Aokzoe A1 Gaming Handheld Review: Ambitious With Room For Improvement

Hand held Space house home windows PCs all through the way of the Nintendo Transfer are in short turning into not unusual now that ULV CPUs and GPUs are difficult sufficient to run fashionable video video video games at 1080p resolutions. Our newest is the A1 from Asia language language language producer Aokzoe dressed within the Zen 3+ Ryzen 7 6800U CPU and built-in Radeon 680M graphics for about $900 to $1300 USD retail. An up-to-the-minute sort referred to as the A1 Professional with the Zen 4 Ryzen 7 7840U and Radeon 780M could also be anticipated to be to be had all through the weeks forward, alternatively each and every the A1 and A1 Professional are differently bodily similar on the subject of the chassis design, show, and controls. 

Imaginable possible choices to the Aokzoe A1 come with different Space house home windows PC handhelds very similar to the GPD Win 4, Steam Deck, OneXPlayer 2, or the Asus ROG Highest excellent buddy.

The chassis is predominantly plastic against this to at the most many times steel GPD Win 4. Chassis prime quality remains to be excellent and no longer the use of a number one creaking or twisting problems for cast first impressions. The texture of the buttons, alternatively, is maximum frequently a combined bag as we can section all through the Enter phase underneath.

The A1 is greater and heavier than many imaginable possible choices together with the ROG Highest excellent buddy because it sports activities actions movements a bigger 8-inch display screen. It is about 41 mm thick at its thickest level for individuals who come with the bulging palm grips or simply 21 mm skinny from the entrance of the display screen to the yet again. Because of its weight, the A1 is further fitted to play whilst sitting down at the educate or automobile fairly than status or strolling.

The 2 USB-C ports are very merely situated alongside the most productive and backside edges of the unit. Every can be utilized to price the tool or output to an exterior show whilst perfect the most productive port is USB4-compatible for eGPUs.

Whilst be told charges are fast at just about 200 MB/s with our UHS-II check out card, switch charges are noticeably slower. Shifting 1 GB of images from our card to desktop would take just about 20 seconds in comparison to simply 6 to 7 seconds at the ROG Highest excellent buddy.

A MediaTek RZ608 comes usual for Wi-Fi 6E connectivity. When in comparison to Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E provides faster latency to lend a hand scale back lag when streaming video video video games by the use of cloud. Switch charges are not essentially such a lot faster than Wi-Fi 6 is maximum eventualities, alternatively.

Serviceability is maximum frequently excellent for a hand-held PC. Whilst the RAM modules are soldered, different parts very similar to the battery, WLAN, M.2 2280 SSD, and cooling fan may also be changed if wanted. The SSD, alternatively, is buried beneath the aluminum warmth spreader, WLAN module, and machine fan to make it each and every more difficult and time eating to get admission to.

There are not any extras all through the field as opposed to the AC adapter and forms. The standard one-year restricted producer guaranty applies.

It perfect takes one uncomfortable button on a controller to go away an uncongenial impact and, sadly for the A1, that button occurs to be the shoulder button. The LB and RB buttons further particularly are tricky to press as they require a large number of energy faster than an enter is registered. The place you press at the button issues along side comments isn’t uniform. As an example, urgent the buttons with regards to their perfect edges is tougher than urgent the buttons with regards to their backside edges for an overly asymmetric really in reality really feel. By contrast, the shoulder buttons at the Transfer or Ps are more uncomplicated to depress regardless of which nook you push.

The 1200p BOE IPS touchscreen provides crisp pictures, excellent colours, and primary charge reaction instances and distinction ratio have compatibility for gaming functions. Its number one drawbacks are the typical brightness ranges, 60 Hz refresh value, and presence of PWM which is able to affect outdoor visibility and function eyestrain to refined consumers, respectively. It lacks FreeSync beef up as neatly.

The show could also be very poorly calibrated out of the field as colour temperature is a long way too cool. We in reality useful making use of our calibrated ICM profile above to get further out of the show particularly because it covers over 90 % of the sRGB usual.

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is provide on all brightness ranges as much as 99 %. This sadly makes the A1 IPS panel one of the crucial a very powerful an important only some to have PWM as maximum different IPS shows don’t show off any flickering regardless of the brightness surroundings.

Out of doors visibility is first charge at perfect imaginable even though beneath colour. The shiny display screen invitations glare and colors glance washed out from the restricted backlight brightness. Texts and HUD pieces are particularly tricky to learn when gaming out of doors since they’re one of these lot smaller and dimmer than on a desktop apply. The ROG Highest excellent buddy has a far brighter display screen for comparability.

You will want to disable AMD Vari-Vibrant or else most brightness will drop if operating on battery energy.

By way of default, the machine is able to Balanced mode and the CPU to fifteen W perfect. We as a substitute set Space house home windows to Efficiency mode and the CPU to twenty-eight W previous to operating the benchmarks underneath. The latter may also be accessed by means of urgent the yellow Turbo backside with regards to the ground right kind nook of the display screen. You must that customers transform acutely aware of the pre-installed Turbo menu and OneXConsole tactics for customizing auxiliary purposes very similar to the entrance LEDs or button mapping.

CPU efficiency is very good and similar to laptops operating at the an identical Ryzen 7 6800U CPU regardless of the smaller length of our A1 hand-held. Then again, the Ryzen Z1 Excessive all through the ROG Highest excellent buddy is 30 % faster whilst the Ryzen 7 7840HS is even faster then again at 40 % over our Aokzoe.

It is value noting that processor efficiency is 25 % faster than at the OneXPlayer 2 even though each and every fashions use the an identical Ryzen 7 6800U processor. Because of this that the CPU all through the OneXPlayer throttles further carefully than on our A1 style.

PCMark ratings are very excessive and similar to many newer high-end laptops very similar to the Lenovo Yoga 7 14. The ROG Highest excellent buddy Z1 Excessive ratings even higher because of its faster processor.

We skilled a few insects on our check out unit with one of the crucial distinguished being wake-from-sleep problems. Urgent the ability button turns off the display screen for sleep mode, alternatively the display screen would now and again fail to show yet again on even though the fan would proceed operating. A stressed reboot would then be required to go back to Space house home windows.

LatencyMon displays no number one DPC problems when opening a few tabs of our homepage. 4K video playback at 60 FPS is excellent alternatively no longer very best with 4 dropped frames everywhere a one-minute check out video.

The A1 helps full-size M.2 2280 SSDs while another hand-held PCs very similar to the Steam Deck perfect beef up the shorter 2230 shape issue. The Biwin Aokzoe A1S PCIe3 x4 energy in our check out unit would show off no problems keeping up most switch charges of 3400 MB/s for prolonged sessions.

The Radeon 680M remains to be very fast regardless of the availability of the newer Radeon 780M. 3DMark effects are the place we predict them to be relative to laptops with the an identical GPU if no longer reasonably faster to turn no number one throttling problems. 

Entire efficiency is to be had on battery energy. On the other hand, word that graphics efficiency can lower by means of up to 30 % if the ability profile is able to Balanced mode as a substitute of Efficiency mode as showed by means of our 3DMark 11 effects desk underneath although hooked up to mains.

Upgrading to the Aokzoe A1 Professional with the Radeon 780M is expected to spice up graphics efficiency by means of about 10 to twenty %.

Trendy titles are playable on the local 1200p answer and a few may additionally reach a 60 FPS reasonable together with F1 22. Then again, we suggest dialing down the settings to low particularly for tricky titles like Cyberpunk 2077 to scale back body dips. The internal show does no longer beef up FreeSync that can be very unlucky as it will have paired really smartly with the Radeon 680M.

Fan noise is one of the weaker aspects of the A1. It pulses very frequently between silence and 37 dB(A) each and every minute or with the intention to be noticeable or even bothersome in quieter indoor environments. This conduct would happen when on battery mode or even though merely idling on desktop. Setting the machine to Balanced mode does no longer seem to mend the pulsing factor.

Fan noise when gaming could also be reasonably loud, alternatively this is unsurprising given the efficiency and length of the A1. On the other hand, gaming on Balanced mode is quieter at round 37 dB(A) in comparison to 41 dB(A) or louder if on Efficiency mode. Those levels are similar to the ROG Highest excellent buddy or OneXPlayer 2 whilst being maximum frequently quieter than the Win 4.

Floor temperatures can reach over 39 C at the entrance and 45 C at the yet again when gaming. Thankfully, those sizzling spots are towards the middle of the display screen or perfect edge the place fingers are not going to the touch when handing the unit. The controller and button parts stay cooler all through the excessive 20 C to low 30 C vary. Our palms would by no means be uncomfortably heat regardless of how lengthy we’d play at the A1.

CPU clock charges, board energy draw, and core temperature would stabilize at 2.8 GHz, 28 W, and 79 C, respectively, when beginning Prime95 energy. The machine is in a position to handle the 28 W TDP function for prolonged sessions by contrast to the an identical processor all through the Win 4 which might drop to easily 2.2 GHz and 18 W when beneath an an identical prerequisites even though set to Efficiency mode.

GPU clock value and tool draw could be as excessive as 1923 MHz and 27 W, respectively, when operating Witcher 3 on Efficiency mode. If on Balanced mode, the GPU would drop to easily 984 MHz and 14 W which correlates with our 3DMark and fan noise observations above.

Energy intake is reasonably upper than at the OneXPlayer 2 nearly certainly because of the upper efficiency of our Ryzen 7 6800U CPU. The ROG Highest excellent buddy is much more tricky to copy its upper efficiency objectives.

We are ready to measure a most intake of 65 W from the small (6.6 x 5.4 x 3.1 cm) 100 W GaN USB-C adapter when the CPU is at 100 pc usage. Gaming attracts round 58 W on reasonable and so there could also be a large number of headroom to spare for charging and powering any USB gadgets.

(September 21, 2023 alternate: The RGB lights may also be disabled by means of urgent the “Y” key when navigating to the RGB possible choices. There’s no button to disable the RGB at the tool itself.)

The 65 Wh battery is quite huge for a portable console making an allowance for that some laptops very similar to the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 14 include smaller capacities. Battery life, alternatively, is perfect reasonable at quite underneath 6.5 hours of WLAN surfing on Balanced mode in comparison to 8 hours or 10+ hours at the ROG Highest excellent buddy or OneXPlayer 2, respectively. This may also be in part attributed to the fan which pulses frequently for reputedly no the explanation why as discussed above. The RGB lights can’t be disabled every to affect battery life additional.

If gaming, be expecting the A1 to simply ultimate for approximately 80 mins or simply beneath 2 hours at perfect imaginable. The fast lifespan is shared all the way through different gaming handhelds as neatly very similar to the OneXPlayer 2 or GPD Win 4.

Charging from empty to complete capability with the built-in AC adapter takes simply over 2 complete hours.

The Aokzoe A1 excels at maximizing efficiency relative to its small shape issue. Hand held console-like designs generally tend to underclock their processors or run on slower Turbo Spice up clock charges as a result of their length, alternatively the Ryzen 7 6800U all through the A1 plays extraordinarily neatly even though beneath energy. It additionally does no longer show off any body stuttering problems that we skilled at the GPD Win 4.

Whilst the A1 is spectacular from a efficiency standpoint, its {{{hardware}}} and features would possibly merely use further TLC. The shoulder buttons particularly are unreliably tricky to press when in comparison to the shoulder buttons on controllers from the Nintendo Transfer or GPD Win 4. The fan pulses too frequently and loudly even though on Energy Saver mode. The wake-from-sleep problems, PWM, poorly calibrated colours, and restricted outdoor viewability would most likely flip off a large number of possible shoppers as neatly. Some drawbacks are to be anticipated, alternatively they have a tendency to be further noticeable at the A1 particularly when in comparison to the similarly-priced Asus ROG Highest excellent buddy.

The Aokzoe A1 nails it on the subject of efficiency. Sadly, a lot of its alternatives are missing the polish and a point of interest to section that we’ve got now come to be expecting from PCs retailing for $1000 USD.

There could also be a large number of room for growth must there be a turn out to be sooner or later. Higher buttons, a brighter show, and complicated fan conduct are all at the best of our listing. The A1 is a great chance for individuals who need the quite huge 8-inch touchscreen and safe Ryzen 7 6800U efficiency, alternatively further vital avid players will to look out higher worth and function from the extremely aggressive Asus ROG Highest excellent buddy which prices regarding the an identical.

Aokzoe is now delivery the A1 instantly to shoppers for $1000 USD for the 32 GB+2 TB configuration. Then again, Amazon has the an identical configuration for $1300 whilst the lesser 16 GB+512 GB configuration may also be came upon for as little as $930.