Regular HotHardware readers will know that I, your author, am generally a fan of handheld gaming PC devices, as well as that I specifically like to champion the smaller vendors, such as GamePadDigital, OneNotebook, and of course, Ayaneo. The reason is simple: while I love the Steam Deck, the ROG Ally, and the Legion Go, these smaller companies created this market, and continue to make fascinating devices that offer functionality you won’t find in the mainstream handhelds.
Case in point: the Ayaneo Flip 1S DS. We’ve already reported on this particular handheld once. It’s an upgrade on last year’s Flip DS; that machine offered dual screens and AMD Ryzen power, but the new Flip 1S DS takes things to a whole other level. The 120Hz LCD of the original has been replaced by a 144-Hz OLED, and the low-resolution 3.5″ secondary screen has been bumped to 4.5″ and quadruple the resolution.
Beyond that, there are numerous specification upgrades, although it really depends on which model you buy. See, the Flip 1S DS can be had with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of LPDDR5X-7500 memory onboard, and your choice of SoCs: a ‘Hawk Point’ Ryzen 7 8840U with eight Zen 4 CPU cores and a 12-core RDNA 3 GPU, or the latest Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 with twelve Zen 5 CPU cores and a sixteen-core RDNA 3.5 GPU.
If you pick the latter, you even have your choice of colorways: Shadow Black, Starry Yellow, or on the highest-end model with 64GB of RAM and 2TB of storage, a color that Ayaneo calls “Retro Power”, sporting a white body with distinctive red buttons that reminds of the original Nintendo Famicom. Oh, and there’s actually also a Flip 1S KB model that ditches the second screen in favor of a full physical keyboard. The change doesn’t save you much money, though, with the KB being just $20 cheaper.
We’re not going to reiterate all of the specifications here; you can hit our previous coverage to see detailed discussion of that. The big news today is that Ayaneo has launched the crowdfunding campaign for the new device, and that means pricing has been revealed. The cheapest option is the Ayaneo Flip 1S KB with a Hawk point Ryzen 7 8840U processor, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage; that option will run you $779 with the early bird discount.
The Flip 1S KB is $20 cheaper at all tiers.
Stepping up to the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 raises the starting price by a whopping $500, although it’s worth noting that all of the Ryzen AI 9 SKUs come with at least 32GB of RAM. It’s insane to think that this tiny handheld device is a dual-screen Windows PC with twelve CPU cores and 32GB of RAM, but here it is. The price isn’t cheap, but it’s arguable that you get what you pay for. If you want one, head over to Ayaneo’s Indiegogo campaign to pre-order; shipping starts in September.
