaks itself within warranty period, they will replace or repair it for you. But if you decide to crack it open, the company is not liable, but they will sell you the first-party replacement parts. Aya makes their money, and people can repair their own devices with proper parts. Sounds like a good deal to me.
Still illegal in the US, for good reason. Warranty should only be voided if you actually broke the product, not from merely disassembling it. Now I would like a clause where opening the product in a non-destructive manner is mandatory...
I love the fact that this channel has always rewarded my bad sleeping habits with it's upload times. Also, I'm super bummed I didn't hear about this before the indiegogo campaign wrapped. Hopefully I can pick up a more refined version of this product in the near future.
I would definitely like to see more videos like this. A 'perfect' handheld gaming device has been a goal of mine for a while and the more coverage the better.
@@kibouguthier42 lol... I would just shamelessly play it in my office during the work day, and say I was working, which, since I'm a guy interested in doing PC building and repasting stuff, it would be well within the job description, besides the fact that I'd be my own boss...
@@bradhaines3142 might i suggest checking out ETA Prime's video of this single board computer that is VERY powerful runs full windows 10 and is probably compact enough to accomplish building a handheld with... ruclips.net/video/bCkXYRpeHvM/видео.html
Respect on actually shipping a product and its decent. How many vaporware devices have we seen or those that ship years late and fulfill 1/10 of their promises.
The Aya Neo is like a horse with a party hat stuck to its forehead and us being told that it's actually a real unicorn this time. And you know what? I'm actually willing to believe Uncle A on this one. After all he did bring us an actual horse, unlike most others that promised. So it shouldn't be too hard finding the horse a proper horn to turn it into a unicorn!
I absolutely love that it is tiny PC rather then JUST a game console. I would love to see some cool, foldable keyboard and small mouse, maybe all being hold at the back of the dock for comfortable potability... And you have tiny, fantastic windows device. I wonder if you can also connect drawing tablet to it - I dont see why not. Much cooler then laptop for mobility reasons. Trying to make just another console makes no sense really and I dont see how it can compete with Switch. But as a Windows powered mini computer this is absolutely awesome! Definitely want to see more of that sort of devices!
EDIT: About the on screen keyboard, one of the team has already got a fix for that where it maps it to the proper touchscreen keyboard, not sure if that will be a part of the shipped units next month or if you need to DL it but it does exist, Phawx has a video about it So glad I got in on this, but there's an 8.x inch version from another team in China that has the Intel internals on a proper layout (not that Win3 crap). Not sure if I should get both or what but damn it's a good time to be alive lol
@@cruzin1383 ONEXPLAYER is what it's called, their IGG is up but it hasn't started the count yet. Rumor has it the first reveal of the product is coming on the 28th from a channel called MVA. Fun fact, MVA had his neo modded and he's running a 4700u ryzen 7 in his instead lol, unfortunately it doesn't really get to shine with that ryzen 7 power until you start eating up the battery in the 90ish minute range, sometime less. Does pretty good docked though
Very interesting product and I love that you spend the time and test different stuff like this in-depth. Keep doing that, it is often very difficult to find tests on niche products like this and even though I am currently not planning to buy one I still really appreciate having a test from an independent and trusted source like you guys.
G'day Steve, Funny how Nintendo are so Crazy about anyone 'Copying' the Style of the Switch, especially when it looks & is designed so much like a PSP which was released over 10yrs earlier I am sure the Tech Industry is full of people what need a Memory Upgrade, as there are so many claims that 'Our Design is a First' when they just aren't
Aaaaand, the PSP uses a d-pad (NES/FC/GAME&WATCH) , an analogue stick (N64), diamond layout action buttons (SNES), shoulder buttons (SNES) and is basically the same layout as a Game Boy Advance.......there was always something similar first..... Sony are lucky that Nintendo didn't sue them for the original PS1 controller, which is basically a SNES controller with 4 shoulder buttons
@@TheRestartPoint Yes, plus there were also other Consoles with Control Pads that have Direction control on the left & Activation on the right even before Nintendo, but I was talking about the Design of the whole unit with screen in the middle & controls on left & right, which is what Steve was saying is the Controversy
It's more accurate to say Nintendo iterated on the Gamevice and similar controllers than it is to say they copied the PSP (because that design could be argued to have copied the Gameboy Advance). Hell, the Razer Edge tablet did (and failed at) the ENTIRE concept long before Nintendo brought their updated Nvidia Shield to market.
Good to see some actual critical coverage of this device (critical as in dispassionate and in-depth) - really hoping to see the same for the GPD Win 3!
This would be AWESOME for playing retro games. I'd love to play something like Final Fantasy VII or Tony Hawks on it. I think it's been done quite well and can imagine lying in bed playing it before I went to sleep.
Very cool product, I wish the company well. We need more cool products like this, thanks for showing it off to us. Can't wait to see the teardown in part 2.
Great look into the AYA NEO! I am a sucker for handhelds and have one ordered. Its a little out of my comfort zone for price but wanted to support a new device.
Regarding the blurry UI: Have you tried setting the Windows UI scaling to 100% before starting fortnite? Alternatively you could leave scaling at the default value, go into the program properties->compatibility->change high dpi settings->enable high dpi scaling override->then play around with the three available options. A lot of the time, one of them will fix the blurriness.
Thank you for being such a trusted source of information about tech online. With all the BS that's fed to us, we can always count on you guys to be upfront and honest. Its appreciated. I say "you guys" as I am sure you have a big team behind the scenes. So again, thank you from a random internet stranger.
Definitely on the side of 'ya, do more of this'. Although its most likely a couple decades away still, these types of units might just be the laptop of the future, perhaps even heading into star trek tricoder territory. Keeping an eye on this type of tech matters, we know that companies are going to keep jamming high end, hot running hardware into smaller for factors. Best stay ahead of the curve. And ya, the tear downs are critical to understanding them.
While at 3x the price of a Nintendo Switch, it can't be called exactly an alternative. That being said I do like the trend this new devices like the Aya Neo & GPD Win 3 are setting. Personally most of my gaming hours are at late night, laying in bed, with my Switch 😅. Imagine the possibilities if mainstream manufacturers decide to create handheld pcs as well...
Thanks for the honest review. I bought one because I am enthusiastic about gadgets and i really cannot wait to receive it. I really loved the concept of the switch but I am still to this day disappointed with the lack of applications like RUclips or the price of the games in general.
Nintendo arguing that this is infringing on their rights to the switch would be like apple trying to claim a dell is copying them because they’re both home computers
@@mostlypeacefulrowan8747 Their war against samsung back in android 2.X days was so funny lmao it was like hey you have a flashlight now?what the actual fuck? imma sue you to oblivion
Seeing a product like this actually quite excites me! The performance may not be anything to write home about for a 1280x800 resolution but when you put it into perspective of a handheld screen I think it is quite impressive. Most of that credit really goes to AMD for making such good mobile CPUs, but Aya deserves some credit for putting together a solution with a minimal size footprint. See, I am an owner and regular user of both the Nintendo Switch and a high end custom built PC. I love the Switch's portability but it does leave something to be desired on the performance level - and lets be real, the battery of the original model is only about 3-ish hours. However, a hand held device that can get around 60fps on PC games with some compromises to fidelity is pretty lit. Some of the games you tested that do have Switch ports don't even look nearly as good or run nearly as well, even something like Rocket League.
As an owner of multiple GPD devices, these tiny PCs are awesome! I love that the Neo is a legitimate GPD competitor. I highly recommend you check their stuff out, too!
Seems it's all RAM speed limited. DDR5 should make a difference. As to why they don't use VRAM for system RAM instead already like consoles, I don't know. Your are supposed to get VRAM with a GPU anyways...
@@techpriest4787 Obviously because it's very difficult to split RAM types for an APU and there are definitely workloads that suffer severely due to using VRAM as CPU memory, it's just that most of those are multi-tasking productivity related, so for consoles a huge shared pool does not hamstring the CPU much (when it's not benefiting it ofc), it's cheaper and beneficial overall. Also, VRAM is usually cheaper so ofc there is a reason that CPUs aren't universally using it.
@@techpriest4787 yeah vangogh will use lpddr5 ram I think the bandwidth should make it close to rx560 level atmost Fingers cross it reach before year end, should be a good 720p gaming beast then
From my experience with the GPD Win Max, the blurriness is usually fixed by disabling Full Screen Optimizations. From ThePhawk's videos on it, the same is also true for the GPD Win 3, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was also true for the Aya Neo.
Another reason for separate controller PCBs; the motherboard is likely 8 layers, reducing its size and only using 2layer or 4 layer pcbs for the controller can considerably save money
@@Centrocal they were the first to donate / believe in the company. they deserve something exclusive. also the founders have led lights which does raise prices when mass producing. they spoke of offering color shell replacements later.
This would be an insane portable emulation system, whilst also being good for indie games on steam or old school games on GOG. Just a shame its so damn expensive. If this was around £300-£400 I would consider it.
The windows touch keyboard can be configured to split down the middle so that half the keyboard is on the left and half is on the right. Its much easier to use that way, and gets basically to about phone typing speed.
Detacheable handles would make much more sense for a device like this. It would've also doubled as a Windows 10 tablet with possibility of an add-on keyboard. Also, being able to place it on a kickstand and use it as a small monitor with wireless controllers would have been significantly more attractive seeing as this is a fairly heavy device.
Nice, I'd mentioned this a while back in the comment section of one of your videos and how it'd be worth checking out, I doubt that got seen though. Still good to see your thoughts on it
Would be great if you also took a look at the GPD WIN3. I personally like the AYA NEO's direction in hardware choices. Detachable controllers are gimmicky. I believe their choice to not incorporate detachable controllers was a wise one. Great vid as always :)
I like his reviews. Not sure on his background but he seems to have engineering knowledge which means he understands the things he talks about. Most others on YT do not understand what they talk about.
I've ordered one from Indiegogo. It's somewhat niche, but given the available hardware (x86-64) and operating system (Windows 10 is just an awful tablet/touch OS), it's clear that compromises are always going to be there. But playing Windows-only games (or running Dolphin/PCSX2 emulators!) in handheld mode is exactly the niche I'm interested in, and out of the GPD Win 3, GX1 Pro and AYA Neo, it looks like the best of the three options. (Unless you want Thunderbolt for an eGPU, but that's a niche within a niche)
I suspect the Aya Neo could benefit from a small optical trackball or touchpad to use as a mouse. I tried using an old Philips USB gamepad as a mouse for a short while years ago, which involved using a thumb stick. It wasn't a great mousing experience. Alternatively, they could try to use one (or two) of those red dots you find on IBM laptops. They use a compact strain gauge, to sense how hard you nudge in any direction, with more force equaling higher velocity of the pointer. I used one for a year or two in Highschool. I got used to it after a couple months. I preferred it to the touchpad on the same old Thinkpad laptop it was on for games. I played C&C Red Alert 2 a ton with that little red nub as a mouse. Red Alert 2 is an RTS game, which involves clicking on units on a field, and clicking on other things. Dragging selection boxes. Scrolling over a large map by nudging the edges of the screen with the pointer. Clicking and placing buildings. It's all real-time, meaning that's it's not turn based. So it's pretty fast-paced, because the opponent moves their forces at the same time. It still isn't as good as a good corded optical or laser mouse. But it allows better effective range of motion than a tiny touchpad. And a _tiny_ touchpad is all the Aya Neo would have room for in the current form factor. If the form factor allowed for a couple of large touchpads, that would probably be an ideal alternative to analog sticks for both mouse movements and gaming in my opinion. But I think an optical trackball would be just as good as a trackpad. The trackball could be better in fact, if the it was made larger, for a larger range of motion and/or more pointer sensitivity. Even a small trackball would be excellent for FPS games, because the most important movements are usually rapid, short distance, precise pointer movements. You can get by with a smaller range of motion on a mouse pad, trackpad, or trackball, as long as you have speed and precision. I would not want to use the IBM red dot for a FPS, unless it was only used for the broad strokes of looking around. In that case, it would be really good. But even using the red dot for the only pointing device in a FPS would be doable with enough practice, and help from strafing movemonts to line up shots. Some tweaks to the red dot could probably make it even better though. If you gave it an analog stick, like the mushroom shaped ones. And maybe tried to upgrade the sensitivity of the sensors (higher bit-depth of readings). I think it would outclass any analog stick you could name, assuming the driver software doesn't foul the whole thing up. It wouldn't be very good for a laptop keyboard though, on account of it sticking up from the surface and keeping the laptop from closing. Then again, it could potentially be sunk into the laptop a bit more with some changes to the PCB underneath the keyboard. You'd still need to make quite a bit more room on the keyboard though. But that might be alright if you split the keyboard in two, to make it more ergonomic. You'd just end up marketing your laptop as an extra wide, ergonomic laptop with higher precision red dot. The astute might have noticed a bias against analog sticks so far in this comment. It's actually more a case of me having very limited exposure to them… I have only used analog or thumb sticks, that came with either outdated, or cheap, offbrand controllers. Unless you count a Logitech joystick as an analog stick, which I don't. So I probably don't know what the best analog sticks are capable of. The software for the Philips USB gamepad I mentioned, also may have made the mouse functionality really bad. Because the mouse could only move at one speed. It was either moving at that speed, or it was standing still. It's possible that with variable speeds, it would have been comparable to an IBM red dot, or even better. I personally would love to tinker with making awesome, innovative game controllers, but I have neither the technical skills, nor the budget. I think a Frankenstinian combination of everything I've mentioned here and more, could be interesting.
design recommendation: a kick stand would be super handy also, something like one of those surface keyboards would be cool, but I don't know how difficult it might be to implement something like that
Check out our AYA NEO tear-down here: ruclips.net/video/f7vhZw4QiYY/видео.html
Check out our recent Intel NUC Mini-PC review for related ultra-small gaming PC coverage: ruclips.net/video/aNK_VfUeBbQ/видео.html
Grab a GN Modmat, Mouse Mat, or other item: store.gamersnexus.net/
Just for the giggles I would love to see somebody test a VR headset on this
This thing is more powerful than my elite book 8770w. :)
i7 3630.
@@Dtr146 à
I think it would be interesting to compare it to the gpd win 3 in terms of form factor and performance.
Cool idea ..wonder if a metal chassis would help fix the thermals..or liquid helium cool it for the lulz
7:23 "...but we ended up *switching..."*
Nintendo: He can't say that! Sue him or something!
lmao
"We ended up swi."
*Video pauses, rewind sound*
"Changing to a non removable controller design" *sign, wipe sweat*
Don’t worry, they’re gonna DMCA and send a cease and desist
That whole section made me laugh my ass off as I'm the one behind RMT.
It’s really cool to see how these types of devices are now possible with their power and form factor. I still remember the chunky Razer Edge Pro tablet PC that was showed off years ago that was so unwieldy. It’s nice to see what progress has been made lol.
You're absolutely right! It's advanced a lot over the years.
All Hail Dr. Lisa Su!
Yup, and with the upcoming generations of mobile chips and the renewed focus on iGPU development (Intel with their Xe, AMD should follow suit at some point, RDNA was said to be built for scalability) they could get even better. Then you add USB 4 (i.e. Thunderbolt 3) at some point down the line and make a dock that connects to an eGPU, and voila. =)
@@jubuttib AMD, RDNA2, USB4 - you're describing Rembrandt, which comes out next year :)
@@jubuttib The One GX1 Pro handheld/netbook, already has a Intel Tiger Lake i7, Iris Xe iGPU. Also, you can connect that straight to an eGPU, through it's Thunderbolt 3 port. I hate plugging others peoples videos, however watch ETA PRIME's video called "OneGx1 Pro Mini Gaming Laptop" for a review.
"Well, there was the Vita at one point..." :(
Sony did the Vita dirty
The Vita ain't that vita anymore
Hack it bud. At least that way you can play the good PS1 games on it as well, like I did with my 2 PSP's. 👍😏
@@JuxZeil I'm assuming all the new ones got firmware locked in typical Sony fashion.
the firmware locks for the PSP never survived for very long it was always fun playing N64 games on mine... I should see if I can find it
@@falxonPSN if I’m not mistaken any firmware is hackable for the psvita. I’ve been away for awhile and sold my vita last year. Firmware 3.60 to 3.65 were hackable without even trying lol. And they have micro sd card adapters now so you aren’t locked to Sony’s BS proprietary memory pricing for it. Go to Reddit vitahacking sub and you can find all the answers to it.
Steve's very decent mandarin pronunciation always caught me off guard
Me too lmao
he's been practicing because they go to taiwan a lot.
@@awilliams1701 really appreciate the fact that he can get it right even if most people watching couldn't tell
@@lancezheng504 I think its wonderful of him to try so hard. Its one of the things I love about Steve and the team.
Bu cuo!
Can you imagine how awesome the Aya 2 will be when RDNA 2 APU + ddr5 comes out.
Yeah hopefully it comes sooner than later, but I'll say it'll take a couple of years before we get an apu with rdna2
Heard about vangogh APU that has 4core zen 2 + 8CU RDNA2, i imagine that vangogh suits for aya neo
It has potential. For such small team and small company we'll have to wait a lot. If they optimize efficiency (with new RDNA, ZEN, DDR5), then automatically battery life, TDP and dimensions improve because for 10Watt consumption you need smaller battery, radiator and fan, thus lower weight and size.
@Steven Turner yeah Steam deck ... kind of a disappointment considering Valve's resources I was expecting something better but they just milk cheaper old gen zen 2 for all it's worth. Zen 3 cpu with 12 RDNA 2 cores would have been so much better with same or lower power consumption but I guess they will want to release a Steam Deck Pro at some point. Gaming hardware is a joke at this point every manufacturer is just spitting in customers faces and unfortunately most customers don't know enough about the tech to ask for something better.
@Steven Turner Yeah i'm guessing they looked at the competition out there and decided this was enough considering they outperform by maybe 10 - 20 percent it's decent I was just hoping for more. : ))
Wait so Uncle A basically convinced his weed-man to finance his handheld? Respect...
Just realized you guys keep midrolls turned off. Thank you so much for that
Man I love late night GN videos.
What is their timezone acually? 😅
Early morning for us Europeans :)
@@mantasr I like his review too. One thing is missing, he should get a haircut it's too girly. 😱😱
One of the early backer passing by. Cannot wait for full teardown. No one done that yet. Cannot wait to get mine.
Hello fellow backer! I see you're also watching all videos mentioning the Neo to pass the time while we wait for shipping news.
A review of the GPD Win 3 and a showdown of all 3 systems would both be very entertaining to watch
There's already quite a few videos out there, comparing the AYA NEO, GPD Win3 and One GX 1 Pro. TBH, all 3 seem to have their fair share of Pro's and Cons. ETA PRIME has done many good videos, on all of them.
However, I suspect that if Alienware's: UFO ever lands, it would vaporise all of them
@@fafski1199 I didn't realize alienware was making a handheld. That could be pretty awesome.
China’s tinkerer culture and cottage industries are wild, fascinating, and kind of inspiring.
Yes and actually I totally support their ambitions to become an independent gaming platform!
Bet my life they copied it from someone.
Everything is more easy with kind of slave labor.
@@MenkoDany yikes
Do you people know that RUclips is banned in China?
Aya’s approach to right to repair is actually a pretty good compromise between company and user. From what I understand in this video, if the device is legitimately faulty and breaks itself within warranty period, they will replace or repair it for you. But if you decide to crack it open, the company is not liable, but they will sell you the first-party replacement parts. Aya makes their money, and people can repair their own devices with proper parts. Sounds like a good deal to me.
Still illegal in the US, for good reason. Warranty should only be voided if you actually broke the product, not from merely disassembling it. Now I would like a clause where opening the product in a non-destructive manner is mandatory...
Voiding warranty just for opening up the product is literally illegal
I love these type of reviews, its really useful when people are putting big money on the table for a sold experience.
I love the fact that this channel has always rewarded my bad sleeping habits with it's upload times. Also, I'm super bummed I didn't hear about this before the indiegogo campaign wrapped. Hopefully I can pick up a more refined version of this product in the near future.
I would definitely like to see more videos like this. A 'perfect' handheld gaming device has been a goal of mine for a while and the more coverage the better.
"You can use a paperweight"
*uses a 3080 to support it*
With only 10GB they are totally useless. Go 3090 or go home. /s
@@falxonPSN at the current prices , i haven't even left the house !
@@michaelbaldwin5953 LOL - nice!
@@falxonPSN Exactly, either you buy a 3090 or a house. Tough choice, cause you can't game outdoors and you also can't game indoors without a gpu.
i was on the floor laughing for this
Hopped on to say goodnight. I’ll watch in the morning 👍🏼
That was gay
Can I just appreciate that gamers nexus and hardware unboxed use time stamps on their videos
Thank you
I can't imagine the algorithm's going to like this upload time, but I'm watching it now so maybe it's secretly genius.
GN suddenly decided to start to cater to us Europeans and Asians :D
We built this channel on this upload time. Most of the uploads historically were between 12am and 6am EST.
@@GamersNexus Perfect timing for early morning office workers totally not having it up on a side monitor ;)
@@kibouguthier42 lol... I would just shamelessly play it in my office during the work day, and say I was working, which, since I'm a guy interested in doing PC building and repasting stuff, it would be well within the job description, besides the fact that I'd be my own boss...
Honestly, I like waking up and having the vids to watch rather than having some come out at the wnd of the day.
Man, can you imagine an open standard for "nano-ATX" motherboards in order we can assemble our own portable devices????
@@bradhaines3142 might i suggest checking out ETA Prime's video of this single board computer that is VERY powerful runs full windows 10 and is probably compact enough to accomplish building a handheld with... ruclips.net/video/bCkXYRpeHvM/видео.html
I hope one day that laptop building will be a common thing.
In the meantime you can buy Tiger Lake or Ryzen based NUCs. Their boards are just as small.
Wow 4500U, that's one powerful hand held PC!
Yes.. The funny thing here is that the Aya Neo is going to kick serious ass in every other aspect than... gaming....
Good morning Steve
Respect from South Africa 👌🏿
Really enjoying the no-compromises approach to branching out the channel has managed to do recently!
On the PS Vita, the controller sections also had their own daughterboards, so possibly this design isn't related to prior Switch-like configuration.
It also sounds like a good design when it comes to repairability.
Only 1/3 the way through the vid and already enjoy it, awesome job guys!
Now we can play *all* the Diablo games on the toilet.
Do you not have phones
@@Rance53 playing most games localy is a better experience than remote play and such in my experience
@@wisico640 do you not know memes?
Diablo 3 is already on switch and Diablo 2 remaster will likely also be ported soon
Welcome to 2014
Respect on actually shipping a product and its decent. How many vaporware devices have we seen or those that ship years late and fulfill 1/10 of their promises.
I was just about to go to bed and then I see you upload. Simple decision
And I just woke up
I'll always put a steve video on when I'm about to go to bed, it's like getting a tech story read or told to you as you go to sleep
I’m happy you guys are covering handheld PCs!
The Aya Neo is like a horse with a party hat stuck to its forehead and us being told that it's actually a real unicorn this time.
And you know what? I'm actually willing to believe Uncle A on this one. After all he did bring us an actual horse, unlike most others that promised. So it shouldn't be too hard finding the horse a proper horn to turn it into a unicorn!
I absolutely love that it is tiny PC rather then JUST a game console. I would love to see some cool, foldable keyboard and small mouse, maybe all being hold at the back of the dock for comfortable potability... And you have tiny, fantastic windows device. I wonder if you can also connect drawing tablet to it - I dont see why not. Much cooler then laptop for mobility reasons.
Trying to make just another console makes no sense really and I dont see how it can compete with Switch. But as a Windows powered mini computer this is absolutely awesome!
Definitely want to see more of that sort of devices!
EDIT: About the on screen keyboard, one of the team has already got a fix for that where it maps it to the proper touchscreen keyboard, not sure if that will be a part of the shipped units next month or if you need to DL it but it does exist, Phawx has a video about it
So glad I got in on this, but there's an 8.x inch version from another team in China that has the Intel internals on a proper layout (not that Win3 crap). Not sure if I should get both or what but damn it's a good time to be alive lol
What's the name of the other version with the 8.x screen
@@cruzin1383 ONEXPLAYER is what it's called, their IGG is up but it hasn't started the count yet. Rumor has it the first reveal of the product is coming on the 28th from a channel called MVA.
Fun fact, MVA had his neo modded and he's running a 4700u ryzen 7 in his instead lol, unfortunately it doesn't really get to shine with that ryzen 7 power until you start eating up the battery in the 90ish minute range, sometime less. Does pretty good docked though
Very interesting product and I love that you spend the time and test different stuff like this in-depth. Keep doing that, it is often very difficult to find tests on niche products like this and even though I am currently not planning to buy one I still really appreciate having a test from an independent and trusted source like you guys.
G'day Steve,
Funny how Nintendo are so Crazy about anyone 'Copying' the Style of the Switch,
especially when it looks & is designed so much like a PSP which was released over 10yrs earlier
I am sure the Tech Industry is full of people what need a Memory Upgrade, as there are so many claims that 'Our Design is a First' when they just aren't
Aaaaand, the PSP uses a d-pad (NES/FC/GAME&WATCH) , an analogue stick (N64), diamond layout action buttons (SNES), shoulder buttons (SNES) and is basically the same layout as a Game Boy Advance.......there was always something similar first.....
Sony are lucky that Nintendo didn't sue them for the original PS1 controller, which is basically a SNES controller with 4 shoulder buttons
@@TheRestartPoint Yes, plus there were also other Consoles with Control Pads that have Direction control on the left & Activation on the right even before Nintendo,
but I was talking about the Design of the whole unit with screen in the middle & controls on left & right, which is what Steve was saying is the Controversy
It's more accurate to say Nintendo iterated on the Gamevice and similar controllers than it is to say they copied the PSP (because that design could be argued to have copied the Gameboy Advance).
Hell, the Razer Edge tablet did (and failed at) the ENTIRE concept long before Nintendo brought their updated Nvidia Shield to market.
Good to see some actual critical coverage of this device (critical as in dispassionate and in-depth) - really hoping to see the same for the GPD Win 3!
And the One GX 1 Pro!
This would be AWESOME for playing retro games. I'd love to play something like Final Fantasy VII or Tony Hawks on it. I think it's been done quite well and can imagine lying in bed playing it before I went to sleep.
If you have a bluetooth controller, you can play many of those games on your smartphone with emulation.
@@ChewyThomson I have an iphone SE, so the screen is only 4.7 inches.
I don't really enjoy playing games on it.
Get yourself a DS or a PsVita and mod it for cheaper retro machine!
It's not that difficult and pretty amazing
"magic plant" I wonder... Love you guys at GN! Awesome content ! I really was excited to see the rainbow benchmarks. Keep up the awesome work yall!
That professional gamer shot with the snacks and spilled drink, Perfection.
"I don't know why it's so greasy." I love the memes.
Always been interested in ultra small portable windows devices. Would like to see more coverage of these machines. Great work.
"Paperweight courtesy of Gigabyte" xD
Now I understand more what a paper launched item is for!
I'm excited, backed the project but will receive one of the second batch shipping in June.
Thought 1st batch ship in April, and the 2nd ship in May but will get to everyone by June. I may be wrong
Magical plant
That story made me chuckle, StoneBoy made me laugh.
I agree.
@@SRC267 lol 😂 me too.
Very cool product, I wish the company well. We need more cool products like this, thanks for showing it off to us. Can't wait to see the teardown in part 2.
30fps on Cyberpunk is a BOLD claim
it's 720p, far different from our normal 1080p performance ratio.
@@OMGJL I mean it doesn't really change the experience on a screen that small so
Great look into the AYA NEO! I am a sucker for handhelds and have one ordered. Its a little out of my comfort zone for price but wanted to support a new device.
Regarding the blurry UI:
Have you tried setting the Windows UI scaling to 100% before starting fortnite?
Alternatively you could leave scaling at the default value, go into the program properties->compatibility->change high dpi settings->enable high dpi scaling override->then play around with the three available options. A lot of the time, one of them will fix the blurriness.
genius
Yes. The problem is the display.
One netbook player will be out soon and definitely worth a purchase Steve. Love these things.
i was REALLY hoping for controls that were good enough that no one would want to use an external controller
Even Nintendo didn't quite manage that.
@@andyenglish4303 Nintendo also didn't really put that much effort into making their controllers durable.
Thank you for being such a trusted source of information about tech online. With all the BS that's fed to us, we can always count on you guys to be upfront and honest. Its appreciated. I say "you guys" as I am sure you have a big team behind the scenes. So again, thank you from a random internet stranger.
7:42 Sus
amogus
Agomnus 😎
AMOGUS 🤯 IMPOSTOR IS SUS
amogus
ඞ
Great review :) realised i had no business knowing this much about this thing about 11 minutes in.
This thing is an emulation beast.
Definitely on the side of 'ya, do more of this'.
Although its most likely a couple decades away still, these types of units might just be the laptop of the future, perhaps even heading into star trek tricoder territory. Keeping an eye on this type of tech matters, we know that companies are going to keep jamming high end, hot running hardware into smaller for factors.
Best stay ahead of the curve.
And ya, the tear downs are critical to understanding them.
While at 3x the price of a Nintendo Switch, it can't be called exactly an alternative. That being said I do like the trend this new devices like the Aya Neo & GPD Win 3 are setting. Personally most of my gaming hours are at late night, laying in bed, with my Switch 😅. Imagine the possibilities if mainstream manufacturers decide to create handheld pcs as well...
Thanks for the honest review. I bought one because I am enthusiastic about gadgets and i really cannot wait to receive it. I really loved the concept of the switch but I am still to this day disappointed with the lack of applications like RUclips or the price of the games in general.
Nintendo arguing that this is infringing on their rights to the switch would be like apple trying to claim a dell is copying them because they’re both home computers
Apple would sue over a product having corners or shaped like a rectangle
Nintendo has patents for detachable Joy-Cons and overall Switch design.
Switch wishes it was half as cool as the Lynx - the OG (obscenely gigantic) handheld
@@mostlypeacefulrowan8747 Their war against samsung back in android 2.X days was so funny lmao it was like hey you have a flashlight now?what the actual fuck? imma sue you to oblivion
Man I wish this thing wasn't so expensive. Its just so cool and I want it so badly.
Ah yes the 1am upload
I didn't need sleep tonight anyways
The Aya to me is in its own world and uniquely awesome and deserves a chance to turn heads:)
Cheaper than buying a GPU!
How much is aya neo? And when will it be released?
Seeing a product like this actually quite excites me! The performance may not be anything to write home about for a 1280x800 resolution but when you put it into perspective of a handheld screen I think it is quite impressive. Most of that credit really goes to AMD for making such good mobile CPUs, but Aya deserves some credit for putting together a solution with a minimal size footprint. See, I am an owner and regular user of both the Nintendo Switch and a high end custom built PC. I love the Switch's portability but it does leave something to be desired on the performance level - and lets be real, the battery of the original model is only about 3-ish hours. However, a hand held device that can get around 60fps on PC games with some compromises to fidelity is pretty lit. Some of the games you tested that do have Switch ports don't even look nearly as good or run nearly as well, even something like Rocket League.
Me: I should probably sleep now it’s 1 AM
*GN UPLOADS*
Me: SLEEP CAN WAIT
As an owner of multiple GPD devices, these tiny PCs are awesome! I love that the Neo is a legitimate GPD competitor. I highly recommend you check their stuff out, too!
I just hope van gogh apu brings a lot better igpu later
Seems it's all RAM speed limited. DDR5 should make a difference. As to why they don't use VRAM for system RAM instead already like consoles, I don't know. Your are supposed to get VRAM with a GPU anyways...
@@techpriest4787 Obviously because it's very difficult to split RAM types for an APU and there are definitely workloads that suffer severely due to using VRAM as CPU memory, it's just that most of those are multi-tasking productivity related, so for consoles a huge shared pool does not hamstring the CPU much (when it's not benefiting it ofc), it's cheaper and beneficial overall.
Also, VRAM is usually cheaper so ofc there is a reason that CPUs aren't universally using it.
@@techpriest4787 yeah vangogh will use lpddr5 ram
I think the bandwidth should make it close to rx560 level atmost
Fingers cross it reach before year end, should be a good 720p gaming beast then
Great review, I'd like to see GN review those "retro consoles" on Ali Express
Perfect time to take a break at work.
From my experience with the GPD Win Max, the blurriness is usually fixed by disabling Full Screen Optimizations. From ThePhawk's videos on it, the same is also true for the GPD Win 3, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was also true for the Aya Neo.
When you're Crewmate and purple just stands there menacingly 07:43
"[Hold it at an angle] with a paperweight"
Shows a water-cooled 3090.
That's a _damn_ nice paperweight you got there
A good way to start my day. The Swiss that i am appreciates!
Really enjoyed your review!
I'm waiting for a Water cooled Overclocking Session on this thing now .
The GPU is going to limit this thing so badly. =\
these handheld windows machines are cool, would love to see more of them.
7:42
Oh God make it stop please I can't take it anymore
When the console is sus
I'd love to see more reviews on handheld like this! Especially the ones made by GPD.
EVGA adds a PIR sensor to their keyboard, and suddenly its "revolutionary".
I know, right? I wonder if I can add a PIR sensor to my 60% keyboard. XP
This is really a review of the 4500u for gaming...and it’s a compelling case
+1 for paperweight :D
Another reason for separate controller PCBs; the motherboard is likely 8 layers, reducing its size and only using 2layer or 4 layer pcbs for the controller can considerably save money
My complaint is that it doesn't look like they offer the clear body shell.
was an exclusive for their first supporters, makes sense
Yes i'd also like the clear version. Don't know why its exclusive to founders edition. Should be available for purchase
@@Centrocal they were the first to donate / believe in the company. they deserve something exclusive. also the founders have led lights which does raise prices when mass producing. they spoke of offering color shell replacements later.
@@Centrocal The problem is that by the time anyone has heard of it you could no longer get the clear version.
This would be an insane portable emulation system, whilst also being good for indie games on steam or old school games on GOG.
Just a shame its so damn expensive. If this was around £300-£400 I would consider it.
Yeah, I already have a computer, and I use my phone to connect by Steam Link to play my games. A PC can hold as many games as the parts can allow.
If I had one of those, I'd run Linux but have it boot to Steam Big Picture.
The windows touch keyboard can be configured to split down the middle so that half the keyboard is on the left and half is on the right. Its much easier to use that way, and gets basically to about phone typing speed.
It's hard to tell if you're here to fix my computer, do drugs with me, or play guitar.
Por que no las tres?
lol
This was way more interesting than expected
PS vita was and underappreciated platform dam locked down crap but good once it was opened.
Loved this episode 🙌🏽. More please
Steam Deck >
That's the advantage of a big company. Valve can order custom APU with much better graphics cores from AMD.
Detacheable handles would make much more sense for a device like this. It would've also doubled as a Windows 10 tablet with possibility of an add-on keyboard. Also, being able to place it on a kickstand and use it as a small monitor with wireless controllers would have been significantly more attractive seeing as this is a fairly heavy device.
Nice, I'd mentioned this a while back in the comment section of one of your videos and how it'd be worth checking out, I doubt that got seen though. Still good to see your thoughts on it
Would be great if you also took a look at the GPD WIN3. I personally like the AYA NEO's direction in hardware choices. Detachable controllers are gimmicky. I believe their choice to not incorporate detachable controllers was a wise one. Great vid as always :)
I like his reviews. Not sure on his background but he seems to have engineering knowledge which means he understands the things he talks about.
Most others on YT do not understand what they talk about.
Early gang here. Anyway, cool to finally see Ryzen in mini-PCs
Would be interesting to see a comparison between games that run on both this device and the Switch. See battery life comparisons and what not.
I've ordered one from Indiegogo. It's somewhat niche, but given the available hardware (x86-64) and operating system (Windows 10 is just an awful tablet/touch OS), it's clear that compromises are always going to be there. But playing Windows-only games (or running Dolphin/PCSX2 emulators!) in handheld mode is exactly the niche I'm interested in, and out of the GPD Win 3, GX1 Pro and AYA Neo, it looks like the best of the three options. (Unless you want Thunderbolt for an eGPU, but that's a niche within a niche)
Same, looking forward to mine also 🥲
I suspect the Aya Neo could benefit from a small optical trackball or touchpad to use as a mouse.
I tried using an old Philips USB gamepad as a mouse for a short while years ago, which involved using a thumb stick. It wasn't a great mousing experience.
Alternatively, they could try to use one (or two) of those red dots you find on IBM laptops. They use a compact strain gauge, to sense how hard you nudge in any direction, with more force equaling higher velocity of the pointer. I used one for a year or two in Highschool. I got used to it after a couple months. I preferred it to the touchpad on the same old Thinkpad laptop it was on for games. I played C&C Red Alert 2 a ton with that little red nub as a mouse. Red Alert 2 is an RTS game, which involves clicking on units on a field, and clicking on other things. Dragging selection boxes. Scrolling over a large map by nudging the edges of the screen with the pointer. Clicking and placing buildings. It's all real-time, meaning that's it's not turn based. So it's pretty fast-paced, because the opponent moves their forces at the same time.
It still isn't as good as a good corded optical or laser mouse. But it allows better effective range of motion than a tiny touchpad. And a _tiny_ touchpad is all the Aya Neo would have room for in the current form factor.
If the form factor allowed for a couple of large touchpads, that would probably be an ideal alternative to analog sticks for both mouse movements and gaming in my opinion. But I think an optical trackball would be just as good as a trackpad.
The trackball could be better in fact, if the it was made larger, for a larger range of motion and/or more pointer sensitivity. Even a small trackball would be excellent for FPS games, because the most important movements are usually rapid, short distance, precise pointer movements. You can get by with a smaller range of motion on a mouse pad, trackpad, or trackball, as long as you have speed and precision.
I would not want to use the IBM red dot for a FPS, unless it was only used for the broad strokes of looking around. In that case, it would be really good.
But even using the red dot for the only pointing device in a FPS would be doable with enough practice, and help from strafing movemonts to line up shots.
Some tweaks to the red dot could probably make it even better though. If you gave it an analog stick, like the mushroom shaped ones. And maybe tried to upgrade the sensitivity of the sensors (higher bit-depth of readings). I think it would outclass any analog stick you could name, assuming the driver software doesn't foul the whole thing up. It wouldn't be very good for a laptop keyboard though, on account of it sticking up from the surface and keeping the laptop from closing. Then again, it could potentially be sunk into the laptop a bit more with some changes to the PCB underneath the keyboard. You'd still need to make quite a bit more room on the keyboard though. But that might be alright if you split the keyboard in two, to make it more ergonomic. You'd just end up marketing your laptop as an extra wide, ergonomic laptop with higher precision red dot.
The astute might have noticed a bias against analog sticks so far in this comment. It's actually more a case of me having very limited exposure to them…
I have only used analog or thumb sticks, that came with either outdated, or cheap, offbrand controllers. Unless you count a Logitech joystick as an analog stick, which I don't. So I probably don't know what the best analog sticks are capable of. The software for the Philips USB gamepad I mentioned, also may have made the mouse functionality really bad. Because the mouse could only move at one speed. It was either moving at that speed, or it was standing still. It's possible that with variable speeds, it would have been comparable to an IBM red dot, or even better.
I personally would love to tinker with making awesome, innovative game controllers, but I have neither the technical skills, nor the budget. I think a Frankenstinian combination of everything I've mentioned here and more, could be interesting.
Personally I LOVE this stuff, yes gaming PCs are dope but stuff like the raspberry pi and custom build handhelds are mad cool
The Cheerwine at 22:08 made me laugh. So used to tech channels being on the west coast.
design recommendation: a kick stand would be super handy
also, something like one of those surface keyboards would be cool, but I don't know how difficult it might be to implement something like that