Ayaneo Flip DS review
The Ayaneo Flip DS is the handheld gaming PC I enjoy using the most, and I don't say that lightly. I'm a Steam Deck owner, I reviewed the Lenovo Legion Go and Ayaneo Air 1S, and I've used the MSI Claw 7, MSI Claw 8, ROG Ally, and ROG Ally X, and yet the Flip DS stands out from among the crowd. This clever clamshell is compact and without sacrificing screen size, controls, or performance. It really is a most excellent all-rounder.
The idea of a gaming handheld is greater freedom to play PC games anywhere and everywhere. Your Steam library at your fingertips and accessible from—well, my bed, mostly. Turns out what I wanted most in a gaming PC was the ability to play games on it while lying flat. Handheld PCs are wonderful for that—and travel, of course—though they're not without limitations. Battery life is the big one, as is having the graphical grunt to chug through the latest games. Though in my day-to-day use, the real frustration is navigating the desktop with a pair of analogue sticks.
A few handhelds deal with the desktop and navigating tiny menus better than others. The Steam Deck is arguably one of the best for Big Picture Mode and trackpads for navigating the Linux desktop, but generally, it's a bit of a hassle on the Windows-powered handhelds that followed it. Some, like the Lenovo Legion Go, offer pre-baked touchscreen functionality to help ease the pain a little, but it's only part-way towards making the OS more amenable to tiny screens. Windows 11 wasn't really built for this.
So, why might that be an important point to make in a review of the Ayaneo Flip DS?
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 8840U
GPU: Integrated AMD Radeon 780M
RAM: 16 GB reviewed, up to 64 GB available
Storage: 512 GB reviewed, up to 2 TB available
Upper screen: 7-inch 120 Hz IPS touchscreen
Lower screen: 3.5-inch touchscreen
Controls: Hall effect analogue sticks, gyroscope, optical mouse 'nubbin'
Connectivity: USB4 x1, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C x1, OCuLink, 3.5 mm jack, Micro SD slot, Wi-Fi 6E,
