Why should Apple fans get to have all the fun? Ayaneo, a company better known for its game consoles, has announced a new Retro Mini PC that looks like… well, a retro mini PC. In practice, it’s a little like Apple’s Mac Mini only nowhere near as powerful. But that’s fine, because it’s also nowhere near as expensive.
And, if you happen to head over to IndieGogo, you can snag an AM01 Retro Mini PC for even less than the projected R5,000 ($261) retail price. The project isn’t really being crowdfunded – the AM01 was only looking for $6,670 and it blew past that long ago – but the platform is being used to gauge buyer interest.
‘It’s Ayaneo. He’s the AM01’
There are cheaper versions of Ayaneo’s little retro wonder on the market – the base model will eventually retail for about R3,700 – but these use an AMD Ryzen 3 3200U while offering 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. That’s not shabby but you can do better than the older Ryzen chipset.
The mid-range model uses a Ryzen 7 5700U – another dated AMD chip – but it’s possible to spec up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. In order to avoid pricing itself out of the market, Ayaneo has left some space inside the AM01 untouched. That’s for you to play with, allowing configurations of up to 64GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. At that point, the Mac Mini will at least be glancing over its shoulder to make sure this thing isn’t somehow sneaking up on it.
We haven’t really addressed the AM01’s looks. It’s supposed to come across like something from the late 1980s when every computer was beige and had a Turbo button that was supposed to make it operate faster. There are magnets that are apparently suited for decorating Ayaneo’s retro machine. We wouldn’t try that on an old 80s-era machine (again, that is).
As a design throwback, it has performed admirably, to the point where you’ll be surprised to learn that this will run Windows 11 Home Edition. A full loadout of ports is tucked away out of sight, letting you connect everything from a modern monitor to wireless or wired peripherals. Not bad for a desktop PC that weighs about the same as a brick of margarine. Ayaneo reckons it’ll ship before the end of this year. Christmas is coming. We’re just saying…
