In a world the place PC gaming {hardware} is dominated by a handful of behemoths, whose foghorn message of “GET OUR STUFF, CRUSH YOUR FOES” is expressed in some really terrible product aesthetics, I am simply super-happy to see a producer like Ayaneo treading a unique path.
It specialises in handheld gaming PCs (such because the Ayaneo Kun and the Air 1S), constructed round AMD’s low-power, performant APUs, however dabbles in mini-PCs as nicely. The Retro Mini AM02 is its second such launch, and it is cute as a button.Â
It is a pint-sized homage to the unique Nintendo Leisure System, full with a entrance hood which pops open to disclose twin USB 2.3 ports, a USB4 Kind-C, and a mixed audio socket. It is elegant, tactile, simple on the attention, and after you have it put in in your desk (or by your TV, we’ll come to that), I defy you to not throw admiring glances at it on occasion.
The styling of the Retro Mini AM02 goes hand-in-hand with the capabilities of the machine. It says “Make an emulator out of me! PLAY ALL THE GAMES YOU GREW UP WITH!”, which you completely can, you completely ought to—I completely did—however that does not preclude the truth that the {hardware} is able to extra.Â
Housing AMD’s Ryzen 7 7840HS, the higher-wattage model of the 7840U present in Ayaneo’s handhelds, and packing a Radeon 780M iGPU, most fashionable video games ought to run playably at 1080P, offered you are keen to sacrifice greater graphics settings.
There is a 4-inch touchscreen on the lid which might be swiped left or proper to show detailed system data, a clock, or a quick-access panel to modify between preset efficiency modes. It is simply begging for some customized wallpaper choices, although the performance is not there but—Ayaneo is planning this for a future software program replace.Â
Around the again, you get twin 1 Gb and a pair of.5 Gb Ethernet ports, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4, a pair of USB 2.0 ports, and a USB-C port reserved for the AM02’s energy adapter. The package additionally handles WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. Briefly, it is all good on the specs entrance, although a second USB-C on the entrance would’ve been welcome.
The Retro Mini AM02 ships preinstalled with Ayaspace, Ayaneo’s {hardware} and game-library interface layer. Designed for his or her handhelds, it feels most at residence with a gamepad. This suggests a robust use-case for the Retro Mini as a devoted micro-console to plug into your TV, and in that situation, you possibly can configure Ayaspace to run fullscreen at boot. It is nonetheless an app operating in Home windows 11 in fact, not an OS in its personal proper, and for extra conventional desktop PC use, I set it to minimise to the system-tray at Home windows boot and invoked it solely when wanted.Â
It will probably really feel a little bit clunky and slow-to-act utilizing a keyboard and mouse as your precept enter units—the UX has clearly been designed round gamepad controls first—but it surely works nicely sufficient. What I did discover in my time with the Retro Mini was a number of small technical and UI-improving updates to Ayaspace, which I might anticipate to proceed.  Â
The efficiency tab of Ayaspace is awash with tweakers. These toggles and sliders expose BIOS-level {hardware} settings, together with the CPU’s TDP restrict, sliders for the CPU and iGPU clock speeds, a CPU turbo toggle, a common power-policy setting, and computerized or customized fan-curves for the CPU cooler.Â
There are three presets out of the field: Energy Saving (8 W TDP, potato mode, borderline advantageous for net searching), Balanced (15 W TDP, good for emulation and less complicated indies) and Excessive (28 W TDP, with less-than-full CPU and iGPU clockspeeds, however advantageous for much less demanding titles). You possibly can create customized presets too, although solely the manufacturing facility presets present up on the 4-inch touchscreen’s mode-switcher.Â
Clearly the very first thing I did was to crank the whole lot up; that TDP slider goes to 45 W in any case. It is doable to get some good efficiency features with customized presets, although whether or not these features are marginal or considerable is totally title-dependant. I arrange an ‘Overclock’ preset, with the TDP set to 45 W, the CPU and iGPU given free rein with their full clockspeed ranges, and the CPU Turbo possibility activated.
Bumping issues up like this will get you a good efficiency uptick. The very best enhance I noticed was in Doom Everlasting—which seems fabulous at 1080p with medium settings, by the way in which—and switching between the inventory 28 W Excessive preset and my 45 W customized ‘Overclock’ preset, the body fee jumped from round 60-70 fps to 70-90 fps taking part in the identical part of the identical degree. Which was deeply gratifying, and speaks volumes for the way enormously well-optimised Doom Everlasting is. Simply do not anticipate these sort of features in each recreation.Â
On paper, the Ryzen 7 7840HS can attain as much as 54 W, however Ayaspace units a max restrict of 45 W. Equally, the chip ought to spice up to five.1 GHz, however Ayaspace limits this to 4.7 GHz. We queried Ayaneo on this, and it responded by telling us the Retro mini is designed with particular dimension and thickness constraints, and that the limitation is in place to make sure efficient cooling and optimum efficiency. Which is sensible; it’s certainly a tiny field, and little doubt a problem to chill.Â
It is a tactic generally seen within the laptop computer house to maintain temps down and protect battery life, although the latter is clearly not a consideration right here. So it is a disgrace you possibly can’t entry absolutely the top-end of the 7840HS’ capabilities, which another producers have achieved with their very own proprietary cooling options.Â
Purchase if…
âś… You wish to construct a beautiful, TV-friendly emulation station: I imply, take a look at it. How cute is that wee factor?
âś… You play a number of indies, and the odd heftier title: The AMD CPU, with its highly effective built-in GPU, are completely able to taking part in each indie classics and fashionable video games at a good tempo.
Do not buy if…
❌ You need probably the most highly effective mini PC there’s: There are definitely micro machines that get extra out of very comparable silicon.
❌ You are on the lookout for utterly silent operation: It will probably undoubtedly get a little bit ‘chatty’ when its followers crank up must you begin making that AMD CPU run a little bit more durable.
When it comes to fashionable recreation efficiency, and if we’re contemplating a 30+ fps as playable, the Retro Mini provides a good account of itself. Cyberpunk at 1080P with Extremely settings, FSR2 set to auto and no Ray Tracing runs properly at 52 fps. Complete Struggle: Warhammer 3’s marketing campaign map is somewhat extra bruising, netting solely 25 fps at 1080P/medium/28 W, although this rises to a extra comfy 30 fps after we bump up the TDP to 45 W and crank the clock speeds. Forza Motorsport was slick, clean and pleasing at 45 W, however It is tough to advocate Homeworld 3 on {hardware} of this class; regardless of the examined common of round 40 fps, you are beset with frequent, jagged 1% lows.Â
We additionally ran a handful of indies and older video games at 1080p/medium/45 W, to get a really feel for the form of body rate-ranges you possibly can anticipate throughout totally different video games. Not one of the following have built-in benchmarks, so we have stored them off the official desk, however hopefully they will offer you a flavour of the Retro Mini’s wider capabilities. Subnautica was eminently playable across the 50-60 fps mark, Stray sat comfortably within the 45-60 fps vary, Soulstone Survivors obtained 90 fps which dropped to a still-highly-palatable 45 fps throughout peak pyrotechnics, Nonetheless Wakes the Deep managed 60-70 fps, and Bioshock Remastered capered alongside at a frankly hilarious 130-200 fps.
Setting it up as an emulator was a doddle utilizing the free and wonderfully user-friendly Emudeck, and very quickly I had my favorite video games of yesteryear populating my Steam library, flawlessly playable on the TV utilizing an Xbox Elite gamepad. And I believe that is simply superb. I imply certain, any previous PC might be arrange as an emulator in the identical means. However whenever you flip the Retro Mini AM02 right into a living-room retro console emulator, the whole lot falls into place, and also you get the sense it is fulfilling its future.