Handheld maker Aya Neo is adding the Aya Neo 2 and Aya Neo Slide to its lineup of portable PC gaming devices, both of which are set to come with an upgraded Ryzen 7 6800U chip and a Radeon 680M integrated GPU with RDNA 2 graphics, according to a report from Liliputing. The Radeon 680M iGPU is capable of pushing 3.38 teraflops, more than double the 1.6 teraflops delivered by the Steam Deck.
As pointed out by Tom’s Hardware, the Ryzen 7 6800 APU (accelerated processing unit) comes with eight cores and runs on the faster Zen 3 plus architecture. It also comes with the integrated Radeon 680M iGPU, which has 12 compute units (CUs). For comparison, the Steam Deck has a quad-core AMD APU that runs on the older Zen 2 architecture and an iGPU with RDNA 2 graphics and eight CUs. Judging by these specs, the Neo 2 and Neo Slide could have the potential to outperform the Steam Deck — but we won’t know for sure until we see the devices in action.
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While both the Slide and Neo 2 will come with support for LPDDR5-6400 RAM, Aya says the Neo 2 will also feature PCIe 4.0 storage, USB 4.0 ports, as well as a fingerprint scanner. In addition to sporting some internal upgrades, the exterior of the device has also been overhauled. The Neo 2 swaps its predecessor’s harder edges for more rounded corners, making it look a lot more like the Aya Neo Next device the company released earlier this year. It also has an updated dark / light gray color scheme that reminds me of Nintendo’s classic consoles.
The Neo Slide, however, comes with an even more interesting design. As its name implies, the screen slides up to reveal a backlit RGB keyboard, sort of like a larger version of the Motorola Droid 4 (and other old phones) that have the same functionality. It’s unclear how well this will work, but it would be pretty cool to slide up your screen and start typing to friends without much interruption to gameplay.
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Aya Neo didn’t provide release dates for the Neo Slide or Neo 2, but says they’re coming later this year. And while there aren’t any pricing details either, the devices likely won’t be cheap — the Aya Neo, Aya Neo Pro, and Aya Neo Next all cost over $1,000, much more than the $399 starting price of the Steam Deck. We may see pricing that’s (hopefully) closer to the Steam Deck with Aya Neo’s upcoming entry-level Neo Air, but there will obviously be a trade-off when it comes to performance.
