A smaller alternative to the Steam Deck has officially entered the market. The Ayaneo Air is a project that is currently still backable on Indigogo for the next couple of days. But the company has already started shipping devices to their early adopters, hoping to have all the initial pre-orders shipped out by the end of August. While the project is still backable, customers can nab an Ayaneo Air or Ayaneo Air Pro device at discounted prices made for their ‘early-bird’ clients.
Ayaneo Air and Ayaneo Air Pro
There are eight different iterations of the device to choose from, with the price range to match. The currently available options start at the lower end of the spectrum with the Ayaneo Air Lite with 128BG of space starting at the normal pricing of $550 but currently discounted to $500 with early bird pricing, and end with the higher end of the spectrum with the Ayaneo Air Pro that has 2TB of space and uses an AMD Ryzen 7 processor for the normal price of $1400 currently discounted to $1250.
The Ayaneo website boasts that their Ayaneo Air is the “first ultra-thin OLED Windows Handheld” that features a 5.5-inch OLED display, with an ultra-slim design that is smaller than other handheld PC devices available at present — with the Ayaneo Air being 18mm thick and the Ayaneo Air Pro being 21.6mm thick, as well as 8GB of RAM and the choice between either a Ryzen 5 or a Ryzen 7 depending on the option that you choose as well as customizable buttons. Both models are available in Aurora White and Polar black, with the Air being available in Sakura Pink and the Pro being available in Bright Silver. The devices can also connect to a variety of peripherals, or you can dock it, like the Nintendo Switch, to a bigger display.
Ayaneo Aren’t New to This World
This is not the first time that the company made the voyage into the world of handheld PCs as they have also previously launched the Ayaneo Pro and the Ayaneo Next, two devices that offered premium build quality and solid performance across a wide variety of games but tended to be available at premium pricing. The Ayaneo Air is their latest foray into handheld devices and is a more affordable version of the two premium devices. The portable PC market is seriously starting to heat up and although they have their other two models, Ayaneo is hoping that their device will steal some of the Steam Deck’s thunder and introduce a more accessible handheld device.
If you have been eyeing the project for a while, the discounted early bird prices won’t be available for much longer. So maybe scoop it up while you still can. If you are on the fence about buying it, reviews should start streaming throughout August as early adopters start receiving their devices.
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