AYANEO's Excellent Budget Mini PC: AM01 Review

AYANEO has launched their first mini PC, and it's a pretty impressive debut. In this video we'll take a look at its performance and see if it's worth its $300ish price point.
Buy one here: www.indiegogo.com/projects/ay...
Mini PC spreadsheet: tinyurl.com/RGCminiPC
Batocera setup guide: • Transform ANY PC into ...
This was a review unit sent to me by the manufacturer. All opinions are my own, they did not see this review ahead of time, and no money was exchanged in any way.
Timestamps:
00:00 introduction
01:16 tech specs and pricing
03:58 unboxing and impressions
06:51 teardown and issues
10:21 software orientation
11:51 benchmarks and BIOS
15:39 PC game testing
19:48 emulation testing (Windows)
25:10 Batocera testing (Linux)
26:44 summary (likes and dislikes)
29:02 conclusion
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This video is for entertainment and educational purposes only.
#AYANEO #MiniPC #PCgaming #emulation

[@RetroGameCorps]

Today I learned that those "Warranty Void if Removed" stickers are actually illegal in the US. Here is a great article from iFixit that breaks down the situation for the US and other regions: www.ifixit.com/News/74736/warranty-void-stickers-are-illegal-in-the-us-what-about-elsewhere Also in the video I misspoke and said the Ryzen 7 5700U base clock is 1.6GHz when it is in fact 1.8GHz. I also incorrectly labeled the DDR4 RAM as LPDDR4 in my on-screen graphic. This channel is really going downhill!

[@Icymintfresh]

Don’t be so hard on yourself. Maybe you just need a break. Your vids are seriously the best and you are always super thorough and helpful. Thanks for what you do

[@mickeyblue7733]

Videos are great dude and at least you noticed the error

[@jasonyates7568]

You are human and mistakes happen, you always do an amazing job with your reviews. Keep it up!

[@RandallHayter]

You crack me up!

[@Lucifronz]

Yeah, I was about to say, that sticker is completely invalid and scummy at best.

[@NoradNoxtus]

PC gaming has never been more accessable. As someone with a high-end rig it's great to see these lower power draw devices populate the market. All we need now is someone to put a CRT screen in one of these mini pcs and make it the ultimate retro device.

[@Teremei]

or just something that looks like this, a smaller more portable micro PC with a built in screen, small keyboard, and the screen could have several CRT shaders to chose from.

[@morpheusmorph13]

Might use this for the tv to replace the android tv box. Android boxes are too limited with weak hardware and cant even run many retro games with it except nvidia shield. This mini pc is a perfect replacement and even cheaper than nvidia shield

[@rorynolan2322]

​@morpheusmorph13 even shield isn't all that anyone you can only really emulate up to Dreamcast with it

[@Dracossaint]

​​@@morpheusmorph13if your TV supports dolby vison i have bad news. Windows does not

[@NoradNoxtus]

@@Teremei true...crt is a luxery vintage item these days lol i was intrigued by John Linneman's video from digital foundry about crt displays and how we went back in some was by mass adopting LCDs

[@treedoor]

Would be neat if the "screen" on the case was an actual screen, and it had a mini keyboard and mouse to complete the aesthetic. Would love to see more retro-themed mini PCs

[@s01itarygaming]

Having a mini screen with some useful data is actually not out of place with mini PC's (this is speaking more from the diy space than the prebuilt space though) I support! I'm not sure the mini keyboard and mouse would be all the worth the added cost that would come with it though (maybe a usb-c hub that's shaped like a mini keyboard?). Personally, as far as taking full run on aesthetics goes, I'd rather just buy one of those C64 keyboard mini-pcs

[@Sam-nl7nz]

Needs a screen with built in crt filters.

[@flyingaviator8158]

They have it actually: AYANEO AM02:7840HS Retro Mini PC

[@reungitkebon]

the good news is they will release the AM01S

[@Mister_Phafanapolis]

_”One too many screws in my motherboard”_ is a great euphemism for… something. I will be adding that to my personal lexicon.

[@dbnguyen06]

Thank you for everything. Happy New Year to you and your family!

[@jaymethysell5111]

In the United States, those warranty stickers mean nothing by law. Yet companies still put them on their devices.

[@Dracossaint]

It's not worth changing the process probably?

[@livinlicious]

Its a scare tactics. Even if only 20% less people open their devices, its worth it. The stickers cost nothing, and if you save 20% on repairs because people think they dont have warranty so dont send it in when broken, its definitely worth it. And if someone sends it in without stickers, you can be the great guy "oh dont worry, even though the stickers are off, we fix it for you because we are a great company". You literally cant loose putting those on the devices. Its free money basically.

[@cylemmulo]

Thanks for the teardown instructions. Just ordered one. Appreciate it!

[@primeix]

Great job as always I can’t believe the amount of content you get out and the high quality of the videos! Just wanted to say thanks!

[@TheNetRiper]

What an excellent idea to disassemble whole unit to do upgrades... BRAVO!!! /s

[@camenskycameron8413]

Didn’t notice the mess quality comment images until you talked about it, you should keep making this videos in whatever fashion you find comfortable, you’re doing good lad!

[@humanthetooth]

Been seeing this guy pop up on tech gadget list videos and was curious if it was all looks. Those videos tend to be glorified commercials that will gloss over any negatives, so im happy to see you review it!

[@mccoxster]

Great review Russ, thank you!

[@jaymethysell5111]

I'm impressed that it gets over 30 fps on games like Control and Elden Ring. While far from the optimal experience, almost every game is perfectly playable at 30 fps.

[@kennethd4958]

Vega is still a beast for integrated graphics. I don’t think people realize how far ahead AMD is/was in the APU market.

[@elirantuil5003]

Is there something that this does and a docked steamdeck doesn't?

[@kennethd4958]

@@elirantuil5003 Nope. Steam Deck should perform better in gaming than 5700G/Vega

[@elirantuil5003]

@kennethd4958 so for a 100$ more I get everything this can do plus a handheld factor? Maybe for non gaming it's better but this thing is branded as a gaming product so 🤷

[@kennethd4958]

@@elirantuil5003 Yeah I would go for the Steam Deck unless for some reason you need a mini PC. I thought this was going to be a mini PC with a screen but it’s just a cool shell on a standard one. I would say $100 to some people is a lot but I would def grab a Steam Deck (you can find them for under $300 used) over this if I was in the market. I really think this got more hype then it was worth its literally just a mini Pc with internals that have been available for a while in other mini PC’s. The performance isn’t anything new.

[@CrowScareify]

As far as emulation goes this seems pretty amazing for the price!!

[@BlastKast]

Loved the review, at that price point it's a very appealing mini pc. In the future I would like it if you could test Minecraft in mini pc reviews. These devices are great for kids and Minecraft is going to surely be used on them. It's also a very uniquely demanding game, due to its heavy reliance on the CPU, so we can't always get a good idea of performance from most other games.

[@mkaali]

Thanks for including Age of Empires II in your test cases! I was quite surprised to see that. But just to let you know, there's also an internal benchmarking tool in the game. It features a more typical late game battle with lots of units on the map to simulate more typical load. Cheers!

[@dr.papadopolis7171]

Once Mini PCs that have DDR5 become affordable this will become a "Golden Age" ..

[@jasonmeister6988]

Got mine today , thanks for this video

[@yandusoup]

how is it holding up?

[@jasonmeister6988]

@@yandusoup Well it works fine, but it suffers on most games I play that are non-retro or emu games. It's very had to upgrade the ram/SSD and it's just to slow for that price I think. I sold it to someone else and bought me a Minis Forum AMD ryzen 9 mainboard instead.

[@KrazyShark]

It's so cute 🥺 I'm really jealous about your Starfield Controller >:)

[@dirtbag_jim]

Hey Russ, you should revisit the M17 now that it's supported by Minui! There's also a new bezel less version without the M17 logo on the front

[@PowerPie5000]

My Minisforum UM560XT handles Switch emulation very well through Batocera, so I would have thought this system would be similar or better. My Minisforum PC uses the Ryzen 5600H with 16GB DDR4 3200 RAM and the Vega 7 IGP for reference... It's also very quiet, unlike my previous Intel NUC 8. Great review btw!

[@OteimPrincewill]

FYI those stickers won't void your warranty if you are in the US. The FTC specifically has rules about that

[@york824]

Hey Russ with all these amazing videos out in the past few days, did you get any sleep?

[@lanedj801]

I really hope they keep making these and include options for external graphics. They definitely need to make the upgrades tooless

[@emlyndewar]

As an FYI. They did say that additional screw wouldn't be on retail units, but it IS still there. It's not a big deal though, a few extra minutes required when changing out memory/SSD.

[@ExGearUser]

This is going to be an amazing little art station for me. Been using my ROG Ally with a usb dock but this should be plenty for clip studio with astropad to connect an iPad.

[@blaineparnell4174]

thank you for the review. I'm planning on buying this for some PS2 light gun games with my Sinden light gun. possibly leaving in its everything native resolution. for me, better safe than sorry.

[@avoon1797]

Does anyone know where to find that default retro wallpaper? Looks dope

[@WinstoneSmith]

Enticing! Thank you for the Linux part. Did you check if can output more than 60 fps to monitor? For use with a fast 144Hz panel. In theory is suited but just to confirm. For super-smooth animations!

[@azbesthu]

This seems to be a Kamrui AM02 and AM02 pro in custom case. That opens from the other side, direcly under ram and ssd.

[@DaGreenDestroyer]

The price to performance for this mini pc is actually very good

[@rian9684]

nice pfp

[@livinlicious]

I would still go with a steamdeck+dock.

[@10mbc]

Yes.... if you ignore the fact that you can buy a similar laptop with that kind of money, a laptop that includes a display, a battery, a keyboard, a touchpad and so on. And yes, Ignoring the fact that Indiegogo was not the most reliable source ever, it even states that you don't buy the thing you are only supporting the manufacturer and the hardware is a maybe.

[@starmorpheus]

@@10mbcPlease name the “similar laptop” for me

[@10mbc]

@@starmorpheus A couple of days ago I just purchased a Lenovo Ideapad 3 15IAU7 for $305. It has a Core i3 1215U, 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB SSD, 300 Nits IPS 1080p display, 45Ah battery and 2y warranty from a reputable manufacturer that has service centers all over the world. The SSD and RAM are upgradable way more easy than in that AM01. I am not 100% sure of the CPU performance, it is a 6 core 8 threads but is a year newer compared to the 5700U.

[@nameonelast598]

The am02 with 7000 series apu seems more interesting to me, hopefully it can also be competitively priced

[@CiCaruana]

Pulling that warranty sticker stunt made me do a complete 180 on getting this. That's scummy as hell and they know it.

[@Dracossaint]

It's unenforceable in the US, it's probably just not worth not putting the stickers on x units that ship to the US.

[@seriouskano2]

​@@DracossaintIt's illegal in the EU as well. Where is it legal anyway?

[@DS-pk4eh]

@@seriouskano2 Probably nowhere?

[@wordsmith451]

Just got the barebones am02. At its price it's really really looking good. 7840HS. 780M iGPU, but TDP at 65W and serious cooling. Pretty much a res7 which you've already covered, and competitively priced. Seriously worth a look before early bird pricing is up. I've already got a 2tb nvme SSD and I'll spring for 32gb of RAM. Totally worth it for me.

[@RetroGameCorps]

Good to know, thanks! I believe they are sending me one for review.

[@bullymaguire243]

Can you do a syncthing video between the steam deck and another computer

[@__lim494]

AYA Neo's software support doesn't seem to be bad. For me personally, Steam OS was a great gaming experience. As a Windows user looking for the same experience as Steam Deck on Windows, I hope AYA will continue to do well.

[@Dracossaint]

Just launch steam in bpm by default? (wish we had plugins like the deck tho. Also steam rom managed works in windows)

[@NoaTugy]

As a person who wanted a mini PC for gaming (I have a Mac and gaming there is a pain), this seems so tempting?

[@AJcore]

Should add egpu support to your spreadsheet at the end there.

[@PSYCOMMUnist]

Vegeta, what does the scout say about his Cinnibench score? IT'S OVER 9000!!!

[@Spongegoose]

Expandable storage and upgradeable ram is hot.

[@greenhorngolfers]

Would you get the same GC performance on Batocera with the 8GB ram option?

[@donnervaix1436]

Would you recommend this for running adobe suite, mainly photoshop and illustrator?

[@guywhoplaysbass]

could you make a guide for steam deck to show us how to dual boot into windows? There's a recent update that is supposed to make it easier but I can't figure it out

[@legendarymason5]

Hey Retro Game Corps, I’ve been looking for a mini pc for video editing. Do you have any suggestions?

[@carloscontreras4707]

Im looking at the ser5 beelink and they have same aspects 5800u 16gb ram im deciding seems like ser5 perform better, why is they have pretty much same specs? Thanks for your videos

[@DarkDao]

Never leave open-crystal CPU partially covered with thermal paste. Always spread it properly. It works for IHS CPUs, but for open crystal it can lead to regional overheating or even damage.

[@Priimerra]

great vid

[@kennethd4958]

AMD’s Vega graphics (while certainly outdated now) are still so much ahead of Intels integrated graphics it’s insane. I always shudder when someone says they bought a mini PC and chose one with Intel cpu.

[@kazefw3834]

Intel CPU is powerful, although power hungry, but their igpu though, is a joke 😂

[@alansmithee.01]

Only reason to go with an Intel iGPU maybe the QuickSync for Plex transcoding.

[@DylanKaneda]

Hi, Russ! Will you be doing a video review of the AYANEO Retro Mini PC AM02 as well?

[@RetroGameCorps]

Yes, it shipped yesterday.

[@DylanKaneda]

That's great. I'm looking forward to it.

[@lawrence8895]

Thanks for mentioning this. From this video I was considering getting the am01 but will hold off until I see the am02 capabilities.

[@thesnackist2881]

Curious how it would perform as a device to Twitch Stream from!!

[@gabrielolivares5773]

Is this better than the SER5? As far as higher end emulation?

[@brendamobley]

What’s really selling me on this is that little screen and that I can use it for my old games And the nostalgia form factor as I am old And those ports

[@nathanhenwood6049]

Can this handle heavy retroarch shaders like crt royale ntsc composite?

[@alexrosenthal335]

What about streaming games via Game pass for example?

[@ethanhayward2424]

Would this be better than the rog ally? I’m not very computer smart

[@Xanduur]

You would think I would learn after watching videos for a year. I sit down for a short quick video or review and realize that I have to go make some coffee because it’s gonna be a long video. Ha ha.

[@wordsmith451]

I got the low end one for $150 because as great as the 5700G is I'm waiting for the 8000 series APUs. I'll totally grab the second edition NES one if it has the new chips in a few months

[@wordsmith451]

The Vega 8 just isn't enough for me to spend more. $150 is great for a little novelty item. I'll be happy to spend $500 for an 8600G with some proper zen graphics

[@morpheusmorph13]

​@@wordsmith451 might use this for the tv to replace the android tv box. Android boxes are too limited with weak hardware and cant even run many retro games with it except nvidia shield. This mini pc is a perfect replacement and even cheaper than nvidia shield and im able to watch worldwide tv channels with it

[@JesPulido]

The design is really cute

[@dreamybull1509]

i see the 3200u version on my local marketplace for $180. is it Worth it for switch emulation?

[@agunemon]

This is perfect for getting a PC for kid's schoolwork

[@bwy2]

can you custom vram allocation on this?

[@Chairemy]

I said it before but this would have been a home run if the screen was actually usable. Something that would be easy to mod but at that point I’d just build a mini pc with a retro case.

[@kennethd4958]

I originally thought that’s what it was… a usable screen. Now I really see no reason to be interested as there are many other mini pcs on the market.

[@vikram5491]

Love the Tats🤌🏻

[@breadtilian]

I don’t need this at all, but I still kinda want one

[@mamaharumi]

I was happy to see barebones until I saw how much disassembly is required just to get to the drives. That's just absurd. What were they thinking? Otherwise, it's a great looking device. Would have liked to see a model with usb4/egpu, though, and there should have been an actual display on it, not just a black panel.

[@bobcake8904]

Can you install ayaspace on non aya hardware?

[@JohnJackVancouverIsland]

Cool T-shirt.

[@shade20x64]

I bought the bare bones version and it only had three screws, FYI.

[@GabeWilliams]

Anyone know a good budget mini pc that’s vr ready?

[@kefka900]

Best value are the Beelink 5800h units. much faster cpu with 16GB and 512GB for around 350. Otherwise the 5560u adn 5700u are close in performace (higher single core on 5560u) for 270-290 (with 16GB and 512 again)

[@Mrgs90164]

Can anyone help with getting nba street vol 2 to work on ayaneo 2

[@TheFRTCG]

is it a xbox 360 controller ? or xbox one ? xbox 360 controller needs a special dongle and xbox 1 controllersh has bt issues ( not efficient they say ) would you please explain how you did it. thank you

[@n_tas]

Not sure I can get on board with that degree of form over function. I liked it at first because I had a Macintosh SE years ago and it's so cheap, but how is it possible that they have something that looks like it could be an access panel for the RAM and storage on the top - on the correct side of the motherboard too - but it isn't an access hatch, so you have to gut the thing. Like, just make the top face the removable one. Maybe it'll be a bit uglier but they've absolutely sacrificed user friendly upgrades for aesthetics here. Then again given the inspiration for the design, maybe that was deliberate. I had to buy a super long torx driver to crack my Mac SE open because they recessed the top screws deep inside the carry handle.

[@pandahasps9142]

Russ, please review ayaneo AM02 🙏🏻

[@thatgreenfur6584]

I kind of feel like you could find a laptop with the same chipset and similar specs overall pretty cheap second hand, and it might be a better overall purchase. Especially since it would come with a screen and keyboard etc etc. I'll have to take a look

[@morpheusmorph13]

I might use this for the tv to replace the android tv box. Android boxes are too limited with weak hardware and cant even run many retro games with it except nvidia shield. This mini pc is a perfect replacement and even cheaper than nvidia shield

[@jaymethysell5111]

Maybe that was true 3 or 4 years ago, but not anymore. I've been looking for an old laptop with similar specs for about 2 years, and haven't found anything at this price point.

[@swarming1092]

Which keyboard do you use?

[@henrycordy]

Is that a typo on the packaging? It says Ryzen 5 5700U. Shouldn't that be 7? 4:09

[@RetroGameCorps]

Yeah that’s a typo.

[@jaymethysell5111]

This confused me too. Ryzen 5 won't meet my needs. Ryzen 7 puts this om my list to consider.

[@moomah5929]

Not bad pricewise but also not great. I bought a 5600U Mini-PC (Ace Magician) with 16GB / 512GB and Win11 Pro nearly a year ago for roughly 350 Euros incl. 19% VAT. It's also relatively quiet, at least when in low power mode and seems to be far easier to expand. It also offers two M.2 slots and I think the cooler might be beefier. I also unplugge the power cables for the gaudy RGB lighting, which needed further disassambly. xD

[@illiteratedino]

If only they made the bottom of the case openable, then that would solve the upgrade issue.

[@returningwhisper]

AMD's APU products just keep getting better. I'll probably buy one of these once graphics performance reaches a certain level.

[@PC-ONE]

Good job

[@Yuk570]

Radiohead shirt! Let’s go!

[@dorferino]

Thumbnail made it seem portable like the ClockworkPi uConsole.

[@fufu5068]

Ayaneo Lofree retro keyboard and mouse That's it! Perfect retro machine

[@gusibiza]

The problem is that it is not a final $329, because you have to add Customs and other fees. Here in Spain I doubt it will cost less than €500, which is totally unviable.

[@Lucifronz]

Yeah, it's kind of an absurd asking price for this device. They have tons of different price-ranges that are all basically "okay we won't include this, but give us more money and we will". Rather than saving you money, it honestly feels like they're just excluding pieces you would get if you paid them more and that's a bad look.

[@cheeeeezewizzz]

​@@Lucifronzlike apple and all other manufacturers?

[@nicogd19]

Does this work with an external gpu?

[@10mbc]

The RAM is DDR4 and not DDR4L. Also, it seems that the barebones are delivered with a Windows 11 Home key.

[@itsquiwi8780]

in the usa those stickers they put on will not void your warranty!

[@basednuke7647]

You didnt cover the heat issues

[@devilanmon]

How's the performance if playing Apex?

[@p0larz0mbies]

I managed to a get Ser7 on an Amazon sale for 430.59

[@michaelbmw1931]

Show us rhis device. I cant see it

[@SwiftJustice]

Vegeta! What does the scouter say about his CINEBENCH score? *_IT'S OVER NINE-THOUSAND!!_*

[@thewipshow4141]

Street fighter 6 should be a staple for PC testing, especially with mods

[@LuciusAugustusRex]

Weird this doesn't come with a 7840U option

[@iblackfeathers]

another reviewer mentioned the hidden undocumented screw under the heat sink. the biggest drawback is you are forced to clean and apply thermal paste everytime you want to get to the underside like installing, checking or updating the 2.5” ssd drive.

[@emlyndewar]

If you’re doing this a lot on a mini-PC, then there’s maybe a problem with the user. 😂 Let’s see how the non-review units are, hopefully they are telling the truth when they say it will have 3 screws on retail units.

[@RetroGameCorps]

Retail units have already been shipping and yes, the customers are reporting that their units only have three screws, so it was just the reviewers who had to do the extra work :)

[@ashtech1184]

Love your videos on mini PCs. My only requests are that when you do the emulation testing you could flash your settings screen for a moment so people can pause and compare against their own setups when needed. Or at least specify if you have changed anything from default. I would also ask that you swap windows and linux testing to make linux the default. I dont know what other people on this channel prefer but I would never consider making this a dedicated emulation machine on Windows. To me windows is just for the casual user that wants to also use this as an office machine. But of course thats just how I see things. Huge fan of the channel and very excited to see the Miyoo Flip on here, hopefully one day soon!

[@TheRealAlpha2]

Ironic that xbx games play better in Linux on this than in Windows, which actually makes me wonder if any of those PC games would work better in Steamdeck OS on this Since it's a Ryzen device.

[@raymondmendez9832]

Didn’t know you had that many mini pc reviews 😮 could you do a top 10 mini pc review the only acceptable answer is ‘yeah man I wanna do it’

[@Nearnface]

wowowoow