Ayaneo Slide review: The best compact PC gaming handheld

Ayaneo has been launching some weird and wacky products in recent months, with a ton of gaming handhelds being the vast majority of it. With the Ayaneo 2S, the Ayaneo Kun, the Ayaneo Flip, and the Ayaneo AM01 to name a few, the company has been trying a lot of different things. The Ayaneo Slide is one of the more interesting ones, and surprisingly, it's actually a very good handheld.

The reason I say "surprisingly' is that the Ayaneo Slide is a pretty small handheld, and I wasn't sure what to expect given its smaller screen. As well, one of its biggest features is that it has a keyboard underneath the screen, and the screen has to Slide to reveal it. Hence the name, in case you were wondering. It's a surprisingly decent keyboard that especially aids in setup, though can be extraordinarily useful when playing other games or even just generally using this device.

If what you want is a compact PC gaming handheld, then the Ayaneo Slide is genuinely a fantastic piece of hardware. It feels amazing in the hands, is easily portable, and is surprisingly quiet for the most part with some beefy cooling chops. The small screen mightn't be worth it for some, and I still have some of the same reservations about the Ayaneo brand as a whole that I always have, but it's undoubtedly a great device in its own right. If you were eyeing up a GPD Win 4, this is likely a better option instead.

About this review: I received the Ayaneo Slide for review on the 30th of January, 2024. The company did not have any input into the contents of this review.

Ayaneo Slide: Pricing and availability

The Ayaneo Slide is available on IndieGoGo globally starting at $702. It's available for purchase now and shipping currently, though you'll be importing it from China. At that price, it starts with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

Design and build quality

Compact with a sliding keyboard

Ayaneo has been getting a lot right with its devices, and the company has seemingly settled on a more-or-less consistent design language across it's gaming handhelds. The Ayaneo Slide feels exactly like the Ayaneo 2S but smaller, and that's a great thing. it's comfortable to hold and play for extended sessions, and the weight distribution makes it feel great in the hands. It's covered in soft-touch plastic and incredibly ergonomic.

As always, Ayaneo does a great job on the port options, too. There are two USB-C ports; one on the top, one on the bottom, and both are USB 4 compatibile. There's also a power button with a fingerprint sensor, and a microSD card slot at the bottom. The worst ommission is the lack of a headphone jack, though there are two USB-C to USB-A adapters in the box that you get. There's also no kickstand, but the screen has a neat trick: it can tilt at up to a 30-degree angle.

While Ayaneo devices tend to be well made, the screen tilt itself feels... cheap. There's no tactile feel to it when you tilt it, so you could inadvertently put too much force into it without realising it's already at its limit. As well, the screen itself feels floaty, in that when it's retracted, it's not solidly fixed to the device. I can see this being a painpoint for users, and I worry about the quality control surrounding the spring mechanism that allows the screen to work the way that it does. The keyboard itself also doesn't feel great, but then again, I'm not sure if anyone actually expected it to.

Spring-loaded screen aside, the joysticks are hall effect joysticks (meaning they make use of magnets and won't succumb to drift) that don't have any dead zone issues and the buttons all have a nice, plastic membrane underneath that isn't too mushy. Finally, there's a pair of bottom-firing speakers on the far left and the far right of the device. These are probably the weakest part of the entire package, especially given the lack of a headphone jack.

As for why the keyboard is useful, picture this: games like Minecraft are playable on handhelds like these with custom input configurations, but it's not exactly convenient to type in chat. With a handheld like this, you can talk to friends while playing games. For other games that require text input, it'll work very well too. It's a bit of a niche, but it gets the job done, and if you don't want to use it, you don't ever have to look at it thanks to the fact that it's underneath the screen.

The only other downside really is the display. It's fantastic on many accounts with its 1920x1080 resolution, but coming in at 60Hz its significantly behind the competition. It's also pretty small, which is fine, but means that you may miss details in some high-fidelity games. Cyberpunk: 2077 specifically comes to mind here. Honestly, the best part of the Ayaneo Slide isn't the keyboard, but just how compact the overall package is without compromising on performance.

Software

Windows is here to stay

Despite there being rumors of Ayaneo switching to a non-Windows-based OS for an upcoming budget handheld, it seems that the company is sticking to Windows for the foreseeable future... and on all its models. That's fine, but perhaps unsurprisingly, the niche of the keyboard being included here actuallly helps with a lot of the Windows woes.

To be honest, though, the vast majority of what's included here that hasn't been talked to death across all handhelds is the inclusion of Ayaspace. It's a unique-to-Ayaneo software suite used for controlling the TDP and other features of the handheld, both in a dedicated app and an overlay for games. It's one of my favorites on any gaming handheld though, as it gets the job done... and quickly (looking at you, Lenovo).

The Aya Space overlay has undergone a number of enhancements over the last year, offering a broader range of options that are more intuitively accessible. Users can now easily-enough manage settings such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, along with adjusting brightness and volume directly through the overlay. While gaming, accessing these features is straightforward and generally operates smoothly. A number of the problems with it have been solved as well, including the frequent crashes I experienced with the Ayaneo Kun.

Performance

The same as all the rest

All of these AMD Ryzen 7 7840U handhelds have one thing in common, and that's performance. If you've used the Ayaneo 2S, the ASUS ROG Ally, the Lenovo Legion Go, or anything else powered by the Z1 Extreme or the 7840U, then you're gonna notice that they all have roughly the same performance level. That's no different here, and it's just the same chip in a different form factor.

Observing the above, the Ayaneo Slide manages to handle Cyberpunk: 2077 perfectly. Running the game's built-in benchmark reveals high 99% and 99.9% frametimes, and from my own experience, the game runs very well using the Steam Deck preset.

With 99.9% of frames being drawn at a minimum of 25.71 FPS and 99% of frames being drawn at a minimum of 30.9 FPS, it's a completely playable experience. We've seen this already with other gaming handhelds though, so it's not too much of a surprise that it works well here, too. The same goes for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, which I played online for a couple of minutes to see how it handled it.

The game runs very smoothly as well, with very few stutters throughout my playtest. This is a great way to enjoy Call of Duty on the go, especially given that the game recognizes the Ayaneo's controllers as being a true controller. Because of that, you can queue up against other controller players, without being at a disadvantage to mouse and keyboard players.

With 99.9% of frames being drawn at a minimum of 43.84 FPS and 99% of frames being drawn at a minimum of 67.3 FPS, Call of Duty is an amazing experience on the Ayaneo Slide. I'm playing with the recommended settings out of the box here, and the it looks great and feels amazing in game.

The Ayaneo Slide, like all of the other 7840U handhelds, is extremely capable, and these two games demonstrate it well. Wth its 28W TDP, the Slide is capable of running most games to at least some degree. It's a battery drainer though, and that's somewhat of a downside; with this handheld, the battery is smaller because it itself is smaller. It's not too much of a downgrade thanks to the smaller screen, but it's certainly a noticeable downgrade compared to the Steam Deck OLED or even the Ayaneo 2S. Definitely pick up a power bank for this.

For indie games, which is a lot of what I've been playing, this is fantastic though. Titles like Hades and Brotato manage to run at much lower performance profiles for hours on end, and that's where it really excels. Overall this handheld is a win in the performance department, especially given its size.

Should you buy the Ayaneo Slide?

You should buy the Ayaneo Slide if:

• You want a more compact gaming handheld
• You want something more powerful than the Steam Deck
• You need a keyboard

You shouldn't buy the Ayaneo Slide if:

• You worry about aftersales support
• You don't like Windows
• You want loud, powerful speakers

The Ayaneo Slide is an excellent gaming handheld that bucks the trend of what they "conventionally" can be. The company has been trying weird and wonderful things with a few of its handhelds, and only second to the Flip, this is the most "out there" yet. If you want a compact gaming handheld with a lot of love that's been put into it, then the Ayaneo Slide is a fantastic option.

However, there's a significant consideration to bear in mind regarding the Ayaneo Slide. Despite it being a top choice (in my opinion) for a gaming handheld, I'm concerned about the after-sales service and potential hardware issues. I had issues with the original Ayaneo 2S, and I've seen other people online having issues too. To be fair to Ayaneo, the gaming community has witnessed instances of companies using social media to undermine rivals, implying that obtaining necessary assistance isn't guaranteed. Moreover, the prospect of returning products to China may pose challenges for some customers encountering issues.

Additionally, Ayaneo's rapid product release cycle is worth noting. While the company commendably offered up an upgrade kit for Ayaneo 2 owners to enhance cooling and audio features at no extra cost when the Ayaneo 2S launched, those who desire the most current technology might find Ayaneo's offerings less appealing. Thankfully, on a performance level, they're all more or less comparable.

Overall, if what you want is a compact gaming handheld, even ignoring the keyboard, this is a fantastic option. However, if you want a keyboard, then this becomes one of the best options available to you on the market. With a great build quality (aside from the cheapness around the screen springs), I definitely feel like this'll be able to take the test of time reasonably well.