When AYN began taking pre-orders for its first Windows-powered handheld gaming PC earlier this month, customers had the choice of AYN’s affordable Loki Mini or Mini Pro models with Intel Celeron or Pentium processors or a AMD Mendocino chip or higher to choose budget Loki and Loki Max models with AMD Ryzen 6000U chips.
Now there’s another option for people who want a budget device with a little more horsepower. If you pre-order an AYN Loki Mini Pro, you can now pay up to an Intel Core i3-1215U processor and a slightly larger battery and/or up to 16GB of RAM for a small additional charge.
Like all members of the AYN Loki range, the Loki Mini and Mini Pro feature a 6-inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display surrounded by game controllers. But while models with Ryzen 6000U chips and AMD RDNA 2 graphics sell for $489 to $775, the Loki Mini models are positioned as budget options with prices ranging from $260 to $389.
In related news, it looks like AYN has decided Not offering a $239 model with an Intel Pentium 7305 processor, which was originally expected to be the most affordable option. Instead, the entry-level Loki Mini now comes with an AMD Mendocino processor. But people who have already pre-ordered can instead contact AYN for a free upgrade to a Loki Mini Pro with an Intel Pentium 8505 chip.
This means there are now a total of six pricing/configuration options for the Loki Mini series:
- Loki Mini with AMD Mendocino / 8GB RAM / 128GB SSD / 26.5Wh battery for $260
- Loki Mini Pro with Pentium 8505 / 8GB RAM / 128GB SSD / 40.5Wh battery for $279
- Loki Mini Pro with Pentium 8505 / 16GB RAM / 128GB SSD / 40.5Wh battery for $319
- Loki Mini Pro with AMD Mendocino / 8GB RAM / 128GB SSD / 40.5Wh battery for $299
- Loki Mini Pro with Core i3-1215U / 8GB RAM / 128GB SSD / 46.2 Wh battery for €349 (new)
- Loki Mini Pro with Core i3-1215U / 16GB RAM / 128GB SSD / 46.2Wh battery for $389 (New)
Here’s the full rundown of the AYN Loki configurations as of June 29, 2022:
| Loki Mini | Loki Mini Pro | Loki | LokiMax | |
| advertisement | 6 inches 1920×1080 pixels IPS LCD |
|||
| processor |
AMD Mendocino (Zen 2) |
Intel Pentium 8505 (Alder Lake U with 5 cores, 6 threads) or Intel Core i3-1215U (Alder Lake U (6 cores, 8 threads) or AMD Mendocino (Zen 2) |
AMD Ryzen 5 6600U Zen 3+ architecture 6 cores / 12 threads |
AMD Ryzen 7 6800U Zen 3+ architecture 8 cores / 16 threads |
| graphic |
12th Gen Intel UHD @ 1.1GHz with 48 EU (7305/8505) 12th Gen Intel UHD @ 1.1GHz with 64eu (1215) or AMD RDNA 2 |
AMD Radeon 660M 6 GPU cores |
AMD Radeon 680M 12 GPU cores |
|
| R.A.M. |
8GB LPDDR4x-4266 (Intel) LPDDR5-6400 (AMD) |
8GB / 16GB LPDDR5-6400MHz |
16 GIGABYTES LPDDR5-6400MHz |
|
| storage | 128GB M.2 2230 PCIe NVMe SSD microSD card reader |
128GB / 256GB / 512GB M.2 2230 PCIe NVMe microSD card reader |
512GB M.2 2230 PCIe NVMe microSD card reader |
|
| Wireless | WiFi 6E Bluetooth 5.2 |
|||
| battery | 26.5Wh | 40.5Wh (Pentium 8505) 46.2 Wh battery (Core i3-1215U) |
46.2Wh | |
| ports | USB 4.0 (Intel) or USB 3.2 (AMD) 3.5mm audio microSD card reader |
USB4 3.5mm audio microSD card reader |
||
| controllers | Full controller with Xbox style layout Hall sensor analog trigger gyroscope Rumble support |
|||
| height Weight | 15mm thick
362 grams |
20mm thick
? |
?
? |
?
? |
| Colours | transparent black (AMD), white (Intel) | Black-and-white | Black-and-white | Black-and-white |
| Price | $260 | $279 (Intel) $299 (AMD) |
$489 (8GB / 128GB) $579 (16GB / 256GB) $649 (16GB / 512GB) |
$775 |
The new option probably shouldn’t come as such a surprise. AYN has taken on rival AYA in the budget handheld space. AYA announced the Neo Air Plus the same week that AYN introduced the Loki line of handhelds. Both companies offer some models with starting prices below $300, and the two companies appeared to be adjusting their pricing and CPU options in real-time in response to each other’s announcements.
Overall, the handheld gaming pc space looks a lot a lot of More competitive in 2022 than a year ago.