[STEAM] Jokes aside, buying the $4,299 Ayaneo Next 2 would mean selling my car

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Ayaneo wants up to $4,299 for its Next 2 flagship gaming handheld. I'll give you a moment to let that sink in, as that's the price of its top-end model, and even the cheapest version costs almost two grand. Keep in mind the portable was previously suspended due to high production costs, but it feels like the boutique device maker is now hoping early bird discounts will save its campaign.

Over at the freshly re-launched Ayaneo Next 2

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page, the

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contender now starts at $1,799.99. That's the version with 32GB RAM and 1TB storage with an early bird discount applied, meaning if you wait until after the launch, you'll pay next to two grand. It's also armed with a lower-spec AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 chipset compared to the two other models, but those will make even the steepest portable prices blush.

If you're gunning for at least the mid-tier Next 2 model with 64GB RAM and an A1+ 395 APU, you're looking at $2,299.99 with discounts applied. Even with the

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sitting way too high for its own good thanks to RAMageddon, you could still grab almost three of those, and I'm pretty sure I have less funds in my life savings account right now.

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(Image credit: Ayaneo) Unlike with consoles that use custom silicon, even the "top" portables like the

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with its AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme are finding themselves quickly outpaced thanks to new Intel Arc G3 Extreme and Ryzen AI+ models. Don't get me wrong, I love testing newcomers to see how much further they can boost fps compared to last year's model, but the current price situation makes it solely feel like a banana-swinging exercise.

Sure, the Ayaneo Next 2 might end up being the beefiest handheld gaming PC out there, and the company certainly knows how to make a punchy portable. I'm not uncomfortable with the way buying a handheld now feels like investing in something like a car, and yearly spec changeups mean that players will likely only hang onto their devices for a couple of years before trying to trade them up for a hotter model.

There's an anxiety goblin telling me that things will go the way of the

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and the pricing situation will

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as a solution. We're already set to lose access to physical media, and if playing on the latest hardware comes with a tariff in the thousands, actually owning capable hardware at home could soon become a thing of the past.

Check out the

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if you'd rather stick with the classics.

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