Indiegogo staffers are placing crowdfunded merchandise to the take a look at in our new sequence of sincere evaluations. On this version, our very personal engineering supervisor Scott Sanborn tried out the buzzy new AYANEO MINI PC AM02, which is reside now on Indiegogo. Does it reside as much as the hype? Learn on as we put it to the take a look at!

The packaging makes the AYANEO AM02 really feel particular. Opening the field reveals a full-sized insert that includes the product identify and mockup, printed in a foil end. Under it, the mini PC and included equipment are thoughtfully packaged in numerous bins, not plastic luggage and zip ties like some merchandise. The mini PC itself takes its fashion inspiration from a sure dwelling online game system of the 80s, with a flip cowl that hides entrance inputs. Moreover, it features a mini touchscreen show on prime of the PC itself, which offers entry to varied functionalities that we’ll get to later on this evaluation.

Picture: The AYANEO AM02 is sufficiently small to suit wherever, and funky sufficient to highlight.

What’s In The Field?

Included within the bundle is:

• The AYANEO Mini PC AM02
• 100W AC energy adaptor with USB-C cable
  • Adaptors for worldwide energy shops
• 2x USB-C to USB-Kind A adaptors
• HDMI cable
• A small device equipment together with
  • 2x small screwdrivers
  • Numerous alternative screws
  • 2x pry instruments

Picture: Every thing included within the AYANEO AM02 field.

What Ports Are There?

This little PC is loaded with I/O regardless of its small measurement. Right here’s a fast rundown of its ports, back and front:

Entrance Ports (hidden by panel when not in use)

• 3.5mm audio in/out
• 2x USB 3.2 Kind A
• 1x USB-C

Again Ports

• 2x USB 2.0 Kind A
• 1x USB-C (energy)
• 1x HDMI 2.0
• 1x DisplayPort 1.4
• 2x Ethernet (1x 1GB, 1x 2.5GB)
• Kensington-style lock slot

What’s Below The Hood?

The AYANEO AM02 is obtainable with numerous {hardware} configurations, from barebones (BYO reminiscence and storage) to 32G reminiscence and 1TB storage, with a pair different choices in-between. All configurations embrace an AMD Ryzen 7840HS. The configuration of the unit reviewed was maxed out at 7840HS+32G+1TB. For these configurations that embrace reminiscence and storage, the reminiscence included is DDR5 5600 SO-DIMM, and the storage is M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0.

I opened the AM02 up utilizing the included instruments to take a peek inside. It’s extraordinarily user-serviceable, and opens simply by way of 4 screws and a pair clips. Inside, the reminiscence and storage might be simply changed or upgraded.

Picture: The AYANEO AM02 is definitely opened and might have its elements upgraded.

This factor seems actually cool. The aesthetics are nice and it feels prefer it has a superb construct high quality. It’s a minor factor, however the “open” button on the entrance panel is satisfying to push, as is the crystal “energy” button. Total, it doesn’t really feel cheaply constructed.

After a fast setup (actually, solely energy, HDMI, and a wired keyboard obtained me began), I used to be up and working. The monitor I examined with was an ultrawide, so screenshots included beneath are from its 2310×990 decision.

At its base, the AM02 is a Home windows 11 machine, so the Home windows setup course of kicked off upon first boot. I took the time to undergo the requisite Home windows software program updates, in addition to updating the included AYASPACE 2.0 software program. AYASPACE took a bit little bit of studying, maybe as a result of that is my first AYANEO/AYASPACE machine. It wasn’t instantly apparent to me how you can load into the fullscreen mode, I used to be simply in a position to pull up the sidebar with config choices. I might later study {that a} click-and-hold interplay on the widget icon vs a easy click on motion is what brings up the 2 totally different UIs. As soon as I discovered this, I used to be in a position to discover the software program additional. It was a bit shocking that this interplay wasn’t extra apparent (a tooltip on hover?), however the preliminary frustration subsided as soon as the interplay was clear.

Picture: The AYANEO AM02 ships with a cute customized wallpaper. The quickmenu can be proven right here, permitting for fast entry to some fundamental system settings.

AYASPACE software program

AYASPACE permits the AM02 to behave much like that of an AYANEO handheld – offering recreation library administration and launcher performance, plus settings administration, all by way of a UI that may be interacted with by way of a recreation controller. This permits the PC to be performed in a “gaming mode” from throughout the room with no mouse and keyboard, because the software program might be launched by way of a controller hotkey.

A part of AYASPACE’s options consists of efficiency profiles that may be personalized, in order that the PC can function inside sure parameters relying on the use case. Included are 4 profiles: AAA Recreation / Regular Recreation / Retro Recreation / PC Workplace, spanning from highest to lowest efficiency settings. Settings obtainable embrace energy insurance policies, fan pace, and TDP settings. These profiles might be personalized, and new profiles might be created, permitting for full tuning of the machine. Put merely, these profiles enable for squeezing out each final little bit of efficiency for demanding AAA video games, whereas backing issues off whereas enjoying much less resource-intensive indie video games or performing desktop duties.

Picture: AYASPACE software program offers a wide range of choices, together with the customization of efficiency profiles for tuning TDP primarily based on the meant utilization of the machine.

The sport launcher and administration performance permits a unified look into video games put in from numerous platforms – your Steam, Xbox Recreation Move, Epic, GOG, and many others. video games will seem in a unified UI for rapidly launching. It robotically scans frequent directories for recreation information, and permits for handbook loading of video games it could possibly’t discover. Should you’ve obtained a big recreation library, filters can be found to search out the sport you’re in search of, letting you search for a selected style, platform, or simply alphabetical grouping. Cloud information syncing is an obtainable providing as nicely. I didn’t discover this personally, however think about if I had an AYANEO handheld machine, it could make for a handy technique to take my recreation standing from dwelling to on-the-go.

Picture: The Recreation launcher permits entry to all video games put in on the system, no matter their platform.

Picture: Filters enable for locating video games primarily based on style, platform, and identify. Useful you probably have a very giant recreation library!

One disadvantage of this unified launcher method is the lack of social options of the underlying platforms. Utilizing AYASPACE, I can see and launch my Steam video games, for instance, however I can’t see my Steam pals’ standing and what they’re enjoying, which typically is how I resolve what to play.

The “Sub-Display screen”

The AM02 introduces what AYANEO is looking a “sub-screen”. This small touchscreen show is embedded into the PC, and shows system efficiency info in addition to permits for some settings to be modified. At evaluation time, 3 screens had been obtainable: a clock, efficiency/vitals, and a management display with quantity/subscreen show toggle.

The efficiency/vitals display exhibits fundamentals like CPU/GPU/fan/TPD settings, present framerate, community, and many others. It additionally permits for contact management of TDP profile settings, permitting for real-time efficiency adjustments – arguably faster than doing this by way of UI software program menus. Whereas the show of those stats is neat, it feels prefer it could possibly be fine-tuned a bit. The donut-style coloured meters within the AYASPACE widget on the desktop show present for a faster evaluation of how the CPU and GPU are performing than a small “81°C” written in textual content on the sub-screen, for instance.

Picture: The sub-screen shows numerous details about the system’s efficiency.

In any other case, there’s a clock perform (meh, a pleasant default/standby show I suppose), and a utility sort display which permits for quantity management and the power to show off the sub-screen. The previous got here in useful (once more, faster than discovering a quantity management in-game or in a UI menu), and the latter simply left me having to learn how to show the sub-screen again on by way of the AYASPACE software program on the desktop show. One other draw back is that if the AM02 is being utilized in a front room state of affairs, with the PC related to a TV and gamers on the sofa with controllers, the highest show turns into ineffective.

In the end, probably the most utility I obtained out of the sub-screen was quantity management and the power to vary my TDP profile on the fly. It’ll be attention-grabbing to see what further performance AYANEO provides in future updates to the software program that controls this sub-screen, as for now it feels pretty restricted.

I reviewed the AM02 from the angle of its function as a gaming machine. It’s in the end a full-featured Home windows 11 PC and could possibly be used as a programming surroundings or as a typical desktop PC, however I didn’t discover these use circumstances. I performed a handful of video games from my library to see how they carried out: Did AAA titles expertise any choppiness or lag? Did TDP settings enable for decrease resource-intensive titles to carry out as anticipated with much less {hardware} influence?

My TDP profiles had been configured as such:

• AAA: 45W
• Regular: 30W
• Retro: 15W
• PC Workplace: 10W

I saved Fan config set to Auto, and left TDP Enhance and CPU Turbo alone for this testing.

Typically, video games carried out surprisingly nicely regardless of the small measurement of the AM02. On the traditional/indie recreation aspect, I performed Useless Cells. It is a recreation the place latency or stuttering are instantly noticeable as a result of pace and response time wanted for the sport’s mechanics. I skilled neither; I used to be in a position to dodge-roll out of hurt’s manner and parry enemy photographs again at them as I’ve on my console and residential PC.

Forza Horizon 4 and Future 2 equally carried out nicely. Utilizing my AAA profile, Forze’s pace and visuals saved up precisely as I’d anticipate, and Future 2’s FPS expertise was on par with my console. Forza has a built-in benchmarking characteristic, which I used to be in a position to run to seize its efficiency.

Picture: Forza Horizon 4 ran persistently nicely, with FPS north of 60. The AYANEO widget within the backside nook confirms that the sport wasn’t too taxing on the {hardware}.

Picture: Forza Horizon 4 take a look at race benchmark outcomes. 60FPS goal @ 1080P met/exceeded.

Picture: Future 2’s visible results on show as a Fallen Captain is vaporized.

No Man’s Sky carried out decently. Framerates fluctuated a bit relying on draw distance of the terrain, and I seen some choppiness when turning, most noticeably when making an attempt to trace a drone shifting from left to proper in entrance of me. On a reasonably common foundation, excessive TDP and temperature had been skilled, inflicting the fan to kick in for a brief burst. It usually returned again to regular pretty rapidly, however this was a little bit of an everyday prevalence whereas enjoying.

Picture: No Mans Sky efficiency fluctuated, and periodically excessive GPU spikes prompted the fan to kick in on the AM02 to chill issues down.

I additionally spent a bit time enjoying the Slime Rancher 2 preview. Regardless of its cartoony fashion (and that of its predecessor), these are literally pretty resource-intensive video games. My expertise was fairly dangerous: numerous fan exercise, and dips in FPS. It’s an early entry recreation preview, in fact, and possibly will endure further tuning, however it was an indicator to me that there shall be some video games that simply received’t carry out nicely on this PC.

All in all, this can be a nice little system that appears to have the ability to deal with AAA video games surprisingly nicely, although not with out exception. However, there’s a tradeoff of positives and negatives: The sub-screen is neat; however it doesn’t have a “killer app” perform that makes it a necessity, neither is it usable in a front room setup. The controller-based AYASPACE recreation library administration makes it straightforward to play video games from Steam, Xbox, EA; however it removes the social side of these platforms.

I believe I’d in the end use this as a front room solo/native co-op gaming machine, which might look previous the dearth of social features of Steam and the like, but additionally negate a lot of the performance of the sub-screen. The aesthetic fashion of the AYANEO AM02 is such that I’d be blissful to have it out alongside my TV for friends to see, vs hiding it away behind it.

Picture: Previous meets New. Backside: 1.79 MHz; Prime: 3.8GHz 😉

To study extra, try the AYANEO MINI PC AM02 marketing campaign on Indiegogo!