We have news from AYN about their highly anticipated Loki portable gaming PC that has the community both excited and upset. Let’s find out why.
Just when backers of the AYN Loki were hoping to receive the device any day now, Ayn announced that the device would be seeing major design changes ahead of its release.
Yes, Ayn had previously promised a December shipment of the Loki handheld. But halfway into the month we now know that they will be changing gears entirely.
Ayn announced official specs and prices for the full line of Loki devices on their Discord channel, also sharing new 3d renders of the “improved” Loki.
While it is a relief to finally have specs and prices on these devices, many were surprised to see these new images with a completely different design.
(Also kind of sucks for anybody who bought one that isn’t on their Discord. What a surprise that will be!)
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Update January 7, 2023
AYN has shared actual images of the new Loki, built for real and in hand.
It always makes it much more easy to get a feel for what a console is like when you see real photos of a real build.
I do have to admit, this thing does look gorgeous.
I still hold to the statement that it does not have that same energy of the original design.
But as we mentioned in our article below, we do think this all has to do with AYN aiming for comfort in long play.
And looking at the new Loki design, it sure does look comfortable.
And those LEDs on the side are sexy.
The New Ayn Loki
The original design of the Loki looked quite similar to Ayn’s popular device the AYN Odin.
We’ve talked a lot about the Odin here at Retro Dodo and it’s still one of our absolute favorite consoles from 2022.
We loved the look and feel of the Odin, so a more powerful iteration in the Ayn lineup was something we were quite excited about.
But as we can see, the Loki will have a unique shape and button layout in comparison to the Odin and even the previous renders of the Loki. Some will love these changes, some will not.
Admittedly, I do not think the new design has the same spirit as the original. So I can sympathize with anyone who is upset by the changes.
Why Change The Loki?
Surely, Ayn’s intentions were to give us a new button layout that gives our fingers more space and could be much more comfortable to play on.
Knowing that many in the community wanted the analogue sticks on the Odin to have more travel, you could say that Ayn heard our concerns and wanted to make the Loki the best device upon delivery.
We will never have anything to compare it to since we will never get to hold that original Loki design. We can only compare it to the Odin.
The Ayn Loki is also going to be a little larger than originally advertised.
Where the original design came in at 224mm x 95.2mm, the new design is set at 248mm x 98mm.
Just doing some quick maths; that would be a 14% size increase for the Ayn Loki. And probably a bit more weight.
So why make these changes now?
Though the changes come at the last minute, you could argue that these improvements in the shape and button layout will make the Loki a much more comfortable device over time. Or so they are hoping.
It’s safe to say that they have not yet produced these new shells and buttons for the Loki.
Hopefully they didn’t have to start entirely from scratch and do new PCBs too.
These changes will push the delivery back another couple months at least.
While some welcome the improvements to the Loki’s design, others feel bamboozled having the product they were waiting for changed at the eleventh hour.
Some Early Backers Will Be Upset
Some users on Reddit and Discord have expressed both concern and disappointment in the redesign announcement.
One person saying “Baffles me that they took preorders over 6 months ago only to switch the design like this. This is nothing like the device that was promised in June.” (Reddit user AdditionalBear)
It is a fair concern to have. If you made a purchase based on the looks of a device advertised and they change that appearance to something you don’t really like… what happens?
Can you just cancel your pre-order based on that? Hopefully you can. But you can’t get back those six months of waiting.
Kind of a bummer for those who aren’t into the new look.
On top of the change in design, many are just upset it has taken this long to receive the product they backed six months ago.
“Wow, so they did the whole switcheroo… Still nothing to show, physically for it, eh? Wasn’t it supposed to be shipping by now or something?” (Reddit user kyleruggles)
Delays and changes aside, we now know exactly what we are getting. So what will the new Ayn Loki devices look like under the (new) hood?
Ayn Loki Specs
The Ayn Loki will come in a number of iterations. If you like the new look, here are the configurations you can choose from:
AYN Loki Zero ($249)
- CPU: Athlon Silver 3050e
- GPU: AMD Radeon Graphics
- RAM: 4GB DDR4-2400
- Storage: 64GB eMMC On Board with M.2 2230 Slot and microSD
- Screen: Six-inch LCD IPS at 1280 x 720
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2
- Battery: 40.5Wh
AYN Loki Max ($775)
- CPU: AMD Zen 3+ 6800U
- GPU: AMD RDNA2 Radeon 680M
- RAM: 16GB LPDDR5 6400Mhz
- Storage: 512GB NVMe SSD, microSD, and M.2 2230 slot
- Screen: Six-inch LCD IPS at 1920 x 1080
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2
- Battery: 46.2Wh
AYN Loki Mini Intel ($239)
- CPU: Intel Alder Lake U Celeron 7305
- GPU: Integrated Graphics
- RAM: 8GB Dual-Channel LPDDR4x
- Storage: 128GB NVMe SSD, microSD, and M.2 2230 slot
- Screen: Six-inch LCD IPS at 1920 x 1080
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2
- Battery: 26.5Wh
AYN Loki Mini AMD ($260)
- CPU: Mendocino Zen 2
- GPU: AMD RDNA 2
- RAM: 8GB Dual-Channel LPDDR4x
- Storage: 128GB NVMe SSD, microSD, and M.2 2230 slot
- Screen: Six-inch LCD IPS at 1920 x 1080
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2
- Battery: 26.5Wh
AYN Loki Mini Pro Intel ($279)
- CPU: Intel Alder Lake U Pentium 8505
- GPU: Integrated Graphics
- RAM: 8GB Dual-Channel LPDDR4x
- Storage: 128GB NVMe SSD, microSD, and M.2 2230 slot
- Screen: Six-inch LCD IPS at 1920 x 1080
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2
- Battery: 40.5Wh
AYN Loki Mini Pro AMD ($299)
- CPU: Mendocino Zen 2
- GPU: AMD RDNA 2
- RAM: 8GB Dual-Channel LPDDR5x
- Storage: 128GB NVMe SSD, microSD, and M.2 2230 slot
- Screen: Six-inch LCD IPS at 1920 x 1080
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2
- Battery: 40.5Wh
Conclusions
It’s hard to know if we should look at this situation as Ayn screwing over their fanbase or doing them a solid by delivering a better product.
We would like to think it’s a smart change to make, even if it comes so late.
Any time you delay something that people are excited about, you’re gonna upset a lot of them. But they still want the product you are creating.
Time will tell if the community will see the wait as worth it for what was actually improved.
Ayn has a pretty good track record in the community and their Odin console is still one of our favorite portable gaming PCs.
If that console is any indication of what to expect, we know that the Loki will be pretty awesome.
So we still have faith in the Loki and fingers crossed for everyone involved that it is as great as the Odin.
We will just have to wait till Q1 2023 to find out.
