The Ayaneo Kun has the Steam Deck in its sights. With its dual trackpads and big 8.4-inch screen, the visual resemblance is unmistakable, but this generation’s newer hardware, a class-leading 54 watt TDP, and a massive 75 watt hour battery make it one of the most powerful Windows gaming handhelds on the market today. At $999 to start, it’s surprisingly close to other Ayaneo models but pricey enough that you’ll want to think carefully about the features you want from a handheld gaming PC.

Ayaneo Kun – Design and Features

Ayaneo has described the Kun as its “big screen” handheld. I doubted that description until I held it in my hands. At 12.29 x 5.22 x 0.86 inches, it’s longer and wider than Valve’s Steam Deck and just about every other handheld it’s competing with. It puts that space to good use with a massive 8.4-inch touchscreen that’s bright, vivid, and yes, feels like a big screen within the handheld world.

Ayaneo Kun – Photos

Flanking the screen are now two touchpads that make navigating Windows easier than ever before (and feel like shots fired at the Steam Deck). To the left side of the screen, there’s now a webcam that’s not very good but works for automatic biometric login. There are also four programmable rear buttons built into the grips, in addition to the two extra shoulder buttons to the inside of the bumpers.

Like every other Ayaneo, you also have your standard controller layout that copies an Xbox gamepad. There are the usual ABXY buttons on the right, joysticks, bumpers, and triggers, but the D-pad is now a circle instead of the cross found on past models. It’s fine and may even make fighting games more appealing with its easier diagonals, but it feels softer and less snappy than past models. The ABXY buttons are also slightly softer this time around but thankfully aren’t mushy.

Other Ayaneo staples also make their return, including its hall effect joysticks and triggers. Each uses magnetic sensors instead of the usual mechanical connections, eliminating the possibility of stick drift and improving their long-term durability. The sticks and triggers are still shorter and have slightly less throw than a full-size gamepad, but they’re close and feel exceptionally smooth. The integrated fingerprint reader also makes its return, allowing you to wake the system from sleep and login with a single touch. There are also two built-in gyroscopes for motion control, even in games that don’t support it.

The Kun is designed to be a top-tier handheld and offers some major upgrades under the hood too. The battery is now a massive 75 watt-hours, making it the biggest of any Windows handheld. It nearly doubles that of the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally and is around 50% larger than the Lenovo Legion Go. This is paired with an incredible 54-watt maximum TDP. That refers to how much power is able to go to the processor, which handles everything from spreadsheets to in-game graphics, and is dramatically higher than the ~35 watts being offered by the competition. Ayaneo has also developed a new cooling system that keeps the system usable at these high wattages.

Here are the specs on the model I was sent:

  • Display: 8.4-inch IPS touchscreen
  • Resolution: 2560 x 1600
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7840U (8-core/16-thread)
  • CPU Speed: 3.3GHz base clock, 5.1GHz boost clock
  • GPU: Integrated AMD Radeon 780M
  • Memory: 64GB LPDDR5-6400 (unlockable to 7500MHz)
  • Storage: 4TB NVMe
  • Battery: 75 Whr
  • Connectivity: WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
  • I/O: x1 USB4 Type-C (top), x1 USB-A 3.2 Gen2 (top), x1 USB4 Type-C(bottom), audio combo jack, MicroSD expansion
  • Security: Fingerprint Scanner, Camera
  • Dimensions (LxWxD): 12.29 x 5.22 x 0.86 inches

The processor is the same as found on the company’s Ayaneo 2S and Air 1S, the AMD Ryzen 7 7840U. It features eight cores and 16 threads with a maximum boost clock speed of 5.1GHz. Even though there’s no dedicated GPU in the system, its integrated Radeon 780M graphics are surprisingly fast and allow you to take advantage of Fidelity FX Super Resolution (FSR) for even better performance. On paper, it’s also virtually identical to the Z1 Extreme found in the ROG Ally.