Ayaneo's new Strix Halo handheld PC will cost up to $4,299, but it's the cheaper AI Max 385 model that has grabbed my attention anyways

The Next II, Ayaneo's Strix Halo handheld gaming PC, has finally received a shipping date and an early bird price is available to those willing to go on a whim to buy one ahead of release. If you don't get the worm, however, you're looking at a hefty sum equivalent to even a high-end desktop PC with much more power.

To quickly break it all down, the AI Max+ 395 model with 128 GB of memory and 2 TB of storage costs $3,499 in the early bird phase. As Ayaneo go through kickstarting website Indiegogo, the early bird price is effectively just the preorder price tag. Once that's done and dusted, the device will cost $4,299 in general sale.

The 395 model with 64 GB of memory and 1 TB of storage fetches $2,299 in early bird and $2,699 at retail. As the Next II website points out, Ayaneo has the only AI Max+ 395 handheld with built-in power, thanks to its 116 Wh internal battery. That battery is so big that some airlines may not even let you bring it on board.

Perhaps the most tempting of all the devices is the AI Max 385 version with 32 GB of memory and 1 TB storage for $1799 / $1999. With 32 CUs, the integrated Radeon 8050S graphics is still going to absolutely hurtle, capable of handling most of the games you can throw at it. You're still getting eight cores, 16 threads, and a max boost clock of 5 GHz, with a configurable TDP of 45-120 W.

The Next II doesn't just offer a strong processor; it's loaded with solid specs and neat additions. All models come with a 9.06-inch 2400 x 1504 OLED display, TMR joysticks, Hall effect triggers, two touchpads, and four rear buttons. The display supports refresh rates from 60 Hz up to 165 Hz and comes with a peak brightness of 1155 nits.

It's also a rather dashing-looking device. The dual touchpads and blue triggers remind me of the Ayaneo Kun, which, barring its subpar D-pad, 54 W TDP mode, and washed-out IPS panel, is a solid offering.

The Next II isn't the first 395 handheld to market. GPD offers the Win 5 with the AI Max+ 395 and 32 GB of memory model coming in at £2,308 ($3,140). However, that same model cost HK$12,829($1,650) at its early bird price. What holds back the Win 5 is a lack of an internal battery. Instead, you hook up an external battery, which can either clip onto the back or extend from the device via USB Type-C port.

If you wanted to buy a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 handheld right now, both GPD and Ayaneo are beaten out on price by the OneXPlayer OneXFly Apex, which offers a 48 GB model with 1 TB of storage for $1,999. However, this too comes with an external battery.

So, if you want to play an AI Max+ 395 handheld without an external battery or without being constantly plugged in, the Next II is your only choice as of right now. Whether or not the extra memory and internal battery is worth a minimum of $300 extra will naturally depend person to person, but Strix Halo will fetch a pretty penny either way, and the memory crisis is surely not making those costs any better for some time.

Still, Ayaneo has made a solid argument for itself by not only stuffing a powerful chip in the Next II but by focusing on all those extra details that make handhelds work well. It's the most I'd personally be tempted by a Strix Halo right now, though I'd still hang tight to see what Intel's got cooking up in the handheld world before I commit to anything.