Until not long ago, the portable consoles their days seemed numbered. The 3DS had very timid sales at the beginning. And Sony did not have the success that was expected with PS Vita. Everything indicated that mobile phones were going to end this line of products. However, in 2017, Nintendo did it again. With the excuse of creating a hybrid console, switch convinced us that laptops were still a product with a long life ahead of it. However, the Nintendo Switch has a big problem, and that is that it leaves you wanting more. His graphics power is not its forte, and that has led to the emergence of competing products such as Steam Deck or the Ayaneo Next which we are going to talk about today.
Portable console or miniature computer?
The limiting factor of the Nintendo Switch is its processor. The Nvidia SoC that mounts inside it is already a few years old. Obviously, in a future version, it will carry another more powerful ARM chip, as is the case with Odin Pro. However, manufacturers such as Valve or Ayaneo have chosen to discard mobile chips and equip their portable consoles with X86 computer processors. All this is possible thanks to the APUs of amdhardware and manufacturer that is also present in the new generation of home consoles.
The Ayaneo Next is not the first incursion of this manufacturer in the market for high-performance portable consoles. The ayaneo original it was announced long before the Steam Deck, and it featured a fourth generation Ryzen 5. In this new model, the manufacturer has opted for the next generation of processors. The Ayaneo Next equips a AMD Ryzen 7 5825U with Zen 3 architecture and assisted by a AMD Radeon Vega 8 GPU. It will be sold in versions Standard and Pro. This second variant has double the RAM and double the storage space of the base model.
Both the Ayaneo Next and the Ayaneo Next Pro have a processor inside AMD Ryzen 7 8 core and 16 threads at 2 GHz and a turbo frequency of 4.5 GHz. The basic model can be purchased with 16GB RAM and 1 or 3 TB of storage, while the Pro has 32GB of LPDDR4x memory at 4266 Mhz and 2TB of storage. The discs of both models are M.2 NVMe. Regarding the screen, they have a 7 inch touch panel with IPS technology of 1280 by 800 pixels.
At the time of playing, we will have feedback triggers, a completely measured design so that we rest our hands with great comfort and we will even be able to unlock the console with a fingerprint reader. His battery It is 4100mAh And it has a 65W fast charge. As if that were not enough, you can also output the signal to a television or monitor through its USB-C port, compatible with DisplayPort 1.4. The only bad thing is its price. The normal model will cost $1,335 in its 1TB configuration, while the Ayaneo Next Pro will go up to $1,535. A real savagery, but it’s the price of having the power of a laptop in your pocket.
What can the Ayaneo Next do?
Basically, the new Ayaneo goes even further than the Steam Deck. Its processor is not only more powerful than that of Valve’s console, but it will also directly execute Microsoft Windows. It will not require middleware or have compatibility issues. We can play AAA games lying on our sofa, as well as access online games like Fortnite or war zone where, at the moment, they are incompatible with the Deck as they depend on software anti cheating which is only available on Windows.
In addition, you can play games of any library you have, you won’t just be limited to Steam. The Ayaneo Next is undoubtedly proof that the perfect portable console can exist. The bad thing is that only a lucky few will be able to enjoy this device considering its very high price.
