New APU Makes Aya Neo Pro Cost DOUBLE the 512 GB Steam Deck

An APU upgrade just made the newly announced handheld Aya Neo Pro about two times more expensive than the priciest Steam Deck, reports PCGamer.

The Aya Neo Pro, a supposedly better version of the original Aya Neo handheld gaming console, is now available for pre-order at its IndieGoGo page for a price of $1,215 for the 1TB model. That's already double the price of the most expensive Steam Deck, its closest competitor, which costs $649 for the 512GB model.

According to the Team behind the new Aya Neo Pro, it will feature a new AMD APU as an upgrade: a Ryzen 7 4800U, which is a step up from the original Ryzen 5 4500U APU on the non-Pro model. The delivery time of the new console is expected to begin around mid-September.

Furthermore, an even more expensive model called the "Retro Power," which features a quirky, old-school paint job reminiscent of old Nintendo controllers, is also available for pre-order at $1,315.

The upgraded console with the Ryzen 7 APU AMD was announced at ChinaJoy 2021, which is China's own version of CES, reports VideoCardz.

APU Tale of the Tape: Ryzen 7 4800U vs Ryzen 5 4500U

So, does the shiny new AMD APU on the Aya Neo Pro make it worthy of its high asking price? Here's a comparison between it and the old Ryzen 5 APU on the non-Pro model of the console.

The Ryzen 7 4800U features 8 cores and 16 threads at a clock speed of 4.2 GHz. It features Vega 8 integrated graphics with 8 GPU cores, powerful enough to run a wide array of AAA games from 720p to 1080p resolutions. Here is a video demonstrating the APU's gaming performance:

As you can see, the AMD APU can run several of the current generation's most demanding titles at a minimum frame rate of 30 FPS, albeit at low settings. This doesn't really matter, however, since the Aya Neo Pro only has a 7-inch screen. Any game played on the relatively small display won't look too bad even at low settings. Besides, it's the playability of the games that count.

The 4500U, on the other hand, is still pretty capable, though it definitely falls short of the Ryzen 7 APU:

Is It A Worthy Competition for the Steam Deck?

The Aya Neo itself was already here way before Valve even announced the Steam Deck. It was one of the earliest PC-based handheld consoles to enter the market, which offered a great entry-level handheld gaming experience on several of the most popular games to date.

With the arrival of the Aya Neo Pro, the Steam Deck does have a potentially tough competitor. However, that high asking price will be a highlight of the battle itself. It can be safe to say that Steam Deck's street pricing can increase at launch due to the massive levels of hype surrounding it. Should the price of Valve's handheld go higher than that of the Aya Neo Pro's, then, we're going to have a price-to-performance battle on our hands.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce